Editor,
Your recent editorial about Facebook illustrated only one of the problems with the platform.
Not only is it a platform where civility in public discourse has been abandoned, it has become a substitute news outlet replacing legitimate sources such as the Hope Standard. This sad state of affairs has resulted in Facebook becoming a primary daily news outlet for many people.
In the same way that comments on Facebook are wild and unrestrained, such is the news as reported there. The scariest example of this has been the charges of connection to extra-territorial influence in the political affairs of elections in the U.S.A.
A microcosm of this can be seen locally here in Hope. On any given day, Hope’s bulletin board Facebook page will feature posts along the lines of “just saw RCMP speeding north, what’s happening?” and “Anyone know why the sky over Laidlaw is so smoky?” These questions are met with answers such as “I heard it was…”. It doesn’t take too long for speculation and opinion to morph into fact.
There are several reasons for this morphing. One small part of this is the fact the Hope Standard is a weekly newspaper. As it does not live in the “here and now” it cannot be relied on as a primary news source.
The bigger problem is actually caused by deficits in traditional non-print media. In many ways, as far as TV and radio news goes, we are not in the Fraser Valley, but rather the ignored valley. TV news rarely covers anything occurring here, including simple items such as the weather. Even BC1, which should be dedicated to targeted province-wide news, is focused primarily on our major urban centres with Vancouver topping all. Other areas such as Hope get covered in only a very general sense.
Radio is far worse in almost every way. CBC Vancouver is just what the name implies. The lack of a news bureau covering the eastern Fraser Valley means that news, weather and traffic for our area is largely unreported. Those in the local area who do not listen to CBC may tune into the Vancouver-based news and traffic radio stations, or entertainment stations in Chilliwack. The news stations pay absolutely no attention to anything occurring here.
The stations in Chilliwack are a lost cause that care only about playing the latest tune by whomever pop culture is promoting. Any news they report is whatever is under their nose in Chilliwack, or what a celebrity is doing. Hope is again totally ignored.
All of this has resulted in people flocking to Facebook as a de facto town square. Facebook’s unrestrained nature that doesn’t have the checks and balances associated with professional journalism, such as that practised by the Hope Standard, means that the people of Hope can only form fact and opinion based on speculation. The net result is that the true facts of important issues such as crime and panhandling, drug abuse, and local government remain largely unknown to the public.
If it wasn’t for the fact-based reporting of the Hope Standard, we the people would have no idea what is really going on in our town.
One solution to this knowledge gap is more daily reporting on the Hope Standard website as opposed to the newspaper’s Facebook page, seeing as many refuse to use Facebook due to its questionable practices.
The CBC should open a news bureau covering the eastern Fraser Valley so that our news gets reported.
As I opined in a letter a few years ago, a truly local community Hope-based radio station staffed by local people would also go far to fill that gap as well as promote the area to travelers.
Finally, people should be discouraged from relying on Facebook as their primary news source.
Anthony G. Pavick