Re: “This is a reckoning for the media”, Page 33, June 2 Albertan.
Paul Nielsen (letter writer) is correct that the media usually only gives one side of the story, and for every article you read in the Sun, you need to read one from CBC to get a balanced picture, or if you are more extreme, you can read the Rebel News, and the Huffington Post.
But, this is not why newspapers do not get the revenue they need. It is quite straight forward. I read the news on the internet, often through Google, or Yahoo, they always post stories from The Canadian Press, CBC, Reuters, The National Post, The Sun, The Toronto Star, the Huffington Post, Global News, CTV etc. Google and Yahoo get the ad revenue from my reading other people’s work.
On weekends, I take the time to buy actual paper newspapers, so that the revenue goes to those who wrote it. But on weekdays, when I only read a couple of articles a day, I don’t make the effort.
Most people never buy paper newspapers, and all the revenues go to Google. Asking Google, to share half of the revenue they got, because I read a CBC story on Google, only seems fair.
Google provides the platform, the media provide the news. Soon, there will be no news, just opinion pieces, because the news media will have folded. Then we will all complain that things get covered up.
On Saturday, I read where Liberal MP Marwan Tabbara was charged with two counts of assault, break and enter, and criminal harassment.
Tabbara chaired Parliament’s subcommittee on International Human Rights. Supposedly PM Trudeau did not learn of Tabbara’s felony charges until the media reported it.
The police department did not mention the crime in their weekly reports back in April, and only admitted it happened after three news media organizations approached them.
Do you remember when Trudeau took his illegal helicopter ride to the Aga Khan’s island, it was only brought to public attention, because of the news media? The same goes for the SNC affair. Do we want to lose this important role in our society, or do we want to get our politicians to make Google pay up, the way France and Australia have?
Bob Wilson,
Calgary
