Can We Trust Them?

The week is August 26th, 2011.

This week in the news brings us a hidden dictator, a quake full of Earth, a media-generated "New York destroyer", a loss of orange in the red & white, and a celebrity romance that has supposedly ended...?

We watch the news wherever we are, whenever we can, however we want to. There's no denying that. But we rely too much on the news. I, for one, want to be in control of that, hence me taking Journalism in college. And what I've noticed this week is that there were too many stories that the media picked up that were either untrue or false. And I'm sure this isn't the first time. Newscasters report on information they receive from news outlets; The Canadian Press...etc. One thing they don't do a lot anymore is revise the story, check it over, or tweak a few mistakes or update it if it's been updated. Much of the news we see and/or read is published without any hesitation to review it, thinking it came from a valued and trust-worthy source. But that's not always the case. CP24 and other local channels made the same mistake this past week.

When word broke out that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith have reportedly split, channels across the TV started reporting this was the case. What I want to know is who broke that news first? Gossip sites? TMZ? Whatever the source, news broadcasters were given many facts. They didn't report who claimed they have REPORTEDLY broke up; and reportedly is a key word here. If reports indicate that the two have separated, who was the one to first break the news? Of course it wasn't Will or Jada themselves as we later found out as the week went on. But whoever came across this information first must have been trusted by most news broadcasters, right?

Well, they didn't have to be the most trusted, they just had to be a reliable and trust-worthy outlet. They would've had to have access to spread the news appropriately without it getting shaking heads. But they weren't just anyone off the streets. They had a name, and maybe they even had a connection to the Smith family. A simple mistake can get the whole world believing. It's a matter of the ''majority knows'' vs. who will believe it. Ask any news outlets and that's why they carefully read everything thoroughly before it goes on air. Same goes for any presentation you perform in front of a class. You go over it again and again and make sure it's good enough for the final print. But we must be getting lazy, because all of the news outlets just let this one go and it erupted.

From there, it just developed into a believable story, getting news stations across the country to believe it. And it played off. Everyone had it on their number one most read entertainment gossip story on their site. And I came across while watching CP24, and I even checked it on Twitter to confirm, and I indeed didn't want to believe it as first, but as I started seeing it on more and more sites, I finally came to realization. The media was just eating it up. They were going to have an exclusive report on ET Tonight on Will and Jada's 13 years of marriage. And more importantly, everyone wanted to find out how and why, but no source had any of that info. I remember going to The Star website and reading that info, but did not see one single fact that answers the why/how factor needed for it to be considered a news story. And I was thinking at the time, "If I saw it on CP24, or any news site/channel, it would have to be pretty accurate, right? That's what I thought, until I was wrong from what I read later in the evening.

About 9 hours after the reports came out that the two have split, I came across an article disproving this very story. And this time, the facts were much more believable. I posted this article on That Media Hut and it questioned whether the earlier reports were true or not. Of course they weren't. Sources confirmed that their own son, Trey Smith took to Twitter and wrote it was just false information. Jada's publicist also commented exclaiming she knew nothing of this. And finally, Will and Jada wrote to officially deny the reports. But I'm sure everyone was still crazed into believing they were officially ending their 13-year marriage, even after the denial. And I can't blame them. Citizens are supposed to rely on their favourite news stations for the day's top stories, and if the stations don't deliver accordingly, people will go off to believe the wrong information.

Looking back on the week, the miscommunication wasn't the only thing that made the news. On Monday, Canada found out they lost the leader of the NDP, Jack Layton. It was one of the most devastating news Canadians have heard in recent weeks. He battled cancer for weeks, months, until he knew it would take over. When Canada was watching, pictures and videos of him replayed hourly on TV channels and on website; most dedicated the day to the loss of a remarkable human being and central figure in Canada's political scene. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is quoted as saying, "Jack never lost a battle, he never backed down from any fight. " And that for sure, meant so much.

As the news spread, the wishes and prayers poured in. City Hall in downtown Toronto was the centre for most of them (pictured to the right). Canadians from across the country wrote online to Jack's Twitter and Facebook account, the NDP website and even online Newspapers which were bombarded with comments on the sadness of his passing. Canada, for once, came together to remember a man of dedication, a man of true and patriot love. I can tell that one day, he was destined to become prime minister. It was only a matter of time. But what Jack did, he did the impossible. He lead a party that wasn't so strong in previous elections and made it his own. He gained nearly 60% of the country and 90% of Quebec altogether in this year's election. He got nearly every youth voter to vote increasing the percentage from 2008 to 52%. And it's important to recognize the influence he had on the first-time voters. He really changed the way we take into account the difference between the man and the politician.

