Nevermind The Newshole....Here Come 'The Agenda Items'

PacPressGoin'Down
ForGoodVille


David Beers, the man behind The Tyee, used to work at the Vancouver Sun.

And, apparently, one of his old stablemates recently sent him an internal memo from the VSun's editor-in-chief Patricia Graham regarding the current decrepit state of the paper.

I found the following passage, in which Ms. Graham ruminates on what has gone wrong with their news coverage of Lotusland, particularly interesting:

".....Consequently (ie. as a result of staff-cuts), editors charged with filling the local newshole have had to rely more heavily on agenda items and small crime stories. We have also lost depth and expertise in some areas, which has hindered our ability to put news in context for our readers....."

So.

Essentially, Ms. Graham is admitting to her staff that their paper no longer actually covers and/or comments critically on local news that matters.*

Instead, they focus on petty crime.

OK - I get that.

But this business about 'agenda items'......

What the heckfire, are those, exactly?

Puff-pieces based on PR fodder from the fine folks at Wingnut Welfare shops like the Fraser Institute, perhaps?


Sheesh.



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*Which is also what many in the Bloggodome have been saying for sometime now.... Of course, when we say such things we are regularly dismissed as know-nothing cranks that just make stuff up......


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