“Good morning Vietnam!” You must remember Robin William’s 1987 movie about a newscaster who loses his U.S. Armed Services radio job when he disobeys his superiors by refusing to sugar coat the truth and reveals what is really going on in the U.S. Vietnam war.
In today’s press there are always two sides to every story, yet only one side is getting printed. With half the story hidden and most of the facts missing in action it is no wonder sensationalism has replaced responsible journalism. An independent press is powerless against major newspapers that control what information can be released to the public.
The press releases will continue to mislead or even deceive the public with inaccurate unreliable news sources with almost no follow up or apologies for mistakes. In order to provide accurate stories, reporters need to examine the creditability of sources they use. For example using only one professor’s opinion from an auto research facility is hardly giving the reader the gospel truth. It is just like using one scientist’s view on global warming; you wonder what the other 99 scientists are saying about it. Don’t you?
It is no surprise that one of my hometown papers the LaSalle Post has sided with Essex Conservative Minister of Parliament Jeff Watson who says the NDP and Liberal coalition is a “manufactured constitutional crisis.”
It is hardly a crisis when the governor general has the power, “to remove from office any person exercising any office within Canada.” This allows the governor general to legally remove either the prime minister or any cabinet ministers from office. In 1925 when Prime Minister Mackenzie King was faced with a vote of no confidence he asked the governor general to dissolve parliament, but Lord Byng refused and asked the Opposition to form a Government. If it is in the constitution there is no crisis.
Brian McNamara
LaSalle Ontario
