Your editorial “Truth Matters” (Gazette, Jan. 11) was excellent and should be disseminated widely. It is unfortunate that those who need to read your message probably won't see it, as it is more than 140 characters. It seems that we have arrived at a state in our evolution where few of us seem to be interested in searching for the truth by reading in depth, fact-checked reporting.
The evolution of electronic media has been a boon in many ways, however, there are some serious drawbacks, and your editorial shines a spotlight on an extremely important drawback that, as you have stated, presents a real danger to the preservation of our democracy. As you have pointed out, journalists are not perfect, and there are certainly several cases where journalists have indeed missed the mark.
The news media itself has to shoulder some of the responsibility for the demise of in-depth solid reporting in that it seems to have fallen into a pattern whereby beating the other media to the story is more important than whether or not a story is actually true. This feverish race to be the first to report often precludes the ability to be accurate. This has also contributed to setting a dangerous precedent where speed is more important than accuracy.
D. Forster, St. Albert
