Talking about BC issues

Ian Jessop asked me about Premier Clark giving $150,000 in public funds to assist her brother's associate in Haida Gwaii. It's a subject that has been well covered by fellow bloggers Laila Yuile and Merv Adey. However, with the exception of Mark Hume at the Globe and Mail, it's been of little interest to mainstream media, particularly the "Incurious Bastards"¹ of the BC press gallery. It may be a rewarding career move for a political pundit to serve plutocrats instead of readership but that's a conscious choice that doesn't offend some who once thought of themselves as journalists. Shannon Rupp, writing at The Tyee recently, delivered a pointed analysis of the 21st century press in our country: I think it's fair to say that many if not most so-called newspapers are misnamed: they deliver less and less news (as defined by journalists) while filling their pages with ''content'' -- a word that could mean anything from listicles to infotainment to advertising written to masquerade as a news story. In short, most newspapers have morphed into marketing platforms.