Three Knowledge Repositories in Plain English -- An Antidote to a Misinformed Citizenry
How NOT to be a Lazy Journalist -- Common Ground, Druthers & TheyLied.ca
After working as a journalist for decades, Utah citizen Don Gale sees how well-informed & hard working journalists are crucial to the survival of democracy.
CSNews is reposting Don Gale’s 2023 article entitled Lazy journalism leads to a misinformed citizenry — The survival of democracy depends on well-informed citizens at the bottom of this page. (This is to circumvent pesky pop-up advertisements that seem to block the full view of the article in its original location here.)
For over a year, CSNews has pointed at censorship in Canadian government-funded, corporate-backed “mainstream”, “establishment”, “legacy” media platforms. Whether through lies by omission (intentionally or not), top down threats of job loss for being “too investigative” on the job, an inbred lack of intellectual curiosity, not enough hours in every day, simple laziness, or otherwise, the problem remains that many Canadians are uniformed about many important topic areas to the detriment of our democracy.
These three information repositories provide good starting points for citizens, whether journalists or not, to orient themselves around many topics of our time.
Recognizing that some of the information and the people referenced particularly by Druthers and TheyLied.ca might be described by corporate “fact-checkers” as “Disinformation” or “Conspiracy Theory”, allow us to share a few points here:
HOW TO RECOGNIZE CLAIMS OF “DISINFORMATION” AS FALSE
If Wikipedia says something is mis/disinformation, consider that those editing the pages of the site might NOT want people to trust a certain source. This is what happened to the World Council of Health. They tried to edit out ad hominem (name calling) attacks against themselves but each time they did so, the text was changed back to the original defamatory wording. See www.worldcouncilforhealth.org/wikipedia/
If corporate “fact checkers” say something is mis/disinformation, check out which company runs that “fact checker”. (In the case of agencies, foundations or institutes, check the donors page.) Often if those running the site share the same investment chain (i.e. Blackrock, Vanguard, etc.) it is not in the interest of the “fact checker” to allow for information that is detrimental to their fellow partners within the same investment structure. For more on the “fact checking” industry, visit Exhibit F here:
If individuals say something is mis/disinformation, check out their work affiliations via LinkedIn or other professional sites. If they are employed at universities known to receive massive research funds for particular projects, don’t take their word on topics related to those projects. They will not be wanting to risk their academic positions by speaking out against their employer’s funding source.
If a person who is getting paid for “identifying mis/disinformation” claims that another person is spreading mis/disinformation, check to see if that other person has risked everything (including income to support their families) in order to warn the public of certain dangers. Ask if you knew that the building next door was on fire but your job required silence, whether you would do nothing and let others burn? Or would you be the one to break your employer’s stated wish for silence and prioritize saving lives? Realize that many of the so-called “misinformation providers” belong to the latter group and should instead be considered “Whistleblowers”. You can read more about some of them here: totalityofevidence.com/resources/experts/.
COMMON GROUND
Back in 1982, Vancouver resident Joseph Roberts sensed the need for an independent press to function as a counterbalance to the corporate-backed newspapers and magazines of the time. With a strong interest in peace, health and environmental topics, he founded Common Ground Publishing Corp. and began on a four decades-long publication venture. By 2008, he was celebrating the launch of his 200th issue.
Many Canadians may well remember piles of the large sized, free and informative newsprint magazines laying around in health food stores, independent cafés and on college and university campuses back in the 1980s, 90s and 2000s.
Joseph Roberts relied on advertisers to cover printing and distribution costs to ensure that the magazine would always remain free to readers.
Over time, he had numerous “bad actors” run interference with his advertisers, claiming that the critical content in the Common Ground Magazine is a form of disinformation. Similarly, a number of businesses putting his magazine out for pickup have been urged not to display the magazine. This sabotage, as well as problems with his website, have impacted Joseph Robert’s ability to produce issues as frequently as he did in the past. The media directory “SOURCES” has an entry for the Common Ground Magazine here: https://www.sources.com/Newsstand/SNS2974.htm
Common Ground is an independent publication, 100% Canadian owned. It is Western Canada’s biggest and best-loved monthly magazine dedicated to health, wellness, ecology and personal growth.