I think the letter he wrote two days before his death was the most sincere thing to do, knowing how much of an impact it would have not only on Canadians, but also politicians, cancer patients, and the general youth. It really shaped him into being a man, who had one last dying wish, for it to come true with the hope that everyone endures during life. He just about lost everything of his will to battle any longer, but needed to continue fighting. The last hope he had were his final words in that letter:

"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."- Jack Layton.

That will always be remembered into how he played such a huge part in every Canadian's life.
It was truly inspirational to write such a message in the midst of such a difficult time. That shows you how much he cared for Canada. I for one can talk from every Canadian's point of view and say Jack Layton will truly be missed by millions from across the country. The prayers will continue to pour in. The dedication of this man's life will forever be remembered for those who knew his name, and his unforgettable moustache. How else can I make this more heartfelt, I ask.

"To his wife Olivia, his family, and to his colleagues and friends, Laureen and I offer our heartfelt condolences. Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this most difficult time." -Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Not too long after, at 2:32 PM EST on Tuesday, August 23rd, an earthquake struck the Eastern coast, from Virginia all the way up to Toronto. And if you're wondering, yes, I felt this one. To tell you my story, I was downstairs in the basement, typing away on my computer and ever so slightly, I felt something shaking from under me. And I started to think, maybe I should stay still because if I move, maybe it would just get dangerous. At first, I thought it was my head shaking from side to side, almost feeling like I was dizzy. I was never aware of it at first whether it was an earthquake or not. About 10 seconds after I felt it, I thought to look anywhere I could find any details about what just happened, the possibility of it actually being an earthquake. I turn to Twitter and there's this news reporter from a Hamilton station and his words were, "did the earth just shake? earthquake?" He wrote exactly what was on my mind. I had to re-tweet that.

Soon after, I travelled upstairs and turned on the TV to see if anyone was mentioning what just happened. Most news stations were on commercial break as it was at the top of the hour. As soon as CP24 came back (as if I'd trust them this time), they went to a breaking news bulletin and said we just had an earthquake that was felt from New York, to South Carolina, all the way up to where I was in Toronto. I was like, "Oh, so that's what it was. Cool." I wasn't that surprised to see we just had a small tremor, but with this information, it was cool to put the two and two together; now I finally got to feel an earthquake.

I saw how big it was and to think that something that was felt so small here in the city, made such an impact on eastern coast. After it came to our attention that an earthquake struck, I read somewhere that Colorado and California were ALSO hit with an earthquake earlier that same day. Very strange.

Last year, I don't know if I told you the story or not, but me and my brother took the dog for a walk to the park in June of last year and we noticed are dog acting very unusual for a split second. We didn't what was up, but he was rolling around in the grass, on his back as if he was shaking with the ground; or he felt the ground, so he thought he;d shake with it. Anyways, when we finish the walk, we get back to the house and we hear that an earthquake just hit right outside of Ottawa. It was quite something because we never felt the ground move, and we were on a wide, open field, and felt nothing, but yet our dog was rolling on his back, turning from side to side for about 15 seconds. Very strange. And now since I've felt this one, it goes to show that we our vulnerable to anything, no matter where we are or what we're doing.

And with that, our week was far from over.

Word came in on late Thursday night that the States, mainly the Eastern ones, as if they already felt enough this past week, were going to get hit by a hurricane; Hurricane Irene. Now was it just me or was the media just completely blowing it out of proportion? I only say that because every single channel in the states mentioned it in some aspect or form and were covering it until the day it hit; they were tracking it from the get-go, and they made sure Americans were supposed to feel frightened. They did stories on how it won't be safe in New York - a place where some of the most tallest buildings are located. News channels started warning Americans on the east coast to leave immediately. They didn't want anyone left home. From the mayor of each coastal city, to even the president warning them that it wasn't safe, everyone needed to evacuate. And after all, we were looking at this storm as it arrived and it's tracker said it was going right over New York City, and that feared the most brainless people of the country. And the media was just hyping them up for the most severe storm the eastern coast has ever faced. After all, it was only a category 1 when it was going to make landfall late Saturday night. Maybe it would just phase out and become a tropical storm? But no, these New Yorkers weren't taking any chances.

You would think that the media would help you in understanding that category 1's are the lowest a hurricane/tropical storm can get. Winds gusting up to 100mph, torrential rain and dark and cloudy skies that would probably last the majority of the day are all that this storm would produce when it hit. So why were the States so overly prepared? You can read more here.

Make sure you read that above link, it has some rather ridiculous facts and info from this year's disaster.

Thanks and unfortunately, we are out of time, so I will have to end it here. Thanks for reading and until next time, don't let those evil bastards fool you.

-Drew