A Council Run

I have spent more than 20 years in journalism and broadcasting, asking questions about how and why decisions that affect our communities get made. I watch and talk to the people who make those decisions. Two years in Orangeville, 8 in Toronto and the last 11 years, here at home.

I delivered the news about what's going on to listeners in Wasaga, Collingwood, and Clearview each weekday morning on 97.7 The Beach, and for 8 of those years, produced and hosted a one-hour daily talk show, which gave me the chance to ask questions about process and procedure and the effects of decisions made. I have put questions to nearly every candidate for office municipally, provincially and federally, and spoken at length with Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Councillors, Wardens, MPPs and MPs and former office-holders from all those positions.

But the nature of journalism is changing, mostly because of the Internet. The business models which used to sustain news and information programming have been blown up by social media, and it's not yet clear what the replacements will be. The transformation of the news business means I'm just one of hundreds of qualified, experienced and fair-minded journalists forced out of their chosen profession. In my case, new management at the company decided to cut costs, saying there isn't money to be made broadcasting locally-produced news and information on morning radio, so, my position was eliminated. I was told flat-out, it was a financial decision as the company tries to become more profitable. It hurts to be told the thing you've been doing your whole life, simply doesn't matter to your employer.

Here's the thing: holding decision-makers accountable for their decisions really does matter, regardless of whether you hear about it on the radio in the morning, because those decisions affect real people's lives. Tax dollars are real people's money and should not be stolen or squandered.

My analogy for what journalists and broadcasters are adapting to is that it's similar to blacksmithing when the automobile was invented. I put this thought to a friend of mine who said, "Maybe the blacksmiths became mechanics!" It's a very loose analogy, but makes some sense since the people involved in the transformation were still involved with their previous work, but from a new and different perspective.

I'm interested in what's going on around here, I want the best possible decisions made about how my hometown can continue to grow and prosper. I have been pushing for answers and explanations the last 11 years with the news and information programming I provided. How to keep it up when there is virtually no venue left? It's time to get to the table. Maybe I can keep 'em honest while sitting among them.

More to come.