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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2017-07-06, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 6, 2017. PAGE 5. Other Views What goes around, comes around Jt says something about the state of our current media landscape that I read the obituary of the legendary Merle Tingley in a Toronto newspaper. Many older readers will remember "Ting" as the mischievous editorial cartoonist of the London Free Press from 1948 to 1986. Generations grew up chuckling at Ting's gently humorous cartoons, then pouring over them to find his trademark Luke Worm, the comical pipe -smoking worm that was always hidden somewhere in the background (except for once when Ting forgot to include it and The Free Press's switchboard was swamped by people calling to ask where the worm was hidden). During Ting's years The London Free Press was not just London's daily newspaper, but most of southwestern Ontario's. There were "stringers" (part-time correspondents) in Wingham and Clinton and other towns who reported stories of newsworthy local events. There were bureaus in Stratford, Sarnia and Chatham. In return, thousands of people across the region subscribed to The Free Press. There was home delivery in local towns and villages. The newspaper was a vital part of life in the region. It was a time when every town had a locally - owned newspaper bringing local news to readers' homes but The Free Press expanded the information base beyond our immediate communities, the way Doc Cruickshank's CKNX radio and television stations also did. Ting became a celebrity not just from work in the newspaper but because he'd sometimes show up on television on CFPL, also owned by Walter Blackburn, who published The Free Press. When Doc Cruickshank needed to sell his television station, his old friend Blackburn bought it and kept it running for years. Keith Roulston From the cluttered desk Things began to come apart when Walter Blackburn passed away, and really disintegrated after his daughter Martha, his successor, died at a young age. New management didn't think it important for The Free Press to serve the region, closed bureaus and stopped home delivery in distant locations, drawing back to serving just the city of London. Eventually the paper was sold to a chain that cut staffmg to bolster profits. I haven't bought The Free Press for years, which is why I found out about Ting's passing (at age 95) through The Globe and Mail. Meanwhile the Blackburn family also sold the television stations in London and Wingham. Wingham was soon closed. London's staffing and local programming have been reduced by successive waves of cutbacks dictated from the top of some corporation in Toronto. This same sort of top-down decision- making has also diminished most of the region's community newspapers to little more than pamphlets. Space and staffing to tell local stories have been squeezed. With no local decision -makers, these chain -owned newspapers have become a shadow of their once -proud, locally -owned predecessors. Meanwhile, you might have noticed The Citizen published a rather large issue last week: 64 pages in all when you count the regular paper, the Blyth Festival special section and a special section saluting East Wawanosh's 150th anniversary. The same week you received that fat paper, many farm homes were receiving their 80 -page July issue of The Rural Voice, also produced in our office, though completed a week or so earlier because of the extra printing and production requirements for a magazine. All this came from a staff of just eight full- time and five part-time professionals. These products, of which we're pretty proud, were made possible by this dedicated and hard- working crew, and beyond that by our community -ownership of more than 40 shareholders. That structure means we remain dedicated to serving our communities and finding innovative ways to keep bringing you local coverage. But none of it would have been possible without dozens upon dozens of businesses that purchased advertising space in those publications to help us pay the salaries of staff to tell those stories and to pay for printing and postage costs to get them to you. Our future depends upon their future. Looking back at our 1992 East Wawanosh 100th anniversary issue and our 2002 Blyth 125th anniversary section, many of the advertisers have disappeared. This is where you come in. When you're making a purchasing decision, remember that there's more than the product and price on the line. If you buy from local businesses you're probably also making this newspaper possible. By supporting them you may also be supporting local hospitals and sports teams because these businesses are giving back to their community. Save money by buying in the city or online and you might be undercutting your community. Remember, sometimes the bottom line you see isn't the real bottom line. My to-do list: Recognise excellence There was a time in public school, and I can't remember whether it was Grade 4, Grade 8 or somewhere in between, that I was introduced to Bob Dylan's 1964 theme song for activism, "The Times They Are a- Changin"'. At that time, the harmonica -infused ballad about the endless march of change and how people need to get on board or get out of the way was part of a lesson about how people (in this case, people who used the tune as a theme song) working together can achieve a great deal more than they could on their own. That lesson meant something incredible to me: that people can influence real change. Sure, it might take a lot of co-ordinated effort, but a dedicated group of people could bring about change. Apparently, I was half -wrong — it doesn't take a lot of co-ordinated effort, but a dedicated group of people can bring about change. Take, for example, those who want to stamp out individual success and convince everyone they are just as special as everyone else. It may seem a bit odd that, from a lesson of people working together for change, I'm pointing at how individuals aren't recognized but, bear with me here. As far as I can tell, there is no over -arching hierarchy that's trying to stamp out recognition of the good things that individuals, especially individual children do. The practice, which includes participation ribbons, abolition of awards and the idea that everyone can do anything (without the all- important addition of "sometimes you'll have to work for it") seems to have spread without any kind of spearhead. It quietly invaded, like some kind of foreign species, without anyone noticing until it was too late. Much like T.S. Eliot's end of