Maclean's Article... No not that one.

I recently read an article in the September 29th edition of Maclean's magazine, in the opinion section called "How journalists get in the way of the election" by Andrew Coyne. Coyne critiques the media's coverage of the federal election as "reporting about reporting, campaigns about campaigns" and that "we are all in mortal peril of disappearing up our own backsides." He says that journalists spend way too much time reporting about polls, telling our readers or listeners who's ahead or behind over and over, speculating on on polls and then "whatever space we have left we devote to the strategists." All in all, Coyne believes that too much coverage is devoted to the fluff of campaigns and frontmen and not enough to the actual policies, issues and important questions that result from an election. I won't go on and on about what the article actually says but if you're interested, read it for yourself.

Although I don't usually agree with Maclean's magazine, I think I could have wrote Coyne's article myself... that's how strongly I agree with most of what he says. Coyne writes that what people really want to know about an election is "who are these people and what are they going to do to us?" Plain and simple. As both a voter and a journalist, I couldn't agree more. Especially when it comes to polls. By the time you take into account such factors as margins of error and sample pools, they're pretty much useless. Maybe a poll every two weeks would be okay, especially if it's a well-done poll that is actually somewhat accurate and indicative of which direction popular opinion seems to be heading. Wait, is it actually possible to use the words "accurate" and "indicative" in the same sentence as the word "poll"? I'm not sure.

As a young First Nations woman living in Saskatchewan who is both a voter and a journalist, I must say I am always disappointed with the media's election coverage. None of the coverage speaks to the issues I actually care about like resource revenue sharing between the federal and provincial governments and the First Nations or post-secondary funding for First Nations students. Instead, time is wasted on topics like what sort of vegetable is Stephen Harper or (last federal election) what label is Belinda Stronach's outfit/ who's hockey pro husband is she stealing. Who gives a crap? As a voter, I want to know about their policies, opinions about war, ideas for solving Canada's problems etc. As a journalist, I sure as hell wish more of us would start writing about those topics. If I want to know about fluff, I'll turn on ET Canada or just find some other way to mindlessly destroy brain cells.

Or if media coverage continues its recent trends, I'll just flip open any newspaper or turn on any channel...

Maclean's website, if you're interested, is: http://www.macleans.ca/

Treaty Four Pow Wow

The first story that I'm working on for our latest edition of Ink is about the Treaty 4 Powwow that took place this weekend on the Star Blanket Cree Nation about an hour outside of Regina. It's an annual powwow and I think it's also usually the last outdoor powwow of the year before everyone has to head indoors for the cold weather.

This year, the organizing committee contemplated cancelling the powwow because of safety concerns related to gang violence but then changed their minds after pressure from community members and elders who wanted to see the event move forward. Initially, they were going to compromise and just have a one-day event on Saturday but after one of the suspected gang members was apprehended by police on Thursday, the committee was able to raise enough funds to extend the powwow to a full two-day event.

I haven't heard the full story yet of how the powwow went yet, but regardless of whether or not there was violence, the community was able to take a really negative situation and turn it into something positive. The Treaty 4 territory coming together to support eachother and host an event that they feel is important sends the message that they refuse to bow down to violence. The people I spoke to were very passionate about the need to keep traditional cultural events going strong while also making sure people are safe. I think all of those involved in planning the powwow showed great care for their community members' safety and handled a difficult situation with a lot of courage and hard work. Can't wait to get an update on how it all went!

UPDATE: The powwow went well and there were no reports of any gang violence or fighting. I spoke to several people who attended and all were impressed with how well the event went. Police, volunteers and security all made their presence known and as far as I know, everyone seemed pretty pleased with the two-day event. Since then, all six of the Regina jail escapees have been found and arrested.

To view my complete story, check out the first edition of Ink or visit our website:

http://www.jschool.ca/

Check out the Treaty 4 powwow video in the Videobar for footage from last year's grand entry!