The News Forum is a Canadian English news media company that is owned by The News Forum Incorporated, a company whose directors have not been publicly announced. The founder, Tore Stautland, is also the president of Trillennium Media Group, a company that runs and owns the News Forum. Trillie Media, a sister company, has the same ownership, and also manages the popular MySpace and Voo websites.
This company is an Internet news channel. It provides information to its readers in relation to Canadian politics, economy, health, business as well as sports and pop culture. Their website states that they “first and foremost” provide news to the public. They are keen to provide their subscribers with the most current information and discussions. Their motto is “You won’t find an old horse.” In other words, they want their readers to stay up-to-date with the latest happenings in industry, politics economy, as well as in pop culture. They also would like Canadians to take part by providing them with information.
The News Forum has become a unique hybrid of a conventional “news” media company and an information service. This is a positive thing for Canadian citizens, as they have something to rely on for information, but the fact that they’ve been successful in their work also means that they have an element of brain drain on those who are taking part. The News Forum has succeeded in achieving their goal of being a source for content, but they have not had participants actually think or talk about anything. Unfortunately some of the weaknesses of the News Forum have been revealed.
First, Canadians have come relying on their Information Service providers for a contrast to the information they receive on the News Forum. In other words, when they use the News Forum as a source of information, they are relying on the experience and expertise of one person (the Forum administrator) to provide an alternative to the biased information that is offered to forum members. This means that even though the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) is known for providing balanced reporting throughout the day, and the Globe and Mail newspaper does a better job of being more fair than the two national news organizations (NWSO and CBC) but they rely on one individual (the writer) to provide a counterbalance to the biased information that is posted on their websites. Canadians are receiving more detailed and diverse information from their News forums than ever before, yet they often get information that isn’t as precise or thorough as they thought. It’s frustrating for Canadian citizens to rely on one source of information that for the most part has been their own government, to give a different perspective to the biased information portrayed on their government websites.
The writer currently working for the Canadian conservative news channel Tueday TV, John Lindsay, for example, isn’t able to acknowledge that his mother language is Hindi. Even so, Mr. Lindsay purports to be proficient in speaking and understanding Punjabi and Hindi despite being unable to write or read in either of these languages. This obviously begs the question: if the man is unable to speak or comprehend one of these languages, why does he believe he can present news items on the Canadian conservative news channel Tueday that are skewed and filled with inaccurate or outdated information? Does this mean that he does not know his own culture and background? Surely not, especially given that he graduated from an American university (averaging just over a 3.0 GPA) and worked in broadcast media in the U.S. state of Texas for the past 15 years.
This isn’t the only instance of a news feature discussion that isn’t not addressing the topic in a proper manner. In the same episode, The Canadian Justice reporter Jennifer Paget was interviewed by Stephen Lewis. Ms. Paget uncorked a wonderful speech about women’s empowerment including what it is to be a mother, a daughter, sister, wife or friend (and of course, a human being). However, she did not discuss employment opportunities or the fact that many women in these same circumstances do not have a job that is highly paid. The segment also featured an exchange between Ms. Paget and one of the guests in the studio during which the moderator noted that Ms. Paget was often criticized for being too nice , and never blaming the people in the interview room that she felt made comments to her about the manner she presented and discussed issues related to employment and workplace violence.
This has meant that the majority of news attention and audience of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation has been focused on the positive aspect of the story. These are just two examples of reports that are in-depth that demonstrate how news forums can help to provide balanced and accurate coverage of topics that appeal to a wider audience. These forums also permit various experts, politicians and personalities to share their thoughts and opinions on particular issues. By using this venue, Canadians can get the best of both worlds, by getting the information they need from an all-encompassing source.
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