People at the 'Save the Salmon' Rally Last Week?
by Jack Etkin
Misleading people is one of the Corporate Media's most important jobs.  And the Times Colonist did a good job of misleading people recently on the subject of salmon farms and the threat they present to our wild salmon... 

 

Less than 1,000?

photo: Janine Bandcroft

Alexandra Morton's walk to save BC's wild salmon was an example of this media manipulation of the truth. 

Alexandra Morton has been a leader of the fight to save the wild salmon - her efforts culminating in this 'walk' to build public support to get rid of the fish farms that are contaminating and killing BC's wild salmon.

So how did the Times Colonist present their message to the people of Victoria? 

 

Here are some examples of their Corporate 'misinformation' in the Sunday, May 9 paper.

1.  They say 'Nearly 1000 people crowded Government St yesterday ...':  That number is an outright lie.  There is no way the crowd was less than 1000 people.  It was at least double or triple that number according to most people (including Global TV which reported the police estimate I believe), and quite possibly 4 or more times that number. 

 

The real question is; why would the Times Colonist deliberately downplay - lie about - the number of people who were there?  In my opinion it was done to make the public think that very few people were there and therefore the whole thing is of little importance.

2.  The TC story then goes on to present a 'balanced story' about the science and the issues of salmon farming, quoting extensively from the Salmon Farming Industry and a provincial scientist.  The problem is that the TC is always happy to present both the truth and the lies to their readers without any differentiation. 

 

If some people - the Industry and the province - are allowed to lie, while others tell the truth, it is very hard for 'truth' to win in that kind of an argument.  The Salmon Farming Industry is Corporate, we all know that the Corporations will say anything and lie about anything to get what they want, their record is extensive, there is simply no doubt that they always say that their poisons are safe.

 

There is NO REASON to believe anything that Corporations say about science or safety, but the TC happily presents their arguments as if there is no background of Corporate lies whatsoever.  And, sad to say, the provincial governments record is no better. 

 

Alexandra Morton may not be right in what she is saying, but you can be sure that she is doing her best to present the truth as she sees it; she is not being paid to lie which is completely true of the Corporations.

3.  Jobs:  The TC article goes into the jobs issue as well.  It is important to realize that the TC does not give a damn about jobs except when 'jobs' can be used to promote Corporate profits.  They have done this for decades.  When people were trying to protect some remnants of old-growth forests 20 years ago the TC would show pictures of the families of those who were 'going to be laid off' - as if they cared about them.  But a few years later, when the Corporations were laying these same people off by the thousands, the TC didn't seem to care about the families then. 

 

And it's the same now; hundreds of provincial government jobs right here in Victoria are disappearing, but they don't seem to matter at all to the TC, the salmon farm jobs however are well worth mentioning, and in fact they even double or triple the number of those jobs just to make them seem bigger.  This is the same TC that promotes the Free Trade deals which are sending our jobs overseas by the tens of thousands.  Those jobs also don't seem to matter.

4.  Actually though, I don't care about the lies and misinformation the TC always puts out; it is their right to lie and misinform.  The important thing is for the rest of us to know that WE DON'T HAVE A FREE PRESS IN CANADA. 

 

THE TIMES COLONIST DOES NOT WORK FOR US AND IT IS NOT OUR FRIEND.  IT IS CORPORATE, AND ITS JOB IS TO PUT OUT CORPORTE PROPAGANDA, WHICH IT DOES VERY WELL.  JUST DON'T BELIEVE TOO MUCH OF IT AND WE WILL ALL BE A LOT BETTER OFF..... AND PLEASE SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MEDIA.