Canada tourist video shot in Northumbria | World news | The Guardian

I read this article today and it got me thinking... we live in times where dossiers are sexed up (WMD), dark faces in adverts are whited out (Ford replaced black and Asian faces in one of its international adverts some ten years ago and were found out), and here something as relatively simple and innocuous (one would think) as promotion for tourism dsiplays a total disregard for the truth.

Harper said, perhaps showing some comedic talent, "There's no attempt to mislead here. The picture used just fitted the mood and tone of what we were trying to do." Never let truth get in the way of a sentiment, eh?

What is it with us? Why do people constantly feel the need to lie or deceive to get a point across in the media? Are we really becoming that lazy? Surely a little research with a photographer on site would have borne fruit? Canada is, after all, a stunningly beautiful country. And even if Alberta is flat as a pancake, there must be some beautiful vistas to capture nonetheless?

I think this pretty much sums up everything dangerous about media communications right now. If you have an agenda, there's a wealth of content out there you can use to get your point across. Does it matter that the truth is hung, drawn and quartered in its wake?