CHODAN: Canadian newspapers continue to cover stories that matter
Article content
Foreign interference in a Canadian election. A rigged procurement system that cost taxpayers millions. The complex roots of the affordable housing crisis. Those are some of the stories that shocked and sobered Canadians over the past year — important investigations that were broken by some of this country’s largest newspapers.
But it wasn’t just Canada’s major publications that dug up stories that mattered over the last year.
tap here to see other videos from our team.
CHODAN: Canadian newspapers continue to cover stories that matter Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
The Eastern Door, which serves the 8,000-person Mohawk community of Kahnawake in Quebec, revealed the names of priests who had sexually abused Indigenous children there and in Spanish, Ont.
The Brockville Recorder and Times in eastern Ontario probed the actions of a police officer who recorded the rape of an unconscious woman on his cellphone.
The London Free Press in southwestern Ontario wrote about what that community lost when a white nationalist mowed down the Afzaal family with his pickup truck.
Day after day, week after week, Canada’s newspapers publish content that counts, both on the national stage and close to home. All of the aforementioned stories were nominated for major journalism awards in the past year. But some of the most valuable information newspapers generate is local — coverage of town council, city bylaws, who’s running for public office. In other words, content that is vital to the health of our democracy at all levels.
That is an increasingly valuable commodity in a world where misinformation is rife. Unlike artificial intelligence, newspapers produce content that is researched and verified before it’s published. Unlike partisan echo chambers online, newspapers present accurate, fair and balanced information about who, what, when, where and why things happen in communities.
That is why Canadians continue to look to newspapers for credible information they can trust. And that’s something we should all celebrate during National Newspaper Week.
— Chodan is the former senior vice-president, editorial, for Postmedia Network.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.