I just want to start off this letter by saying that Pique Newsmagazine is one of the best small-town newspapers around. However, something that has happened every municipal election is causing me some concern.
This is a certain columnist’s articles that endorse municipal candidates for election. I find this to be highly unfair to both the candidates and the voting public. The media‘s job is to report—to inform us, the public, of what is going on—not trying to influence our decisions.
The CBC is an excellent example of this. Publicly funded, they do not shy away from reporting on anything Prime Minister Justin Trudeau does, from going to surf at Tofino instead of being at the Kamloops residential school for the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation or getting highly-paid speaking engagements for family members at the WE charity. Also reporting that Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre aligns himself with the freedom convoy, and opposes COVID vaccination policies. Those are facts which the voters use to then determine who to vote for. The CBC has never endorsed candidates for election.
For Glacier Media, however, to publish articles that endorses candidates is corruption—or it could be construed that way. Because what happens when some of the endorsed candidates get elected? Nothing’s for nothing in this world, so do those people owe Glacier Media or the columnist that wrote the article something? Inside info, perhaps?
I’m pretty sure there’s nothing monetary happening here, because in the hood this columnist lives in, a Maserati in the driveway would kind of stick out.
It’s the responsibility of the voters to find out who the people are running for office, and then cast a vote based on their research. If you don’t know who these people are, you shouldn’t vote at all, because you are disrespecting the people who made the effort to find out and skewing the outcome.
(Editor’s note: Like most media outlets, Pique employs both reporters and columnists, who serve different roles. Reporters report the news in a fair, unbiased way. Columnists share their personal opinions, which quite often include insights about politicians and their effectiveness—but don’t necessarily reflect the views of this publication.)
