SAYS EDITOR

Media part
of the news

THE NEWS MEDIA
no longer merely report
what’s happening---
they themselves have
become part of the ac-
tion, a community
Newspaper editor
claims.

Modern computer
technology and the resultant
‘‘information explosion’’ are
the root causes of this
development, said Noel
Wright, editor-in-chief of
the North Shore News in a
speech Tuesday to the North
Vancouver Kiwanis Club.

Raw information of every
kind is now pouring forth in
such vast quantities, he told
his audience, that the public
is looking more and more to
the media to analyze the
facts and serve them up ina
concise, digestible form.

Hence, the growing pro-
minence being given, par-
ticularly in newspapers, to
comment and opinion pres-
ented via editorials, signed
columns and other ‘‘insight’’
features.

These, in turn, often exer-
cise a direct effect of their
own on the people and
events they deal with, he
pointed out.

Opinion polls, now a
standard media tool, are
another aspect of the same
process, said Wright, and
politicians who blame unfa-
vorable polls for their pro-
blems may not be entirely
without jusufication.

He also cited the growing

‘manipulation’’ of the
media nowadays by groups
and individuals seeking
pubheny for ther own ends
by deliberately staging
“*media events’’

Teac ter NOV Lotstrat

A typical and frequent ex-
ample, he said, is advance
notification to newsrooms of
a planned demonstration
which, if unrecorded, would
have littl or no impact. Its
success is entirely dependent
upon the press, radia and
TV reporters who dutifully
turn out in response to the
organizers’ invitation.

**In all these ways,’’ said
Wright, ‘‘we see McLuhan’s
prophesy coming true---the
media isthe message.

“*‘More and more, we in
the media business are
becoming participants rather
than spectators, actually
shaping by our presence the
news we report. As the tech-
nological information explo-
sion continues, I believe this
trend will grow, because the
average reader or TV viewer
simply hasn’t the time to
cope alone with today’s tor-
rent of facts and figures on
every subject under the
sun.”’

Is this good or bad?

The only practical alter-
native, Wright replied, is
ultimately government-
controlled media on the Rus-
sian model, carrying, like
Pravda, only official ‘‘good
news”’ handouts in support
of a totalitarian power struc-
ture. By contrast, the huge
number of different angles
and viewpoints generated by
the free Western media are a
direct reflection of the dem
ocratic process.

**Whatever faults you may
feel the media have today,’’
he declared, ‘‘they are really
the faults of democracy
ttself---which Winston Chur
chill described as a very poor
form of government, except
that all the others are so
much worse!’

Norm Vipond

Candidate

Marned with four Cfihdror

NS resident foo VW

years

Over 20 years OF COMMUnity se cvice
bapenenc edn working with people

Concerns

Marnleniande Of Our (Omen itty

ota faneriity rersocherr teal

ae ons}

Sveaberty cmcoed porcnbace Eee: cof cma Pade e ss

thettest seotcitnori. Tor traffic pari atternne
OC NZIS teapot el tisasers Creat attest

OS Tre Trestles Pre xcs,

Thyer aptapoae Poof NOV bon tiie totais

Vervestoaprerverrit prbeatas.

@ bart teem ees teegiead

“For Responsible and
Fair Representation”

(orn Nov 1/7
Vote for

Norman Viz
ON. V. District Alde

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A9 - Sunday, November 4, 1984 - North Shore News

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