To find past issues of the Common Ground magazine, readers must now navigate to issu.com - a form of press reader that lets users virtually flip through each copy. https://issuu.com/search?q=common%20ground%20magazine
For example, readers can virtually flip through Issue 248 here: https://issuu.com/commongroundmagazinecanada/docs/cg248
Unfortunately this option does not include recent issues. Nor does it allow for topic search capabilities.
The publisher’s dream is to have a searchable website set up with all the past and recent issues. Imagine the richness of 40 YEARS of well researched, critical and factual articles by important authors in many fields of inquiry. The table of contents from the March 2012 issue illustrates the continuing relevance of many of the back issues to readers of today, whether as information sources, or to see how narratives have been used over time to nudge citizen behaviours in one direction or another.
To connect with Joseph Roberts, possibly to order a subscription, to propose authors or submit writing, to volunteer with production, distribution or website archiving, please use the contact information provided here: https://www.sources.com/Newsstand/SNS2974.htm
DRUTHERS
Truly an information miracle, DRUTHERS runs on spunky and dedicated volunteers.
Image Source: DRUTHERS Promotional Video found at druthers.ca.
A year into the declared COVID-19 pandemic, Shawn Jason saw the need for a counter-balance to the information narratives coming through the government-funded, corporate-backed “mainstream” media. Starting with 25,000 copies in December 2000, DRUTHERS now, 54 issues later, receives enough citizen donations to be able to print, send out and distribute 200,000 copies of each issue nation wide.
Unfortunately, the same media directory that spoke so positively of COMMON GROUND resorts to lazy journalism when it uses uninformed ad hominem attacks to describe DRUTHERS.
A more evidence-based description could be:
DRUTHERS: a citizen driven newspaper featuring the writing of independent financial, medical, media, climate and conspiracy analysts as well as a wide range of articles on current topics of interest by a range of citizen journalists. Despite only appearing monthly, Druthers scores higher on an information transparency scale than many mainstream media platforms that publish daily. (See this post.)
DRUTHERS newspapers can be ordered in various ways, from single copies up to seven bundles of 100 copies. By pooling their money, informal groups of citizens can order large batches and then distribute them locally, getting the owners’ permission to leave them in stores, businesses, community halls and other popular venues.
Some citizens stuff newspaper copies with flyers, business cards or other informative promotional materials produced for colour printing on THEYLIED.CA before distributing them face to face at transit stations or dropping them off in apartment mailboxes. DRUTHERS also works with Canada Post to allow interested citizens to order mailbox delivery for entire neighborhoods. See: druthers.ca/shop/neighbourhood
To read the newspaper online, start here: druthers.ca/newspapers.
To search for information by topic, scroll down to find the search bar at the bottom of the home page: druthers.ca.
Topic categories include:
Absurdity Observer; Canada; Editorial; Finance; Health; Investigation; Money; Politics; Psychology; Science; Technology; UK; USA; World
Alternatively, readers can type specific topics of interest into the search bar. For example COVID-19, glyphosate, Grok, Psy-op, etc.
And once they appreciate the value of the information being shared, they can view the selection of T-shirts that can also function as wearable DRUTHERS billboards…
THEYLIED.CA
This initiative was initially launched to give the Testimonies of the National Citizens Inquiry more exposure. The annonymous team behind this site introduce their project as follows:
Over the last number of years, it became increasingly apparent to us that the once trusted sources of Canadian news were not telling the truth compared to the reality we were seeing in front of our own eyes. From the unprecedented censorship of dissenting viewpoints, to witnessing injuries and deaths of loved ones at an alarming rate, to the increasing division of families and friendships based on belief systems, we now see that we have been lied to.
Once we became aware of these lies and were informed about the truth, we experienced a range of emotions: confusion, skepticism, disbelief, fear and anger - followed by a thirst for understanding and a resolve to push back and raise public awareness.
From this journey of discovery, TheyLied.ca was born. Our mission is to expose the lies, clarify the truth and spread it as widely and quickly as possible. We will not stop until we accomplish this mission.
Who lied?
What did they lie about?
Why did they lie?
Why do they continue to lie?
