COMMENT | “The Press, Watson, is a most valuable institution, if you only know how to use it.”

- Arthur Conan Doyle, “ Adventure of the Six Napoleons/The Adventure of the Crooked Man”

The last people who should help build an “inclusive narrative” are the media. What does an “inclusive narrative” really mean? It seems to me that when people say the media should concentrate on “positive news,” what they really mean is that the media should concentrate on news that demonstrates the political system is working.

This would not be a problem if the system was functional, but in most cases, it is not.

Media organisations are beholden to a whole range of special interests, to their subscribers and sometimes to the bases of certain political parties. It happens in the West and it happens here.

I have no idea how the media can help build an inclusive narrative, but I know that when people start looking at the media for help in addressing problems that are systemic...