I'd like to tell you a murky story, so bear with me.
So, imagine you’re sitting inside one of these newsrooms, right? CBC, CTV, whatever. Same little crappy office carpet. Same little plastic plant in the corner. Same little framed award on the wall from some journalism gala where everybody clapped for each other like they cured polio or something benign.
Some producer walks in with a political clip and goes, “𝗛𝗲𝘆, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼.”
Now, a normal person hears that sentence and immediately goes, “What do you mean, hit the way we need it to? Did they say it or did they not say it?” That's what normal people with their conscience intact say.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮, 𝘀𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁.
Here's what it actually looks like. Some editor in suit that's too tight, drinking his $12 Starbucks Matcha soy tea, looks up from his iPhone and goes,
“Okay, but can we 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸?”
Just like when we saw this with CTV. The Poilievre clip they altered. CTV apologizes, people are gone, and Richard Gray ends up in front of a committee saying there was no malicious intent and that people were trying to *make a story work.
𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸.
That phrase should be engraved over the entrance of every legacy newsroom in the country. Not make it accurate. Not make it fair. Not make it honest.
𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸.
That’s the whole problem in 4 words.
It’s not some guy in a dark room going, “Tonight, we destroy democracy.” These people aren’t Bond villains bro. They’re worse. They’re middle managers with Slack channels.
It’s some producer named Kyle with 4 monitors and a dead look in his eyes going, “The segment needs to pop more.” It’s some editor saying, “We need to sell the script more, make it more provocative.”
It’s some senior person saying, “I just don’t think we’re there yet.”
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 “𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲,” 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆?
Now, another scenario, imagine some young naïve journalist walks into CBC or CTV like, “Today’s the day. I’m going to ask the real questions. I’m going to chase the story wherever it goes.” They drop the script in front of their editor.
The editor looks up and goes:
“𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀?”
And the journalist says with confusion and a bit of self-doubt:
“𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗶𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. 𝗡𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴. 𝗡𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲...𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁?...........𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁?”
Then the editor blinks twice and goes, “Yeah great so no it doesn’t go there.”
And that’s it. That’s the leash folks That's who decides. Nobody has to say, “Don’t tell the truth.” That would be too honest. No what these people in charge say is:
"𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸."
And somehow, after all the tightening and trimming and massaging and sanding down and committee-approved polishing, the story comes out looking exactly the way the CBC and CTV wants to look white sitting there talking about journalistic integrity with a straight face.
Make no mistake, the problem isn’t just the reporter holding the microphone or sitting behind a desk.
The real power is above them. The gatekeepers!
-The assignment desk decides what becomes a story.
-The producer decides what gets clipped.
-The senior producer decides what dies quietly.
-The executive producer decides what airs.
-The editor decides what counts as responsible.
-The vice-president decides what kind of screw-up gets called a process issue instead of a giant steaming pile of bullshit.
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘀.
And the worst part is, a lot of these journalists know exactly how rotten this is. They’re not chained to a radiator in some basement begging to tell the truth. A lot of them are climbing that ladder with both hands and a mouth set to ass-kissing on repeat.
They know the rules. They know who gets protected. They know which minister gets the soft landing. They know which activist gets treated like a moral authority.
They tell you who's the villain. They know which guest gets invited back and which guest suddenly becomes “too inflammatory.” They decide for you what reality should look like.
You learn really fast in these "Newsrooms". You learn how to make bias sound like standards. You learn how to make obedience sound like professionalism. Then one day you get a better title. Senior this. Executive that. Director of whatever the hell you want to call it. Vice-president of Please Stop Asking Why We Keep Screwing Up In The Same Direction and pretend we're honest.
You get the better office. The better dinner. The nicer hotel. Valet service, maybe even a chauffeur. The industry award. The panel invite where everyone sits around pretending Canadian media is brave because someone once asked a minister a mildly uncomfortable question before lunch.
And the Canadian public is sitting there watching all this, being told these people are holding power accountable.
𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗷𝗼𝗸𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘄𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.
They’re managing the story so the right people don’t get too uncomfortable or making the wrong people very uncomfortable. Everybody in that building knows the deal. Ask the wrong question too often and suddenly you’re “difficult.” Play along long enough and they call you a professional. Just ask
@Travisdhanraj, he'll tell you.
In this dirty little business called Canadian legacy media, CBC gets the government cheque through the front door and CTV gets helped through the side door. Different leash, same owner.
𝗧𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴.
Vesper