The rules of journalism are clear — be accurate, be fair, and most of all be objective. The Hunt brothers (Urich and Mike) — the latest players in Morinville’s growing media landscape — have no journalistic training, no desire to be objective, and no willingness to veer from their mission of presenting their skewed version of the news to the community and beyond. In short, the Hunt brothers and their Channel 8: Morinville Evening News team are a joke. Quite literally.
Taking a cue from Stephen Colbert, Second City, and MacLean & MacLean (the roots of crass Canadian comedy), Channel 8 is the brainchild of Morinville resident Dustan McLean. The weekly Internet news program, which launched online Canada Day, is a homage to the comedy icons he grew up with as well as a project to add a little humour to viewers’ lives.
The opening edition, which had been viewed 1300 times as of this writing, contains segments on such Morinville scandals as grass clippings left on the sidewalk, who makes the best wings in town, and the popularity of chemtrails on social media. Future editions promise to expose third world conditions in South Glens and other satirical pokes at the community and those who make Morinville home.
In a world where media, particularly print media, loses relevance as more and more content flashes between our eyes 24-7, those of us who love journalism and value its importance worry about the growth of fake news and the growth of a public unable to discern between what is objective content and subjective BS.
Channel 8 and their Evening News team fall into a different world – the world of satire, a skill that allows us to have a conversation on important subjects through self-deprecating humour and even mockery.
We tip our hats and welcome Channel 8 to the media players currently covering our community.
You can find them on Facebook. We do warn you that some of the content is not for the kids.
We’ll have a full story on Channel 8, as well as the man and the motivation behind it on MorinvilleNews.com soon.
Until then — drink your milk.
– Stephen Dafoe
