Main stream journalists on both sides of our border have not had an easy time lately. Buffeted by winds of change within their profession, as a result of declining revenues and newsroom layoffs, due in part, to the phenomenal popularity of Facebook and Twitter, they are nevertheless expected to deliver quality news that is accurate and timely. In addition, their jobs can also be dangerous. In 2015, more than 100 journalists were killed, both in war zones and in so called “peaceful countries.”

In the past week, a confluence of events has put the spotlight on journalists themselves, making them unwitting actors, rather than scribes.

Serious legal and public policy discussions regarding press freedom has followed the news that 10 Quebec journalists were under surveillance by their provincial police, forcing Quebec to launch a public inquiry. In Ottawa, an unprecedented press conference, organized by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, called on the federal government to safeguard press freedom by several means, including the enactment of a shield law to protect sources and confidential information.

Meanwhile, an analysis by BuzzFeed News revealed that fake or false news outperformed “real” news on Facebook during the recent presidential election, causing legitimate journalists to woefully consider the influence of lies, rather than truth. The revelation has forced Facebook, Google and Twitter to rethink their business models in the last few days. Google announced sites that spread “false news” will no longer be permitted to collect ad revenue. As well, Twitter has suspended well known “alt right” accounts, in an effort to halt “hate speech.”

All this may be for naught because some argue we live in a “post factual” society — one in which facts don’t matter. Minds are made up based on ideology and any distracting information is edited out by means of our own personal communications pipeline. Tobias Rose, a designer and strategist calls it “self-segregation.” In other words, truth could be ignored if hateful propaganda were to go viral.

Information and emotional overload may also lead to a rejection of facts. Real news bombards us constantly. In an uneasy world, the news is not easy to watch. “Outrage is in short supply because it’s a muscle that has been overused”, writes Declan Lawn in the Irish Times.

Finally, American journalists experienced their own political earthquake, as Stephen Bannon was appointed chief strategist to President-elect Donald Trump.

Bannon, a former navy commander and Harvard Business graduate, is the previous Executive Chair of Breitbart Network, the communications platform, home to the alt right/far right website, which extolls white nationalism. Immediate demands for the appointment to be rescinded were made by prominent Democrats. David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader, called the choice of Bannon “excellent.”

News of Brietbart’s expansion into Germany and France, just ahead of upcoming elections, prompted Politico, a popular online and print political journal and website, to ask “Will America have a Pravda?”

Anything is possible in this unpredictable and unstable era of media churn. Trump has made no secret of his dislike for main stream journalists.

American media were warned that the public was skeptical of their profession. A 2013 Pew Research study showed that “ journalists took the biggest hit in public perception out of all the professions, dropping 10 percentage points in public esteem since the previous study in 2009.”

Canadian journalists, on the other hand, score well in terms of public trust. A 2016 Environics poll found media outlets ranked 54 per cent, just behind non-profits at 59 per cent. Allan Thompson, a Carleton University journalism professor attributes the higher score to the “function of civility” found in Canada. Additionally, so far, Prime Minister Trudeau has recalibrated the balancing act between the press and the PMO after the difficult Harper years.

How do we solve these issues? Some of the onus will fall on us as individual to check sources and information. In an era of “clickbait,” “false news” and outrageous tweets, we must accept that all the news is not fit to print.

Secondly, freedom of press is constitutionally protected in Canada but as we have learned lately, our freedoms, and that of our press, can be fragile. Those whose job it is to search for the truth, deserve our unqualified support.

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Journalists have fought for the human rights of others, time and time again. Perhaps it is time civil society steps up and fights for their rights.

Penny Collenette is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa and was a senior director of the Prime Minister’s Office for Jean Chrétien.

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