The future of...

Journalism used to be a revered craft. We once received our news from a fully functional, professional writer who had interviewed sources that didn’t always know if they should be giving up the information they tenderly spoke out loud. The articles we read were expertly written with great care and consideration for the art of words and language.

In short, it all seemed so very important.

As of the time of this writing, our news has been sequestered to the realm of the social media abyss. Just as we scroll by the major achievements of our children, the minor accomplishments of our own lives, and the mundane existence we bore outwards for a serotonin boosting thumbs up; we take in our news with an alarming indifference as it flows away from our vision.

Our heroes were writers, at least they were always mine. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson was a giant of epic proportions, creating astounding landscapes from blades of grass and grains of sand. Tom Wolfe was a master of the standard in spectacular. Every journalist at the local paper had something to lose if they sacrificed their integrity, and that integrity was derived from a sense of accuracy and morality.

Influential-based money and interest-based censorship signed the beginning of the end. As soon as the opinion section turned to a monetary mission, the intellectual honesty of our information was sacrificed indefinitely and forever more.

There is a light at the end of the subway towards 1984. There are still those out there that have trust in the fifth estate. Those that remain a belief the watchful eye has a place in our broken society.

Every once in a while, there comes along a participation in the patronage of honest journalism.

In my own hometown, a contender for sanity has emerged. Sprawl (in Calgary) has carved a path towards what they call “slow journalism.” Taking time to realize a story that many of us had no idea existed at all, and turning that into a fascinating report of suddenly essential media.

In this web-based easy access way of life, the prospect of a deranged initial vision is always a possibility. If the model of slow and crowd funded news becomes more the norm than the fringe, we will all be much better served towards a brighter future. One in which we can still have our watchdogs and servants dedicated to righting the wrongs most times previously unseen.