LETTER

Media coverage, Bulletin editorials

 

Our household has been so overwhelmed by media hysteria over the “terrorist” attacks in England that we have stopped watching the nightly news. The news networks, including the CBC, do not have the resources (and I am starting to wonder about their journalistic competence, too) to provide informative and helpful news reporting, and analysis.  What we are getting in place of information are calls to be afraid, to be sickened, and to be suspicious of everyone.  There is little information provided, just re-runs showing ambulances and people crying.  Who were these attackers and what was their motivation? How did they get into England, if they are not citizens? If they are citizens, how did they become radicalized? Do our own international actions create these monstrosities? Is this George Bush’s and Tony Blair’s legacy to us?

Most discouraging is the lack of context. According to these “journalists”, we are in a War against Terror, a War against ISIS, wars against extremism. Context: this “War” response is at least as old as Richard Nixon, and all the Wars against drugs, cancer, crime, communism, and now, immigrants, have been failures, creating worse blowback than the original crisis.

Context: England suffered far worse at the hands of the IRA not long ago. Now we have IRA-spinoffs in parliament. The IRA killed about 3,000 Brits; ISIS less than a hundred. While horrible, this does not justify hysteria.

Back home, we have hysteria over fentanyl. I appreciated Mr Ryan’s calming editorial on the opioid “crisis”. Again we hear Be afraid! Hide your teenagers! However, CBC’s own Cross Country Checkup last Sunday on this subject allowed some saner voices to be heard.  Were any “journalists” listening?  

I certainly appreciate our local media, the Bulletin. I wish you had more pages!

Ron Fuller
Aylmer