To answer the first question: WHO is the THEY referenced in THEYLIED.ca? the website team links to this insightful article by Investigative Journalist Corey Lynn, who introduces the CoreyDigs website as follows:
We have been spoonfed twisted narratives and deep forms of manipulation for centuries. Yes, centuries. It was much more difficult to seek out the truth long ago, but we live in an age where endless amounts of information is right at our fingertips. There is no longer an excuse to live in fantasy land, turning a blind eye to the destruction happening all around us, and hoping maybe things will get better one day.
It is time to pull together evidence and expose those whom have brought us to this stage of the game. This goes deep folks. This is a worldwide web of corruption at the deepest levels of ones darkest imagination. You will not like much of what you discover, and some of it may leave you dazed and confused for weeks, but it is important information to understand in order to move forward. It is time to wake up – for many have been asleep far too long.
I encourage everyone to do their own digging, use discretion and question everything. Over time you begin to spot the enemy, recognize the symbolism, see their strategies in play, and ultimately be able to quickly assess the liars from the truthers – the illusions from reality. We have been living in an illusion far too long. It is time to become aware and make others aware before it’s too late.
Source: www.coreysdigs.com/about
This graphic provided by Corey Lynn and referenced by the TheyLIed.ca team is further picked up on under the Drop Down “USE CASH” at theylied.ca/UseCash.shtml.
Image Source: www.coreysdigs.com/global/who-is-they
CSNews encourages journalists who have been conditioned to believe that any analysis of global governance schemes is nothing more than a “conspiracy theory” to test that belief by reading the documents written by people within the relevant organizations. The term conspiracy “theory” might only be relevant in the case of assumptions or conjecture “based on limited information or knowledge or a doctrine, or scheme of things, which terminates in speculation or contemplation, without a view to practice; hypothesis; speculation.” (American Heritage Dictionary)
As for the question: What did they lie about? the list of topics is very long!
We recommend starting with the Site Map found under the RESOURCES tab. theylied.ca/SiteMap.shtml
THEYLIED.CA has created a directory to the first 325 sworn witness testimonies presented to the National Citizens Inquiry, grouping them by topic.
What follows are screen captures with inactive links. To access the links visit the website and the associated drop down menus.
Clicking on View more NCI categories leads to…
When the webmasters switched their focus to expanding other topic areas, they slowed down on adding information to the COVID-19 section. Interested readers who wish to direct attention to recent 2025 findings are encouraged to email contact@theylied.ca. Put the Category Name in the subject line and the suggested link(s) to add in the body of the message.
With so many revelations coming out of the US, the UK, Europe, Oceania and also Canada about known harms of pharmaceutical products being covered up, many parents now do not fully trust public health guidance related the health and wellbeing of their children. A visit to this series of links will definitely shock readers exclusively loyal to “official” government documentation on these topics. A knee-jerk self-protective reaction is to reject the information being shared and to write it off without comparing and contrasting the quality of supporting documentation on both the “official” side and the “citizen journalist” side of the topic. The same applies to the various other “Important Topics” shared on this website.
Next is the RESOURCES tab. To help readers navigate through the Action and Awareness materials the webmasters provide these links and suggestions:
For ways you can help raise public awareness.
https://theylied.ca/SpreadTheWord.shtml
Have a look at our Take Action page as well.
https://theylied.ca/TakeAction.shtml
To support further learning, the THEYLIED.CA team has also done the following:
started a Substack page (under Newsletter)
linked to independent journalists, citizen journalists, and other platforms they found were not simply uncritically sharing government talking points (under News we Trust)
Linked to contact pages of many of the medical professionals who have been slandered or otherwise punished for their dissident viewpoints (under Medical Information, with the proviso that the site is not seeking to dispense medical advice and that readers should consult with their own medical professionals).
