The year is not quite over, but 2018 may well come to be known as the year of buyers’ remorse when it comes to politicians and social media. Justin Trudeau came to power three years ago as arguably the most digitally savvy prime minister Canada has ever seen. But in Paris on Monday, it was impossible to ignore a big disconnect in Trudeau’s remarks about politics and the media — full-throated praise for the role of traditional journalism and conspicuously faint praise for how politics is unravelling in the social-media domain. “One of the institutions that is most under stress right now is a free, independent, free-thinking independent rigorous, robust, respected media,” Trudeau said at the Paris Peace Forum. “If a democracy is to function, you need to have an educated populace and you need to have an informed populace ready to make judicious decisions about who to grant power to, and when to take it away.”Read more: Trump insults reporters, claims Acosta video wasn’t alteredEditorial | Donald Trump’s attacks on the news media are all about powerFreeland, Trudeau defend media as Trump tweets about U.S. mail bombsWhen the prime minister talked about social media, however, he spoke about how easy it was to use the platforms to “make you angry or make you divided or make you hate your neighbour.” The prime minister did allow that social media was handy for governments to send out quick bulletins of condolence and such, but he also said that political conversations on social media can quickly become a race to the bottom. “If it ends up in a screaming match between one side versus the other side, whoever is better at nasty is going to win,” he said. That observation is, unfortunately, all too correct. In fact, when you think about it, 2018 has been a particularly destructive year all around for politics and social media. There’s the ongoing spectacle of Donald Trump’s Twitter ran ...
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