How important is an unbiased media to a healthy democracy? This is one of several important questions to be asked as Powell River gathers to talk about the current state of citizen engagement, information and politics.
Powell River Voices, a non-partisan group committed to increasing citizen engagement, is hosting the evening discussion on Wednesday, April 15.
Information is key to participating in local politics and even knowing who to vote for, said Murray Dobbin, one of the event organizers. Voters get much of their information about who to vote for from local media and from talking to other people who share their views and values.
“We know since the Internet and social media, newspapers have been having more difficulty finding the revenue needed to hire the reporters to do the kind of investigative reports that really are important for civic literacy,” Dobbin said.
Traditionally, the majority of a newspaper’s operating revenue has been generated through selling advertising space, particularly to national advertisers. Reader demographics provided companies with the ability to target their marketing. The rise of the Internet, however, has seen advertisers shift much of their focus from print to online. This trend has led to further concentration of media ownership and newspapers shutting down as well as layoffs in newsrooms across the country.
The aim of the evening, Dobbin added, is to bring people together to talk about what is working and what needs improving to make local media better at promoting civic literacy.
Kai Nagata, a former broadcast journalist now working with the Dogwood Initiative, will lead the discussion and a panel of local media representatives will be on hand to provide their views.
While independent media outlets on both sides of the political spectrum contribute to a healthy media landscape, the decline of mainstream media has led to a troubling trend of increased political fragmentation in Canada, Nagata said.
“There’s a kind of ironic phenomena where there are more media outlets than ever before, but those outlets have less and less influence on politicians,” Nagata said. “Collectively, things are sliding in the wrong direction.”
Reliance on social media feeds and non-professional journalists for information may mean the public does not get the whole picture, Nagata said.
“We still need news outlets and professional journalists to tell the whole story,” he added. “There are lots of stopgap measures and ways people are getting their information, but people are really having to cobble it together because of the claw back of resources.”
He added, though, that there are some examples of communities experimenting with new business models for local community-based media which could provide a solution.
The event takes place at 7 pm, Wednesday, April 15 in Trinity Hall at Powell River United Church Hall, 6932 Crofton Street. Admission is by donation.
