Journalism Without Borders

For those of you who were following and participating in the internet surge of the early 1990s, you might have come across what I am about to describe. For those of you who just began surfing the net, bear with me. I am an avid hockey fan, you cannot live in Canada and not watch hockey. Its just not possible. When I started watching hockey I fell in love with it and with the play of a few of its stars and on a daily basis would surf the net for different post game reports. I used to search ESPN.com, NHL.com, Canoe.com, Slam Hockey, Torontosun.ca, Waymoresports.ca, each told the post game story with a different flavour or twist. It would take me a good part of an hour to read everything out there about my favorite star, Mats Sundin. But there was a growing trend that I came across late 1990s. Every site I visited had the same story. Surfing the web for new stories or different views has became useless. That is unfortunate but not really an important issue when it comes to sports.

What is scary is that this trend has continued into other news categories so that now, there is really only 3 or 4 different views on important subjects. That means that a small group influences or even shapes the opinions of millions of Americans or even North Americans. There was an age old law in the US that was designed for situations like this. It explicitly did not allow for different news agency to amalgamate into one agency. It made sure that Radio stations, Newspaper companies and TV stations remained owned by different groups. That ensured variety in opinions and helped public discussions to be multidimensional. That law was recently (2 to 3 years ago) abolished by hard work from FCC chairman Mike Powell.

What does that mean for the general public? If a community only hears two sides to a story, given as "News" you tend to side with one of them, paving the way for a bipolar community. That is exactly what America has turned into. An amazing nation where its people only believe in the opinions of a few. One might say that internet is changing that, its the balancing factor. That is true. If you goto Google, MSN, and Yahoo you may get other "sides" as well but how long do you think that will last? Isn't it naive to think that this amalgamation will remain localized? At a time in the world where Globalization equals Americanization, these News Agencies will need to garner everyone's opinions to their own. Its not too far fetched to see CNN or Fox News buying stocks of foreign news agencies abroad or even outright owning them, especially in third world countries which tend to have sketchy laws against foreign ownerships.

Unfortunately there will be time in not so distant a future that when you open up internet news agencies, you will read the same news too. That is scary and I can't see that changing. There is a need for people to hear the "other side", a need for journalism to return back to its roots, not to become a celebrity like status. The News that I read and see here in the US is so different, polarized and it is geared towards a mentality of only good and bad, black or white regarding local and world affairs. This has become a Nation of Borderline Disorder (psychiatry term). I used to think how could American's think a certain way about world issues, being that almost every American I've met has been very nice. Now I know they don't have a choice. Do we have a choice? It can be said that other countries employ similar methods, brainwashes their own people as well. Like it or not we are all at the mercy of whomever pulls the string of journalists. There is a need for Journalism Without Borders.