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By RILEY RADOBENKO
Editorial

Everybody has their own opinion. Everybody has their own bias. That’s what makes us human. We’re entitled to our own thoughts. But when prominent figures, especially politicians, try to devalue the media for their own advantage, it harms all of us and hinders vital public debate.

There are a few prime examples. Throughout the Donald Trump presidency, all we’ve heard is about the fake news epidemic. Ontario Premier Doug Ford hired his own “reporter,” if you want to call it that, to post “news,” if you want to call it that. But, really, it’s just propaganda to further his agenda and make the Conservatives look better.

Now, a year before the Canadian federal election, Progressive Conservative leader Andrew Scheer is already trying to hack the ensuing public debate by casting the “media” as inherently hostile to his party.

The target of these attacks is what Trump pioneered as “fake news,” which for those that don’t know, is essentially the information that media publishes that’s misleading or untrue.

Not all media outlets are going to tell a fair, balanced story every time when it comes to politics, because again, everybody has their own biases, left and right.

But is it necessary for more and more politicians beyond the United States to constantly make bashing the media a priority?

Cries of “fake news” have become a political strategy to shut down opposing views on urgent issues such as climate change, immigration, race and gender equality.

For example, Scheer doesn’t like the way Justin Trudeau’s carbon reduction plan is presented and gets a lot of “good” coverage amongst the media, yet his plan on the issue is essentially non-existent. Maybe his opinion would change if he would put forward the official plan that’s been promised for some time. And because of this, Scheer isn’t doing himself any favours with the media.

Neither is Ford. In addition to hiring his “reporter”, Conservative party staff members, who are paid with taxpayer money, will begin clapping on a cue at Ford’s press conferences to dodge questions from the media, according to a Queen’s Park reporter.

The Conservative party gets a lot of positive coverage. In fact in the previous election, Postmedia, one of the largest newspaper owners in Canada, universally endorsed the Conservatives. Therefore, it’s stupid that both these guys have a distaste for the media.

Again, not everybody is going to agree with a certain politician or party platform, and people are going to express that. It’s bad enough media networks have to put up with verbal harassment, never mind physical violence.

Down in America, Trump is commending violence against the media. At a recent rally, he praised a politician for body slamming and injuring a reporter who asked a question.

He calls the media “the enemy of the people.” Basically, what this means, is the president of the United States is happy a colleague is putting someone’s life in danger over a simple question. That has to be a line that’s never crossed.

It’s sickening knowing politicians are willing to, essentially, physically hurt someone involved in media because of how they’ve been portrayed. That’s dangerous and scary for anyone who currently works in the field, or relies on accurate reporting.

And it’ll be acknowledged that covering a political figure is tough to do. Unless the media outlet makes them seem like a perfect person, it’s going to be a loss for the network. But it’s important to not let politicians smear the media because they’ll never win.