And today, in the news ...
Anything you really want to hear.
Yesterday morning, I skipped my news routine. Until then, upon awakening and when I’ve been able (decided by a number of things…), I switched on my phone and listened to the news. In Canada, since I was a kid, and for many years before that, the nation’s main source of news has been the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, or the CBC as it is known. It’s been around since the mid-1930s and been funded by the government with that support declining over time. For most of my news-seeking life, it’s been my go-to source.
For a few years in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, I worked for CBC Inuvik while enjoying life north of the Arctic Circle. That experience included the joys of night-less summers, the challenges of day-less winters, and the importance of always learning something new, even if it sucked. A portion of my youthful ignorance got knocked off me while there and I only lament that I wasn’t freed from it entirely. Life is a series of lessons but crash courses are generally not recommended. So I returned to the south wiser, but relatively unscathed, and with a devotion to the CBC and all the bias-free reporting it stood for.
But listening to the CBC every morning ended yesterday. The items on the program were so insignificant to the issues facing the world right now that describing the program as a world report was a complete misrepresentation. In fact, I shut off the phone with an expletive as I ripped the earbuds out, I was that annoyed. A couple of items trained our focus on the Royals and their serious gaffes; another that the Rolling Stones will soon see their faces on a British coin; one focused on the fall of the FTX bitcoin empire with a grandfather lamenting that the money he hoped to give his granddaughter for Christmas presents was now gone, and Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried apologizing for not knowing what he was doing and causing it all; the concern about the cost of legal representation in divorce cases which has Ontario recommending paralegals; and questioning the wisdom of setting up a twelve-director board to explore how to address the terms of Reconciliation. With the exception of the Reconciliation piece, it may have been entertaining overall, but it certainly was not news, not global, and not worthy of the CBC I’ve known and loved all these decades.
Of course, I wrote to them expressing my disappointment. The automated response told me that they mostly don’t respond to comments about content but are more likely to get back to you if you’re having difficulty with their digital media or have a specific question. So that’s that.
The world is filled with light and beauty. I don’t have to think very long for my mind to shift images of people I love to the fore, or take me back to places I’ve sunk my toes into that have settled into my heart in response. There are news stories of wonder and generosity and sweet, sweet stories of the same that slip into my newsfeed every day. I love them, share them, and send them to people who might be down as I have so often been. On most days, my ADD mind can be distracted in an instant by an image, a story, an unexpected tongue-twister, and lift my spirits from whatever dismal place into which they had settled. Feed me light and I will gladly shine.
But the world is also overshadowed by the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced - climate change - while it continues to be riven with the traditional ones we recycle generation after generation despite what our ancestors believed they had taught us. The rise these past couple of weeks of the racist and anti-Semitic speech that has been icing the cake of discontent for the past too many years is definitely worth addressing. Yet a news item about the former Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen insisting that a Black woman disclose her African roots at a Palace event when the woman was born and raised in the UK as a British citizen - a racist assumption to be sure - may not be as urgent right now as the contracting for African crops by China before the latter even finances the planting of them. That is certainly more urgent than speculating over whether the gaffe was the reason the Prince and Princess of Wales were booed at a Celtics game.
We can die of tragic news overload and I am sure there are those who have, unable to face the realities the world demands of and displays before them. I know that pain. But I do not want to be anaesthetized to the realities the world is facing by news producers who entertain rather than enlighten. My self-care is my own responsibility and there are days when I choose not to listen to the news or access my online feeds at all. And there are days when my partner intervenes and helps me take that step away from the tragedies unfolding on the screen. But I make that choice even if I need help to do it. Being entertained into ignorance is far too simple and we are far too easily led. Don’t let that happen.
After deciding to find my news elsewhere, I visited AllSides.com, a site that rates news media sources for their bias using simple but clear tools to do so. The sources each platform uses are assessed. They do note that just because something is in the centre doesn’t necessarily mean it is good. It simply means the material it publishes is unbiased but that material itself may not include other things that might be too controversial for that publication and so have been censored out. You’ll have to find your own way.
In the meantime, I highly recommend
which very early on committed to reporting on climate change and continues to bring important issues to the fore. They do not charge for their news but I hope you will support their efforts. A special shout out to one of their columnists, George Monbiot, who is brilliant, fearless, and reaches deep every time he sits down at his computer or picks up a pen. And do subscribe to here on Substack if you're interested in American news that is deeply informed by historical perspectives and beautifully written as well. We subscribe to the Washington Post whose columnist Dana Millbank kept me sane during the Trump years. Well, almost. WaPo is one of the more moderate but left leaning of the American papers. I also subscribe to several newsletters and will share them in another post.As for Canadian content, I'd recommend subscribing to the Council of Canadians and gifting your Canadian extended family with memberships to fulfill the season’s gift expectations. I have no clear opinion on any other Canadian newspapers though I’ve subscribed to the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail in the past and my work been covered fairly by each of them. Maybe your best bet would be to search for articles written for Canadian papers by the Canadian Press that are then picked up for reprint. The Canadian Press is relatively unbiased as a news outlet and covered my heresy proceedings fairly, if colourlessly. What turned up about me in Breitbart News was definitely colourful. I am not linking to it here for obvious reasons. If you’ve got suggestions for reliable news sources, please put them in the comments.
Finally, if you are ever afraid of nodding off to sleep and never waking up to the real world again, follow Extinction Rebellion wherever you can find them. But consider yourself forewarned: After reading their work, you may never sleep again.
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