Some folks who usually report the news have made themselves the news recently..Near the end of last year, Elon Musk said he would suspend the Twitter account of anyone who disclosed the location of his private jet on Twitter..A group of journalists called his bluff and did just that..Musk did as promised, suspending their accounts, resulting in the journos accusing him of suppressing free speech, as they whined and figuratively stamped their feet like little kids when they don’t get their way..Musk owns Twitter. He makes the rules..An analogy for those spoiled brat journalists: Governments’ rules say it’s illegal to drive while impaired. If you get caught driving impaired, they take your car away, because you broke the rules..You broke Musk’s rules. He took your accounts away. See how it works? Nothing to do with suppressing free speech..Speaking of suppressing speech, as 2023 started Ethan Faber, the CTV News director in Vancouver, penned an editorial with the headline ‘We will not be intimidated’ aimed at people who he claimed were threatening him and his journalists..He opened the article writing about his father, who, as a boy was forced by some kids in his neighbourhood to climb through a manhole to the sewer below because, Faber writes, “His was the only Jewish family in the area, and everybody knew it.”.No matter how his father tried, the other kids would not let him climb out of the darkness of the sewer. Naturally he was afraid and no one, especially a kid, should be treated like that, anywhere, at any time..Faber wrote “the message was clear: Jews belonged in the sewer.”.The rest of Faber’s piece was about how poorly his journalists have been treated..“It was that story of early 1940s anti-Semitism that came to mind last February when I looked out the window in the CTV Vancouver newsroom at an angry crowd that had gathered on the street below to protest our journalists’ coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote Faber. “People in the crowd were calling us “vermin.” One guy even wrote the word on a sign he was holding up. Vermin — you know, like rats in a sewer.”.Suggesting being called ‘vermin’ is the same as frightening a child, crawling in the dark, fearing for his life, is asinine..Another analogy..Think of Faber’s father as Canadians and the ‘neighbourhood kids’ as the mainstream media (MSM)..Canadians only wanted the truth about COVID-19, but rather than look for the truth, the MSM toed the government line of untruths and, as we now know, outright lies..Canadians were kept in the dark and made afraid..Faber’s rhetoric went over the top..“It was 2022 and hate had arrived at the front door,” he wrote. That’s a good opening for a Stephen King novel, but it wasn’t hate that arrived at the front door, it was distrust, disgust and a loss of respect for MSM..“Dozens of Vancouver police officers stood watch as speakers called for our journalists inside to be jailed, or worse,” wrote Faber..And when MSM covered stories about the police jailing preachers speaking their minds and kids playing hockey on outdoor rinks and shutting down small, family-owned businesses, the tone was ‘the preachers, kids and business owners asked for it.’.Getting arrested for exercising free speech and individual rights?.Faber wrote a common misconception about MSM is how it picks stories to write..“Some are convinced that newsrooms take their cues on what to report from corporate overlords or government masters. The truth is, story selection in our newsroom — and in every newsroom I’ve seen over the past 25 years — is much less conspiratorial.”.“We all get together each morning to pitch ideas and the best ideas turn into stories. That’s it. No puppet masters pulling the strings.”.That doesn’t match the groupthink narrative of the MSM..All of ‘the best ideas’ for COVID-19 stories supported government policies: pro-lockdown, pro-vaccine, pro-mask, evil convoy people, evil anti-vaxxers etc. - exactly the same on every MSM outlet..No puppet masters; no strings attached? That is an insult to Canadians..The fact the Trudeau government is subsidizing MSM to the tune of more than $600 million, with more on the way no doubt, is known to everyone except perhaps those who get their ‘information’ from MSM..MSM’s COVID-19 coverage uncritically accepted the government line, with vaccine mandates, school closures and lockdowns receiving no legitimate public debate that the measures were warranted..Another insult is Faber playing the ‘journalists-as-victims card’ especially when it was his network that intimidated and doxxed convoy donors by publishing their names and contacting their workplaces: https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/ottawa/2022/2/14/1_5780978.html.Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter Files’ exposed the frightening influence US government agencies had in getting content censored on Twitter, even when the content was true..It is likely the influence was exerted on MSM outlets and it would hardly be a surprise if the Canadian government exercised the same influence on Canadian MSM outlets..Faber wrote “When we make a mistake, we believe in owning it; if there’s an error in a story, we’ll announce it and fix it.”.Well, you made a mistake. Lots of them. Own them..You don’t get respect by begging for respect. You get respect by earning it.
