UN Human Rights Council Condemns Fake News and Hate Speech

The UN Human Rights Council adopted a plan of action to combat disinformation last week. Find out why disinformation is more than just a nuisance, it’s a threat to human rights and fundamental freedoms.

When I was growing up, we could trust the news. Canadian television journalists like Lloyd Robertson, Peter Kent, Harvey Kirk and Earl Cameron were repected and admired for their honesty and professionalism.

In the print world, we could read icons like Gordon Sinclair, Pierre Berton, Jeffrey Simpson, or Barbara Frum. We knew that what we read in the Telegram, the Star, or the Globe would be accurate and objective.

Once we could receive TV news from the US, we got to know David Brinkley, Barbara Walters, and of course, the most trusted man in America, Walter Cronkite. Everyone knew about journalistic standards, and nobody raged against so-called “fake news.”

Cable News and Internet Have Opened the Floodgates

It’s not that ethics within the much-maligned “mainstream media” have changed. However, cable news, and especially the Internet have opened the floodgates to a flow of far less…