Sex, lies and videotapes – do TV journalists really cover their subjects?

Editorial Comment by Tom Davey

We practised freelance writing for many years at a country retreat in Aurora where we also kept several horses. Armed with this dual experience, we can confidently vouch for the etymological accuracy of the following items.

In the equestrian world, when breeding concludes, the stallion is said to have covered the mare. On television, when anchors breathlessly report news stories, they often introduce a reporter, whom they say, has been covering the story. As many scientists know only too well, when the story subsequently unfolds, the environmental facts are often covered much the same way as the mare was.

The disinformation about environmental issues has cost the public far more than it knows. Public hysteria generated by slanted and sensational media coverage has resulted in hundreds of millions being wasted. The Interim Waste Authority and the Ontario Waste Management Corporation cost Ontarians over $225 million without a spoonful of waste being treated or an ounce of solid waste being interred.

And it would be easier and cheaper to locate gold, then mine it, than fund the environmental assessments of many landfill proposal hearings which drag on for years, costing many more millions. The cover charge of media disinformation has been astronomical. A substantial number of proven treatment processes could have been installed for this sum of money and there would be public outrage if the real costs of distorted media coverage were ever calculated.

Good news seems anathema to many television reporters. On the rare occasion when they do report environmental progress, insertion of the conjunction but seems mandatory. For example, a report might say Atlantic Salmon have returned to the River Thames for the first time in decades. Then, after an imperceptible pause, the presenter will continue, but environmentalists fear that many Londoners will still feel it necessary to buy bottled water for drinking water purposes. As noted, the word but, is a conjunction and conjunctivitis is also the medical name for an eye inflamation, somewhat appropriately known as Pink Eye.