The Sand is Shifting

After 34 years, CBC (Canada) Anchor Carole MacNeil called it a career.

In her goodbye, MacNeil addressed the elephant in the room, in talking about the state of public discourse, misinformation and hardening attitudes about journalists.

"I believe strongly that as journalists, we are in service to you, the public. But the sand is shifting. You get so much information now. Some of it wrong. Some of it right. Some of it meant to make you angry. Some of it out of context. Some weaponizes you. And some of you try to attack us personally, physically, even when we are doing our job. Not many, but some."

The CBC also said that they are turning off the comments on their Facebook page, saying this:

“Fears we were limiting free speech were unfounded. We saw a surge of comments on our website during the federal election, for example, and our viewers, listeners and readers are free to have their say in many other places, including their personal Facebook pages, on Twitter and through our ombudsman process. 

That is why, going forward, comment sections will remain closed on our Facebook pages, with a few exceptions. We will open comments for call-outs to ask specific questions of the audience in order to help us cover stories and issues more comprehensively, and on a few pages that have small but healthy commenting communities. But otherwise, they will remain closed.”