A Niche for Mainstream Journalism

When journalists talk about what is at stake in the digital era, they talk of dwindling jobs, shrinking media outlets and the frantic struggle to capture people’s attention. But by following what they think are the dictates of the new technology, journalists are helping to undermine something more important than their jobs: the ability of governments to deliver good public policy.

When I sat down to write this essay the Fort McMurray wildfire was in the news. Correction, it was the news. Every media site was filled to the brim with stories, videos, podcasts and photos of the flight of 90,000 people from the Alberta oil town and the efforts of firefighters to tame a wildfire called The Beast. Media outlets competed with each other to provide the most dramatic or heart–rending tales, piling hyperbole on top of hyperbole. It was the worst, the biggest, the most damaging disaster in Alberta’s history, depending on which news item you read, listened to or viewed. And...