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th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, N ov em be r 12 ,2 02 0 | 6 ABOUT US This newspaper, published every Thursday, is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. The Metroland family of newspapers is comprised of more than 70 community publications across Ontario. This newspaper is a member of the National NewsMedia Council. Complainants are urged to bring their concerns to the attention of the news- paper and, if not satisfied, write The National NewsMedia Council, Suite 200, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 2H2. Phone: 416-340-1981 Web: www.mediacouncil.ca newsroom@theifp.ca IndependentAndFreePress @IFP_11 WHO WE ARE Publisher Kelly Montague Regional Managing Editor Catherine O'Hara Managing Editor Karen Miceli Distribution Representative Iouliana Polar Real Estate Kristie Pells Regional Production Manager Manuel Garcia Halton Media General Manager Jason Pehora CONTACT US The Independent & Free Press 280 Guelph Street, Unit 77 Georgetown, ON L7G 4B1 Phone: 905-873-0301 Classifieds: 1-800-263-6480 Fax: 905-873-0398 Letters to the editor All letters must be fewer than 320 words and include your name and telephone number for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit, condense or reject letters. Published letters will appear in print and/or online at theifp.ca Delivery For all delivery inquiries, please e-mail lpolar@miltoncanadianchampion.com or call 905-234-1019. OPINION TO LEARN HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR OWN CONTENT VISIT THEIFP.CA The prolonged U.S. pres- idential election highlight- ed the need for all of us to become critical thinkers, so we can decipher be- tween fact and fiction. The election was an ex- tended period of miss infor- mation and fake news alle- gations. It seemed to be the one news topic everyone said they did not want to talk about, but for many it end- ed up being their go-to con- versation with family and friends. On the upside, it was a useful lesson for us all in the area of critical think- ing. Critical thinking is a skill that helps us come to more logical conclusions for important issues. Understand how to sep- arate good information from bad information. In more simple language: Think for yourself. Most of the people I spoke with had a fairly firm opinion on which presiden- tial candidate they respect- ed, or the one in which they had serious distrust. I, like many others, would interpret a political news item of the day and form my own opinion, then wonder why all Americans would not come to the same conclusion. If only Americans were better critical thinkers, I wondered. Often when you have strong opinions on how other people can im- prove that strong opinion can be directed at yourself. Focusing on all of our lives and the important role financial planning plays. How can we manage our finances better? Critical thinking. Question how you man- age your personal financ- es. Question the assump- tions you have made. Anticipate the two or three areas where you are at most risk. This does not mean you are self-doubting. Just be- ing a critical thinker. Peter Watson, of Watson Investments MBA, CFP®, R.F.P., CIM®, FCSI offers a weekly financial plan- ning column, Dollars & Sense. He can be contacted through www.watsonin- vestments.com U.S. ELECTION DROVE ME NUTS BUT EXTENDED PROCESS OFFERED A LESSON IN CRITICAL THINKING, WRITES PETER WATSON A blue jay is bathed in a purple backdrop near the Hungry Hollow ravine. Do you have a great local photo you'd like to share? Send it to sleblanc@metroland.com, along with a brief description. Laurel Barnett photo SNAPSHOT It's about trust. Our rela- tionship with our readers is built on transparency, hon- esty and integrity. As such, we have launched a trust initiative to tell you who we are and how and why we do what we do. This article is part of that project. Every day, journalists are out in our communities looking to tell the stories of the places we call home. Of course, that commit- ment to local journalism costs money, and to earn that money we work with local businesses to help them to grow and succeed. It's a community-first mod- el that worked well for a long time. Unfortunately, those days are gone. These days, many adver- tisers have shifted their business to online sites such as Google and Face- book. Google and Facebook are multi-billion dollar companies, in spite of the fact that their core services are free, thanks to combi- nation of online ad sales and selling access to data gleaned from their users. However, neither of them actually produce any original content. That means the newspapers who write the local news that is searched for on Google and shared on Facebook do all the work and incur all the costs, while the duopoly makes the money. It doesn't seem quite fair, does it? That's why Canada's newspaper publishers have banded together to press for the federal government to adopt the so-called Aus- tralian model. This model would allow news organiza- tions to collectively bar- gain with Google and Face- book to create an equitable revenue distribution model that would ensure the abil- ity of newspapers to contin- ue to report the news. Everybody wins. The consumers get the same free services that they currently enjoy, the big tech companies get to continue to earn large prof- its, and newspaper compa- nies get to continue to pro- ducing the news we all rely on. The sobering truth is that without some sort of agreement between news publishers and Google and Facebook, papers will go out of business. And when that happens, you can be sure that neither Google nor Facebook will be swooping in to provide you with the local news that you once received from your lo- cal newspaper. Gordon Cameron is the group managing editor for Hamilton Community News and a member of Metroland's trust commit- tee. gocameron@hamil- tonnews.com. We welcome your questions and value your comments. Email our trust committee at trust@metroland.com. PAYING THEIR SHARE GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK MAKE MONEY FROM LOCAL NEWS, BUT PAY NOTHING FOR IT, WRITES GORDON CAMERON GORDON CAMERON Column PETER WATSON Column SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT THEIFP.CA