When I first heard of this 'freedom convoy', I have to say that I was skeptical like a lot of other Canadians. After all, we'd seen this same kind of song and dance before, had we not?
But then I read a lot of messages, saw a lot of photos and video clips, and I soon realized that, hey, maybe there's something of true value to this whole thing.
On paper, I liked what I was hearing. A convoy of trucks headed to Ottawa so that truckers could have a voice against COVID restrictions that they believed would hurt their ability to haul goods back and forth across the U.S. border. The necessary goods that both you and I enjoy in our everyday lives. This wasn't an anti-vaccine movement, in fact I'd say that most truckers out there on the roads have already had their arms jabbed.
No, what this was supposed to be was a large, sprawling group of blue-collar, everyday Canadians going to have their say in our nation's capital. In my book, that's more than fair. Sometimes a phone call or an email just isn't enough.
Taking what I was reading into consideration and knowing what I do after more than a baker's dozen years of being a news man, I took to social media and said the following:
"Just a note from someone who's been deeply entrenched in the media now for almost 15 years.
You will read headlines over the next few days that are splattered all over Facebook, Twitter and all over social media regarding the trucking convoy headed to Ottawa in order to make truckers' voices heard on government mandates related to COVID-19 that they feel are hurting both their industry and the everyday way of life for the Canadians whose goods are stored and transported on their trucks.
I'm here to simply tell you that what I've described above is precisely what this convoy message is about. Now, having said that, you will definitely see attention-grabbing headlines and perhaps even read stories in which writers (*not always necessarily fellow journalists) will approach the subject matter from the angle of, 'loud, angry truckers who may be anti-vaxxers motoring to Trudeau's doorstep'. What I hope people will keep in mind is that many truckers *are* fully vaccinated. For one, they're keeping their own personal health and safety in check while traveling from province to province on a job, away from their families. And two, many of the companies hiring them to haul goods require them to be vaccinated for about a mile-long paper trail's worth of legal purposes and insurance reasons.
Now, that's not to say that the anti-vaxx contingent of people won't gobble away some of the attention along the way, but luckily in the almost two years since COVID stopped to do its damage, that crowd has fast become a minority. My hope is that, as readers and consumers of a boat-load of news and headlines that are virtually thrown at you every day, you will remember the reason as to why exactly this convoy is happening. Do or don't support it if you will, that is absolutely *your* choice, but I hope many of you will at least deflect all of the clickbait headlines and take note of *why* it happened in the first place. As they say, do some research and know your source.
I learned a very long time ago in my line of work that sometimes, the "louder" and more attention-snatching that the headline and story is, the more that the writer is coming at it from a personal viewpoint and has stock in what the eventual outcome may be, all for that delicious web traffic, those bigtime story hits and hashtag trending.
We as journalists are not all like that, but unfortunately it seems that those who *are get the most attention and find themselves in control of the narrative, even if it's a narrative that doesn't always exist in the first place.
Just a heads up from someone who's been "in the game" as they say for a decade and change."
I stand by what I said because, based on my experience, this is how my fellow brothers and sisters in the media can operate. Take a hard left turn and run with a story from another angle that takes away from the main directive, and pepper it with quotes (sometimes taken out of context) that support the narrative that you've decided to publish. Hey, I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know; the media's been doing it for decades and they'll continue to do it for decades to come.
I guess I'm just glad that, in the end, I work for a weekly community newspaper and website that isn't owned by any of the gigantic corporate conglomerates. Yes, we're modest in size, but on the flip side of that coin, we're also honest and do our best to present balanced stories that give both sides. You'll never find any sort of 'agenda' with us.
When we take a look at the federal government side of things, I have to say that some of what the Prime Minister said was disappointing. I mean, let's be honest here: if that trucker turnout in Ottawa is a "small fringe minority" as he said, then I have the body of a Greek God. You can put a label on a group if you must, but to deny the sheer physical size of this still-growing movement across Canada is not only an exercise in chosen blindness, it's just simply wrong.
Now, having said all that, I also have to say that after a few days of this movement, it's disappointing to see some of what I've been seeing. For one, a Terry Fox statue vandalized, and the National War Memorial also desecrated. I've since heard that groups in the convoy actually went and physically protected both of those monuments, and that's encouraging, but the damage was already done, at least from the media's point of view.
The problem that can arise from movements like this is you will always have a few proverbial bad apples in the bag. This movement was never supposed to be about the legitimacy of COVID vaccines or anyone's personal views on the federal government, and it sure as Hell wasn't supposed to elicit support from those waving Nazi flags and shouting their extremist views.
When those people are the loudest, that's what attracts the microphones and camera eyes. That's a shame.
It remains to be seen what comes next, but in my eyes, it looks like some damage control is in order.
For this week, that's been the Ruttle Report.
