Saturday afternoon I drove out into the countryside and noted how green things looked in the light afternoon rain. It struck me as I drove along looking at the greenery and CBC on the radio that there is an enormous disconnect between the real world and the world that is being reported and reflected in the news.

Since the beginning of the United States primaries in January the American news media and to some extent our own Canadian television and radio have been caught up in the drama of the race for the presidency. The fact of the matter and it should be abundantly clear to everyone is that this is the preliminary to the preliminary. It seems important but has about the same merit as a car wreck. The reason I say this is because the news gathering system has all but ignored the events in the world. A few lines here and there about a disaster or some sensation crime and then its back to "experts" discussing Barrack Obama's preacher.

Meanwhile the old world has been churning along and you the news consumer have been out of the loop. The only way democracy can work is if the public is informed about what is going on and we are sadly uninformed about everything. Bet you think the cost of gasoline has something to do with supply and demand? It hasn't!

In our Canadian news we have had one of the most important members of the cabinet resign over a security mistake, the members of the government got elected with illegal campaign expenditures and the Prime Minister as leader of the opposition attempted to bribe a dying MP to vote as he wanted. These are serious serious issues and yet the news media though it has reported these events has done so in a casual manner concentrating far more on the sleazie background of the former minister of foreigh affairs former biker girlfriend.

Poorly collected and badly presented news is bad for our democracy, it is toxic and dangerous preventing the public from keeping itself informed and able to make decisions about the issues of the day.