Globe and Mail editor-in-chief Edward Greenspon had this exchange with a reader over the watchdog role of newspapers during an online chat about the new features in the Saturday paper:
Tom Eichhorn posted this question/comment on your Saturday column: "If any changes are made to the G&M, they should be in promoting investigative journalism.
"Newspapers should be all about watch-dogging governments and when necessary speaking truth to power.
"Originally, newsprint not only identified and shared critical information but acted to expose the elements and motivations that make the news.
"The business of the G&M and mainstream media today is not so much to inform but more and more to propagandize the message of the monied and powerful . . .
"The G&M is more and more a tool of corporate owners who are intent on shaping mass thought and dumbing down the population so that the agenda of the elite can be implemented with little resistance."
Edward Greenspon: Tom, I want to tackle this question about the so-called mainstream media not fulfilling one of its critical roles: to challenge authority.
With all respect, I think the facts speak otherwise.
This paper uncovered and pursued the sponsorship scandal.
We have uncovered and pursued countless financial scandals in recent years, including one in which some mutual fund companies were treating their big clients more favourably than the smaller ones.
In fact, I would say that nobody but the "mainstream media" can do stories like these because it takes a lot of journalistic time and journalistic skill, and smaller organizations lack the capacity to dedicate themselves to the task.
It is far easier to debate the facts that have been brought to light by large media outlets than it is to accumulate those facts in the first place.
We in your mainstream media world certainly need to always be conscious that we serve the interests of our readers.
I can assure you that we at The Globe and Mail take this responsibility seriously.