the world in The Hollow Men, the end of individual success seems to be coming about not with a bang, but with a whimper. In this week's paper, you can see what I mean — within the same school board and same school district you're able to see how, to the north, individual achievement is being replaced by the feel -goods of having everyone on the same ground. F.E. Madill School's Grade 8 graduation class has no awards and no valedictorians (just class speakers) while other schools more central to Huron County still recognize the efforts of students. Awards, recognition of excellence and titles like valedictorian are important for the people who receive them because they represent the goal at the end of a long, arduous road. Those same awards are more important, however, to the people who don't receive them because they represent a missed opportunity or a call to action. When I was younger, nothing spurred me on more than seeing something I could have achieved going to someone else because I didn't put the effort forth that I should have. That may sound a bit prideful or make me out to be a sore loser, but pay attention to the exact phrasing I used there — something I could have have achieved. If I did my honest -to -God (and maybe more important, honest -to -myself) best and it still wasn't enough, then it was beyond me to win an award. If I didn't do my best and didn't win, I had no one to blame but myself and no one to look to except myself when it came time to aim for the next accolade. Whether I won or lost, provided I had done the best I could, there was always a lesson in that: if I won, it meant that I had to keep improving and keep trying to continue to be the best. If I didn't win, it meant I needed to train and study so I could become the best. If I had started preparing for some kind of competition two weeks ahead of time and lost, then it meant I needed to start a month ahead of it the next time. And, if, after all that, I still lost, the lesson was there are many things I'm great at, but that particular competition may not be one of them. The lessons that these recognitions of excellence provide are invaluable later in life. Whether a student is realizing their strength lies elsewhere or they didn't prepare enough, they need to know how good they are when compared to their peers or there will never be any reason for them to continue improving. I'm not arguing for the reinstatement of the dunce cap or anything derogatory, although ridicule does work as a great inspiration for overcoming difficulties. I'm saying that, if we don't recognize those who do great things, others won't feel the desire to great things themselves. Take, for example, this very newspaper. In our old office on the east side of Queen Street, there were awards in my office that The Citizen had won prior to me being there. Those gave me something to aim for and, while I'm not saying that it was a solo effort, eventually we did become the best newspaper in Canada in our subscription class. Now, those awards are displayed in our offices so that every time anyone passes by them, we are reminded of what we need to do to be the best again. Shawn Loughlin Shawn's Sense It's a beautiful day While last week's issue was referred to in the office as "the Canada Day issue" due to the fact it would be in mailboxes and on coffee tables for Canada Day, it is this issue that will come out after we've all experienced the very special 150th Canada Day. I have to say that it was lovely driving around Huron County in the days leading up to Canada Day. It filled me with pride to see so many houses adorned with Canadian flags small and large, in addition to some more creative Canadian decorations (Doug Chamney and his life-sized Ron McLean and Don Cherry cut-outs I'm looking at you). There is so much to love about this country. From what we see to what we feel to what we hear on a day-to-day basis, Canada is the only country in which I want to lay my head at night — the occasional vacation aside. Saying that, I was a bit dismayed when I heard that Bono and The Edge of U2 would be playing the Canada Day celebration in Ottawa as part of the country's sesquicentennial celebration. Apparently there is nothing more Canadian than having one of the biggest bands in the world (from Dublin, Ireland) play your most important celebration in 50 years. I can't ignore the fact that the lads weren't paid for this gig. They apparently donated their time as a gift to the people of Canada, which is a lovely gesture. But with such a strong musical fabric in this country, I would have loved to see a splashy Canadian name performing to celebrate all this country has done in the last 150 years — all it has become. One of my favourite musicians of all time — maybe my absolute favourite — is Neil Young. Young performed at the closing ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. Why couldn't he make the trip to Ottawa for a little "Old Man" or "Rockin' in the Free World"? There are plenty of big bands that hail from Canada's frozen tundra who could have been tapped to be part of this celebration. While it may be true that they may not be quite on the same level as U2, I think you have to look past that and realize that July 1 was all about Canadians celebrating Canada... with the help of a couple of Irish dudes on stage. Perhaps Gord Downie could have been coerced out of his medically -forced retirement for one last big show. He was at We Day. What's another few minutes? Maybe Grammy winners The Arcade Fire from Montreal could have been asked to ply their trade on stage. The suburbs of Toronto were also home to another of the world's biggest bands: Rush. Why weren't they consulted for this all- important day of Canadiana? If Denny was writing this column, he might suggest Nickelback, but since I'm a fan of good music, I'll spare you that conversation. (However, at the time of writing, there was an Edmonton rock station petitioning for Chad Kreuger and the boys to replace U2 on July 1.) Right now there are two absolutely amazing Canadian bands emerging as keepers of the rock flame: The Sheepdogs and Monster Truck. One embodies the souls of The Band and the Allman Brothers all in one, while the other is a knock -down, drag -out homage to 1970s hard rock, peppered with a little Bob Seger. But I guess they just don't have the star power of U2 unfortunately. And so it is that an Irish band would help Canadians celebrate their country. There is so much pride in Canadians these days in telling their own stories and celebrating their own achievements, but how quickly it can be forgotten when Bono's on the phone.