The purpose of journalism, in my mind, is to inform the public and hold power to account. Somewhere along the way, too many journalists traded that responsibility for access, social capital, or worse, click-through rates. What we have now is a press that too often functions as a tool of entertainment instead of a source of clarity. Readers aren’t imagining it. We see the sloppiness, the shallowness, the outright abdication of duty.
If you’re not helping people understand the world in an accurate, intelligent way, and if you’re not holding those with power to the fire, you’re not doing your job.
Truth vs Access
Access journalism is a poor trade-off. Too many journalists prioritize their proximity to power instead of using it. They attend closed briefings, rub shoulders with insiders, and return to their readers with carefully worded, yet empty, content. A journalist’s job isn’t to get invited to the next press briefing. It’s to tell the truth, even if that means getting blacklisted from the next roundtable. And if a bigwig blacklists too many journalists, that’s a story that can and should be told.
Journalists need to be able to ask hard questions and be protected when they do. We need laws that defend press freedom, not gatekeepers that punish scrutiny. Access to politicians and public figures should never depend on favourable coverage.
We don’t need more hangers-on. We need interrogators, analysts, and people willing to call out BS when they see it. When politicians lie, cover it. When they dodge, push back. When they threaten, make it public. Anything less is complicity, and we’re seeing too much of that these days.
Context Matters
We need more than quotes and bald data. Facts without context mean nothing if readers don’t understand what they imply. Reporting that a policy passed or a bill was tabled tells me almost nothing if I don’t understand the bill, its consequences, who benefits, who pushed for it, and why it matters now.
Context is the difference between journalism and noise. If you’re not connecting the dots for people, you’re handing them a box of puzzle pieces and calling it a picture.
Hold the Movers and Shakers Accountable
Too often, journalists avoid going after the people who actually shape our lives like CEOs, developers, ministers, cops, and billionaires. These are the people with real power, and yet coverage of them is full of soft-focus profiles, dodged questions, or silence.
Take Loblaws, for example: record profits, rising grocery bills, and mass public outrage, but most major media barely press Galen Weston on any of it. Look at Doug Ford’s environment attacks, including the Greenbelt scandal, where land was quietly handed over to well-connected developers while the press played catch-up. What’s happening with that land? Gaps like this enable those in power to do as they please.
That’s not a mistake. It’s a failure of courage. Journalism should be uncomfortable for the people who benefit from injustice. If your reporting never rattles a boardroom or challenges a Premier, you’re not doing the job.
Clicks Over Credibility
The digital age has warped the practice of journalism. Outlets now chase engagement metrics, while vital stories about housing, healthcare, labour, and systemic injustice get ignored. We’re drowning in coverage of petty celebrity feuds and tech billionaire antics, while stories that actually affect people’s lives quietly disappear.
And readers notice. We are inundated with emotionally loaded headlines and the fake urgency of “BREAKING” slapped on fluff. It’s insulting. Worse, it’s dangerous. Because when newsrooms prioritize spectacle over substance, they leave the public uninformed and unprepared.
Covering topics like union-busting, poisoned water, or land theft is expensive, messy, and may not trend. But that’s the job. Journalism should follow stories, not an algorithm. Dig deep, tell the stories that matter, and keep going even when someone tries to stop you.
Stop Both-Sidesing Everything
False equivalency is not balance. It’s appeasement. Some stories don’t have two valid sides. There is no credible counterpoint to climate science. There is no morally neutral stance on racism or fascism.
When journalists platform conspiracy theories, hate speech, or bad-faith actors in the name of balance, they’re not being fair. They’re laundering propaganda. It confuses the public, emboldens extremists, and gives lies the same weight as truth.
Look at how Rebel News, a far-right outlet with no interest in actual journalism, managed to derail a national election briefing by heckling during questions. That wasn’t a debate. That was disruption. And it worked. The entire press event was shut down. That’s what happens when “both sides” includes actors who don’t care about the truth, only attention.
It takes courage to say, “This is wrong.” But that’s the job. Say it.
Call Out Corporate Capture
Who owns your newsroom? Who funds it? Who pulls the strings?
In Canada, Postmedia, which controls over 100 Canadian newspapers, is majority owned by a U.S. hedge fund. Bell Media continues to lay off journalists while receiving government subsidies. In the U.S., the situation is no better, with major dailies like the Washington Post controlled by billionaires with agendas or leveraged into oblivion by private equity.
Newsroom ownership directly affects coverage. A newsroom that can’t talk honestly about its own ownership is a compromised newsroom. And when stories about media layoffs, editorial interference, or labour struggles go uncovered by the media itself, that’s not an oversight. That’s silence by design.
Additional thoughts
Practice Journalism or Step Aside
We don’t need more personalities, influencers, or access junkies. We need journalists. Real ones. The kind who dig, explain, confront, and serve the public; not the brand, not the boss, and not the billionaire owner.
In our chaotic world, we need real journalism more than ever.
Who’s Getting It Right
Not every newsroom is failing. Here are a few excellent outlets that still believe journalism means something.
The Narwhal
Environmental journalism with teeth. Fierce, fact-checked, and fearless.
The Breach
Bold reporting on race, inequality, and power. Doesn’t pull punches.
Canadaland
Sharp, independent journalism digging into media, politics, and power in Canada.
PressProgress
Investigative journalism that exposes corruption and disinformation.
ProPublica (US)
Hard-hitting reporting on corruption, justice, and power at scale.
Reveal / CIR (US)
Deep-dive investigative stories that inform, unsettle, and matter.
The Guardian (UK, Global) Still doing real journalism without hiding behind paywalls. Investigative, global, and reader-funded.
If you want better media, consider supporting the ones already doing the job.
