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Writer's pictureMichelle Leduc Catlin

The Media is The Message

Updated: May 13, 2021


My first paid job in television began in 1988.


I worked as a story producer in lifestyle television - before the term “lifestyle television” had been coined.


I wrote, directed, and produced stories on home decorating, fashion, food, and heath.


I never considered working in hard news because I was no journalist.


My education was in radio and television broadcasting, along with filmmaking.


And so it was a shock to me when I spent time in the news room at the TV station where I worked, to discover that most of the people there were also not journalists.


They were trained in broadcasting, like me.


I’m not saying this is the case at all TV stations with all employees, but I think most people assume, like I did, that the people reporting and delivering our news are, you know, trained to do so.


The fact is, most news today is fed to news agencies through press releases and press conferences, where the message is at least somewhat controlled.


Who has the time and money for investigative journalism?


And as the decades passed, newspapers and television have had to learn to compete with online outlets and are, therefore, often more about ratings and advertising dollars than about objectivity and accuracy.


I’m probably not telling you much you don’t know, but it bears looking at.


News is always subjective.


It doesn’t appear with exactly the word count or airtime required to fill our favourite newspaper or news show.


It is chosen, shaped, and rolled out in order to garner readers, viewers, and clicks.

It tells a story to compel people to read or watch.


And nothing does that better than fear.


This is certainly part of the reason that the media hasn’t taken the time to “unpack” the data, question the narrative, and focus on the actual risks involved with the covid story.


Instead, daily case counts (based on inaccurate testing and an incorrect understanding of what a “case” actually is) are lashed at the public with the effect of scaring us into submission - and making sure we stay tuned.


For these reasons, I stopped looking to the media for my information and started going to the source.


The data.


“Follow the data.”


Biochemical engineer, Ivor Cummins, is one of my recent favourite finds. (You might remember him from my first blog.)


For 30 years, he has led global teams in complex problem-solving, and has spent nearly 10 of those years “intensively researching the root causes of modern chronic disease.”


What this unique skill set provides is an understanding of not only disease causality, but an understanding of health data, how to read it, and what to do with it.


In his inimitable style, Ivor breaks down government data and how it’s being reported. Check out these 3 short videos posted within the last few weeks…


  • Ivor uses government statistics that show the actual risk of C-19 death is far lower than what we may think…


  • Ivor breaks down how this media outlet (perhaps unwittingly) uses dodgy “experts” to abuse government data to forward the mainstream narrative...


  • Ivor shares the first mention in mainstream Irish media of a coroner speaking out about inaccurate covid death counts. AND, shows actual government data showing covid deaths in 2020 were no more than flu deaths in 2017, as well as links to 37 studies showing that lockdowns don’t work - including mention of how Imperial College in London “muddled their way into essentially fraudulent information....”


Part of what media does is decide where our attention should be.


You could argue that they have that right.


But so do we.


We have the right and the personal responsibility to determine for ourselves where we want our attention to be.


Knowing that we make our best, most rational decisions when we’re not panicked and in reactive survival mode, it’s more important than ever to be aware of where we get our information and how it’s presented.


If you concur, please share this message.


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