There is no question that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau could have managed this better: the ghosts of Liberal scandals past are now easily recalled from the Chrétien and years.

In 2016, many journalists believed that the election of this generation of federal Liberals marked a change, especially when we see what is passing for governance in Donald Trump’s United States. Re-reading enthusiastic, hagiographic profiles of Trudeau and especially of former Attorney-General Jody Wilson-Raybould from only two years ago, you are struck by the adulation. It is slightly embarrassing.

Today, that adoring attitude has vanished from Canadian reporting. There are reasons for the sudden shift:

Remorse. Journalists are going after Trudeau because they feel foolish for falling in love with him. So hard and so fast. With an election only a few months away, they may want to prove they still have the chops to be “even-handed.”

Schadenfreude. The German concept of taking delight in the misfortune of others. It’s a particularly journalistic attitude. It also takes revenge on a prime minister who was constantly pointed out Canadians’ moral deficiencies.

Pack journalism. When newsrooms have been hollowed out by economic downsizing and digital technology, there are fewer journalists around who are able to take the time to flesh out the story. The fear of being scooped by another news organization results in a lot of two-dimensional reporting.

Trump envy. The American media have the story of a generation. Why can’t we?

Victimhood. In this intersectional age, Minister Wilson-Raybould seemed to embody all of the qualities of someone unfairly treated by the white, male, political culture: she is Indigenous, a woman and a westerner. But pointing out any of those aspects might risk branding a reporter as a racist, a sexist or a Laurentian elitist.

This is a particularly Canadian scandal: not much happened, but whatever happened must be reported. Repeatedly.

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The missing element in this story is the context.

We know not enough about today’s culture at SNC-Lavalin. How do other North American and European companies operate in the developing world? Have other companies taken measures to ensure that western values are applied? If so, how successful have they been?

Also what about Wilson-Raybould’s own background? She comes from an environment of Indigenous leadership. How has that influenced her as a federal politician? Are the cultural imperatives of her background make her more or less able to deal with the cut-and-thrust of Parliamentary politics? Her principled stand seems at variance with the ideal of consensus governance in Aboriginal society. Can that be explained journalistically?

Another missing element: How has the changed journalistic culture inside Canadian newsrooms determined the reporting?

Most news organizations have been downsizing their editorial staff in a rush to embrace digital technology. Has that proven to be a negative factor when dealing with a story as complicated as this one? Journalists in print and broadcasting are saying that their work environments are more akin to digital sweatshops. They have to produce more versions of the same story, with fewer editors and producers, and with smaller (and younger) staffs with no institutional memory.

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The wounded condition of news organizations is the result of an ongoing editorial culling that leaves the information seeking public gasping for more reliable information. The lack of that reliability forces the public to look elsewhere.

It’s time for a pause in this story. Getting it first is fine. But getting it in context is even better. The breathless headlines and relentless repeating what has already been reported has created a depressing environment of hysterical journalism.

It’s not too late to get this story right. If we don’t, we should be prepared for an increasingly breathless style of reporting for the next several months, leading up to the election. And that kind of journalism, as we are seeing from the U.S., does not serve either the public or the democracy.

Jeffrey Dvorkin is a lecturer and director of journalism at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus.

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