The Newsroom

I want to wax poetic about The Newsroom. It's one of the better new shows out right now.

For a time I wanted to be a journalist, and while I didn't actively pursue it after college, my interest remains intact and my belief in the need for quality news is stronger than ever.

And where is this quality news? Where are the reporters and news outlets that value the truth and delivering the facts to the people? I'm frequently disappointed. I feel like our government is not being held to full account. I feel like important stories go cold in favour of fluff.

The CBC, which I think is generally good quality news, fails its audience with their political panel, which only wants to discuss political strategies instead of the real impact of our politicians' decisions. What do I care what Harper should do to secure voter confidence? I want to know more about the ramifications of shutting down the experimental lake and closing Kingston Penitentiary.

Do I give a flying fiddler's fart what McGuinty ought to be thinking about during elections? No. I want in-depth coverage focusing on his past career decisions and policies, all laid out and juxtaposed against his opponents' policies and political histories so that viewers/voters can get quality insight about their choices and make an informed decision. Tell me, who are these people? Not what can they do to get votes.

People get informed through the news and I don't really feel like the news is doing much to inform. All I see are speculations about people playing the game of thrones, basically. That is all.

And where is the coverage on climate change? Dude, it's hot, it's dry and food prices are going to soar. How will people eat? What are our leaders going to do about that? They favour the economy over the environment, even though the economy is dependant entirely on the environment, and in about 15 years we're not going to recognize this planet because the ice caps will have melted even more (If not entirely?), and a couple of countries will have disappeared. Where's that story? Newsflash: people need to eat. People need a habitable planet to live on.

The world as we know it, according to all reliable science, is changing for the worse and if you're younger than 50, you're fucked because you're going to be stuck with a fucking mess. And no news organization is talking about it. I mean, why bother? The Olympics are on.

I suppose what I like about the Newsroom is the fantasy it allows me to live in, that there are news organizations that give a damn about the world we live in and getting the facts to the people. I don't think that's the world we live in. But for an hour a week I can dream.