Provided links to a wide range of books mostly on COVID-19 pandemic related matters. (under Books) People who are interested in seeing the scientific support for perspectives that differ from public health advice might be intrigued enough to see if their local libraries or bookstores have acquired any of these titles, or to connect with the publishers, to place an order
Provided a number of video reviews on documentaries or other films related to Geoengineering, COVID-19 and other topics. (under Documentaries, Videos, Movies)
Linked up to another event calendar, as keeping such a calendar up to date while also maintaining a website is quite difficult (see Events)
Provided advice re: peaceful and respectful conduct when attending public events (under Code of Conduct)
Started a section in which they plan to go into further detail with selected topics (a work in progress under Deep Dive)
And finally, as with the DRUTHERS website, THEYLIED.CA also offers stickers and magnets featuring their URL along with a range of promotional garments such as caps, toques and T-shirts, some of which add a sense of levity to serious issues.
Some of the links on the THEYLIED.CA website lead to specific projects which also offer topic-specific materials that can be ordered. For example, usecash.ca allows for the printing and distribution of this handbill:
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Don Gale: Lazy journalism leads to a misinformed citizenry
The survival of democracy depends on well-informed citizens.
Lazy journalism. News sources are compromised by lazy journalism. Fox News journalists are lazy by definition. Commentators know what they are going to say before they begin gathering what they call “news.” They rarely attempt balanced information. The same is true for most news sources on the internet.
Sadly, similar compromises exist for many once reliable sources of news – newspapers, radio, television. Few journalists go to the trouble of tracking down multiple sources. Instead, they quote extensively or broadcast live opinions of one individual and consider news gathering complete. They also seem to think the live voice of one “expert” should satisfy readers or listeners. Reporters and editors are often deceived by the capabilities of modern technology into trading journalistic balance for “live” immediacy.
Good journalists do not develop news stories from contacts with a single “expert.” Neither do they pretend that interviewing one individual on air for two minutes is a news story. Instead, good journalists interview five sources with five different points of view, then summarize the conversations in a thirty second report.
And when was the last time you read or heard a news story where the first paragraph — or any paragraph — included journalism’s traditional “who, what, when, where, and why” summation?
Some reporters and editors believe a picture is worth a thousand words. But our species invented language because pictures proved inadequate for sharing information from person to person or from place to place or from time to time. Photos are marvelous additions to journalistic completeness, but no photo can gather data, share information or pose questions the way language does. No photo can inform consumers about how the state Legislature ignores the needs of education or how city governments use road maintenance money for less pressing needs.
One manifestation of lazy journalism is journalists interviewing other journalists, a practice especially prevalent on national radio. Yes, journalists should talk to one another, but doing so on air is a public confession of professional inadequacy. A primary goal of a good journalist should be to build her own credibility, not lean on the credibility of others.
Readers, listeners and viewers are more likely to attach credibility to a familiar, respected journalist than to a distant reporter or a single “expert” – provided the journalist has worked hard to establish her or his credibility.
Too much journalism today is essay writing, a skill introduced in third or fourth grade. But journalists are not authors. They’re daily historians, not long-term researchers. They’re gatherers of opinion, not unlabeled sources of opinion. They’re facilitators of compromise, not proponents of viewpoints.
Good journalists are not satisfied with one or two sources, however popular those sources may be. Good journalists seek three or four credible sources with three or four ideas about the question at hand. They leave it up to readers or listeners to sort out the differences. Anything else is lazy journalism.
Sadly, the narrow populism of social media news has put more than half the news organizations in America out of business, has forced newsrooms to shrink reporting staffs and has eliminated functional editors who critique every story before it’s printed or broadcast.
It’s true, also, that Amazon, Walmart and other absentee retailers have virtually eliminated the local advertising base that once supported home-based journalism. And greedy conglomerate media groups have bought up hundreds of local news outlets.
But that does not mean owners, editors and reporters should compromise the standards of quality journalism. It does not mean discerning readers, listeners and viewers should be condemned to populist taste or news by opinion surveys. It does not mean that the nation should be dragged down because citizens are unable to trust news sources.
The survival of democracy depends on well-informed citizens. That requires credible news sources, both local and national. Lazy journalism leads to citizen ignorance.
Thomas Jefferson said it best: “A nation that expects to be ignorant and free ... expects what never was and never will be.”
Source: https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2023/03/13/don-gale-lazy-journalism-leads/
Imagine if one reporter on the six o’clock news on Main Street media told the truth about what’s really going on? The people would stand? Or obey? I really wonder?