Do you know what zombie fires are? I didn’t when my husband mentioned them to me after he read an article in the Financial Post. Zombie fires are smouldering fires burning under the snow, hibernating in the cold after a major wildfire. Plumes of smoke seep from the ground and can flare up as raging fires again as spring emerges. This year, the lack of snow pack in the mountains is pointing to another smoke-filled, orange-sky summer.
I read the article, pulled from Bloomberg News, and immediately had questions. Before I knew what was happening, I had 19 (NINETEEN!) browser windows open. The article referenced “government data analyzed by Bloomberg News” and I went hunting. I may no longer be a practicing journalist, but I still have the drive to research and find reliable sources. Hence, the 19 browsers.
I was trying to find the “government data”, since the article failed to link to this data. I couldn’t find anything. That says a lot to a journalist who started her career in the 1990s when LexisNexis and it’s complex interface was the only on-line database for searching for government reports, news articles, and data. Back then, you needed a level of coding expertise akin to our Neolithic ancestors learning how to start a fire: you knew about it, but didn’t know how to do it. I’m just trying to say that I know how to dig deep into the bowels of the internet to find information and I love doing it.
Those open browser windows yielded nothing other than an absolute disappointment in mainstream media. Once upon a time, news entities like Reuters, Associated Press, and Bloomberg could be trusted to deliver fair and accurate reporting. Newspapers have always used these services to pick up stories from around the world. It was, and remains, common practice. Lately, however, I see more and more stories plucked from the wires to cover local and national stories and nobody is asking questions. Most newsrooms in this country have skeleton crews covering the news, a result of shrinking revenues and mass layoffs and there is no one around to say “hey, Bloomberg, can you show us this ‘government data?’”
But there is something more…salacious? sneaky? stealthy? happening here. No one checks the accuracy of what they are copying and pasting. It’s not news that a sensational headline catches more readers. We were taught a saying in journalism school: “if it bleeds, it leads”. William Randolph Hearst coined the phrase in the 1890s after seeing that the stories involving horrific incidents were the ones that caught the public's attention and sold more newspapers. Over time, the mantra has evolved to include anything that will get tongues wagging. Headlines are crafted to sensationalize or act as clickbait, whether there is truth and accuracy in the article or not.
So what are we to believe?
We will consume whatever narrative fits our personal beliefs. Media knows that and they manipulate the algorithm to give us more. That’s why when you watch one doctored video about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, YouTube will start suggesting more of the same. That’s why media outlets like the National Post will print stories without fact-checking, knowing you will share it (like I did here), and you might subscribe to read more.
Of note: included in the article was a map of where the zombie fires are, indicating the source as Alberta WildFire. Neither the map nor the source reference are clickable. I did not find a single mention of zombie fires on the Alberta.ca website or the Alberta Wildfires pages. Does that mean they don’t exist? No. It means we should proceed with caution before we accept what is presented to us as fact.
Thanks for coming to my TedTalk. See below for something lighter.
XO Dana
What I’m reading
I’m about to board a plane for a few days in Vegas and I need something to read that takes me away from the news, requires little deep thought, and makes me smile. I am not a romance fan, but I read a handful every year. As a writer, I need to read outside my typical genres and I think we all could benefit from some fantasy spice in our lives. I’m looking forward to sitting by the pool in 32° heat, sipping a mojito, and flipping pages.