![\"Myth_versus_Reality\"](\"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Myth_versus_Reality-300x221.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Media\u2019s actions demonstrate the media is about the bottom line, not about informing the public, and if the public is misinformed or mislead\u2026\u2026…c\u2019est la vie..<\/p>\n
Being creatively maladjusted strips away one\u2019s illusions about media\u2019s purpose and priorities, and about Province political pundit Michael Smyth\u2019s job being anything other than maximizing the advertising revenue of the newspaper that employs him.<\/p>\n
Without the blindspots imposed by false belief(s) the media\u2019s political coverage highlights media posturing, the obvious questions left unasked, the gap between information needed for informed decisions and the limited, skewed information provided and how relying on media to inform misleads and misinforms the public.<\/p>\n
While the Province column posing the question was media standard content, it may have set a new low for media political coverage vis-a-vis the pot calling the kettle sooty bottom.<\/p>\n
Given the column\u2019s need to serve what media management considers to be the best interest of the bottom line it was expected Mr. Smyth would pander to the public\u2019s beliefs and perceptions while avoiding challenging\u00a0 readers to think beyond rearranging their existing prejudices<\/p>\n
Particularly when the most accurate answer to the question is the media itself, the nature of the media business and the public\u2019s false expectations about the media.<\/p>\n
Still, if one is casting aspersions about changes from policies and statements during the recent election campaign, one\u201ds pandering should be based on reality not a false perception nurtured in the public mind by media pandering.<\/p>\n
\u201c….an incredible concession from a government that cruelly clawed back disabled people\u2019s bus passes last year, refusing to budge even when poor people in wheelchairs protested at the legislature.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\nThe statement may reflect the perception imbedded into the public mind by the media but it does not reflect Reality. <\/strong><\/p>\nReality is – Reality does not care about media coverage, nor is it changed by media coverage.<\/em> Tao of James<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Reality was and remains: nothing was \u2018clawed back.<\/p>\n
Surviving on disability requires financial discipline, awareness and planning as housing costs in the lower mainland mean disability covers only rent and insurance, nothing more<\/p>\n
Prior to the change the majority of those on disability in BC did not receive the bus pass or the transportation allowance.<\/p>\n
Giving everyone on disability in BC an extra $77 a month – to spend as they saw fit – ended the unfairness of a minority on disability receiving more $$$ than the majority.<\/p>\n
Using the $77 increase for a bus passes or transportation still put a few [admittedly very few]\u00a0 extra dollars in the pockets of those who had received a bus pass or the transportation allowance.<\/p>\n
This unsexy reality was ignored by the media\u2019s edacious appetite for serving the bottom line, as was the irony that myself and the others receiving the transportation allowance ended up with fewer extra dollars in our pockets than those screaming so loudly about their bus pass benefit.<\/p>\n
The media is a business, not a public service. As such the media has every right to focus on and pursue the bottom line; to employ spin, hyperbole; misinformation and to ignore reality\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u2026\u2026.within the constraints imposed by the nature of the media business and its power to affect public perceptions. The power to shape – or misshape – public perception is why the the CRTC exists to regulate the media.<\/p>\n
The failure of the Canadian government to prevent the concentration, the conglomeratization of media ownership together with the failure of Canadian voters to instruct their elected governments to ensure widespread and diverse media ownership, has resulted in media ownership that requires only one hand to count the players.<\/p>\n
The concentration of media ownership causes pursuit of the bottom line to affect public perception in a manner and to an extent that creates misperceptions, misinformation and fails the \u201cscreaming \u2018Fire\u2019 in a crowded theatre when there is no fire\u201d test.<\/p>\n
Worse, the interaction of public myth about media and the actual effects of media\u2019s pursuit of the bottom line creates the perception there are no small fires and\/or diverts attention from small fires – allowing the small fires to become an all consuming conflagration.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201dWhy is the hard-headed Clark suddenly morphing into a soft-hearted mushball?\u201d There is a widely held public belief that the media\u2019s job is to provide the information that the public needs to be informed on issues As is the case with the majority of widely held public beliefs, especially the beliefs\/myths we base the governance of Canada on, the myth is untrue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,25,44,62,21,73,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-caveat-emptor","category-point-of-view","category-media","category-politics-the-issues","category-provincial","category-reality","category-the-james-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n
