By Ronald A. Pink, Q.C.

Do the people of Nova Scotia deserve to have a journalistic community that provides informed news or one that simply repeats press releases?

Journalists owe a duty to the public to report facts, not opinions.

Let’s look at the recent “announcement” by Egg Studios to “shut down.” Egg’s owners sent out a press release on its Facebook page supposedly announcing that it was closing. How do we really know? Did anyone speak to the owners to confirm their story?

Not one journalist was able to have the owners comment on the supposed “news.” So, a complete story was publicized by all of the media without a single “in person” confirmation. Why not?

Further, Minister of Labour Kelly Regan was reported as saying the NDP first contract legislation was the cause of the failure of Egg.

But no journalist asked her if she knew if Egg was actually closing. No journalist asked Ms. Regan if she knew that Egg lived quite comfortably with the first imposed collective agreement with I.A.T.S.E., Local 849, the union certified to represent its technicians. No one asked her if she consulted with her own department’s conciliation officer to see what happened during the second round of bargaining in the spring of 2015.

If a journalist had asked her she would not have known the answer, and her trite blame of the NDP would be shown to be both unfair and political. She could say it unopposed and unchallenged because no journalist was prepared to ask any thoughtful or intelligent questions.

We Nova Scotians should expect better from our journalists. Enough said!