The Press Council of Quebec

The Press Council of Quebec is currently recruiting to select members from the public who will sit on this panel of honor, whose mandate is to protect the rights of the public to a proper information from the media.
The Press Council had to accept the resignation of its two main leaders last May and some large media groups have also decided to no longer support financially the Council. These two actions have almost caused the death of the body, but after some efforts of emergency in-house, its dissolution has been averted. Unfortunately, the life of the Press Council of Quebec is seriously threatened and it is only a matter of protocol before to declare it "dead."
A court of honor has no place in 2009 especially in the world of media while the advent of the Internet has completely transformed the way of disseminating information. The honor of good information is no longer a principle but a universal rule. Anyone who would not be honest and true would be quickly condemned by the community of Internet users which is the most democratic and powerful courts of Justice.
The beauty of the Internet, is that there are no geographical boundaries. One may be in Paris and correspond with someone in Montreal and to share information around the world, such as an injustice in China. Quickly through the various social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc) the world is made aware. A global protest movement can engage and the perpetrators of injustice have no choice but to correct the situation. The approach applies equally to a more local subject and it is only the size of the network which is amended and adjusted accordingly.
The best example of the power of Internet is Dan Rather's story in 2004. Internauts had discovered falsehoods in the statements from the journalist of CBS and it is through the Internet than the truth itself came out and, it was that situation which forced Rather to admit his error. No press council could have offered the same protection as the one of the Internet and in a sense, we can compare this situation to the one of France during the French Revolution against Marie-Antoinette in 1789. It is the defense of the people by the people!
Bernard Bujold - www.LeStudio1.com
Link Conseil de presse du Québec
Link Dan Rather and the internauts