Media: Public Myth Versus Bottom Line Reality Part I - James W. Breckenridge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Media: Public Myth Versus Bottom Line Reality Part I - James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201dWhy is the hard-headed Clark suddenly morphing into a soft-hearted mushball?\u201d There is a widely held public belief that the media\u2019s job is to provide the information that the public needs to be informed on issues As is the case with the majority of widely held public beliefs, especially the beliefs\/myths we base the governance of Canada on, the myth is untrue.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-22T03:55:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Myth_versus_Reality-300x221.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James W. Breckenridge\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e8aac012477fbd6782de6641b564730\"},\"headline\":\"Media: Public Myth Versus Bottom Line Reality Part I\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-22T03:55:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160\"},\"wordCount\":770,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/Myth_versus_Reality-300x221.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Caveat emptor\",\"Consider\",\"Media\",\"Politics\",\"Provincial\",\"Reality\",\"The James Commentary\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160\",\"name\":\"Media: Public Myth Versus Bottom Line Reality Part I - James W. Breckenridge\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/Myth_versus_Reality-300x221.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-22T03:55:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e8aac012477fbd6782de6641b564730\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/Myth_versus_Reality.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/Myth_versus_Reality.jpg\",\"width\":1600,\"height\":1176},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?p=4160#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Media: Public Myth Versus Bottom Line Reality Part I\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/\",\"name\":\"James W. Breckenridge\",\"description\":\"Advocate for the Homeless in Abbotsford, BC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e8aac012477fbd6782de6641b564730\",\"name\":\"James W. Breckenridge\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ff6c8deb98ae4c6bdac84466bb69fa996132849ab712df7ee59522caf3872c10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ff6c8deb98ae4c6bdac84466bb69fa996132849ab712df7ee59522caf3872c10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ff6c8deb98ae4c6bdac84466bb69fa996132849ab712df7ee59522caf3872c10?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James W. Breckenridge\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Media: Public Myth Versus Bottom Line Reality Part I - James W. Breckenridge","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Media: Public Myth Versus Bottom Line Reality Part I - James W. Breckenridge","og_description":"\u201dWhy is the hard-headed Clark suddenly morphing into a soft-hearted mushball?\u201d There is a widely held public belief that the media\u2019s job is to provide the information that the public needs to be informed on issues As is the case with the majority of widely held public beliefs, especially the beliefs\/myths we base the governance of Canada on, the myth is untrue.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160","og_site_name":"James W. Breckenridge","article_published_time":"2017-08-22T03:55:58+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Myth_versus_Reality-300x221.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"James W. Breckenridge","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James W. Breckenridge","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160"},"author":{"name":"James W. Breckenridge","@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/5e8aac012477fbd6782de6641b564730"},"headline":"Media: Public Myth Versus Bottom Line Reality Part I","datePublished":"2017-08-22T03:55:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160"},"wordCount":770,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Myth_versus_Reality-300x221.jpg","articleSection":["Caveat emptor","Consider","Media","Politics","Provincial","Reality","The James Commentary"],"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160","url":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160","name":"Media: Public Myth Versus Bottom Line Reality Part I - James W. Breckenridge","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Myth_versus_Reality-300x221.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-22T03:55:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/5e8aac012477fbd6782de6641b564730"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Myth_versus_Reality.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Myth_versus_Reality.jpg","width":1600,"height":1176},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=4160#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Media: Public Myth Versus Bottom Line Reality Part I"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/","name":"James W. Breckenridge","description":"Advocate for the Homeless in Abbotsford, BC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/5e8aac012477fbd6782de6641b564730","name":"James W. Breckenridge","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff6c8deb98ae4c6bdac84466bb69fa996132849ab712df7ee59522caf3872c10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff6c8deb98ae4c6bdac84466bb69fa996132849ab712df7ee59522caf3872c10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ff6c8deb98ae4c6bdac84466bb69fa996132849ab712df7ee59522caf3872c10?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"James W. Breckenridge"},"url":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4160"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4163,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4160\/revisions\/4163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Myth_versus_Reality\"](\"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Myth_versus_Reality.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n