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COLUMN: Happy to put another election behind me

This was my third election in as many years (if you count the municipal and federal votes overlapping in 2021) and I was just glad to put this most recent one to bed. 
opinion

Thank god that's over. 

That's all I could find myself thinking after this week's provincial election came to a close on Monday night.

This was my third election in as many years (if you count the municipal and federal votes overlapping in 2021) and I was just glad to put this most recent one to bed. 

I used to like covering elections. They provided a lot of excitement and for a few weeks, turned the political arena into an intriguing battleground – not dissimilar to a sporting event. 

I remember being eager to cover my first few election nights as a reporter. There's the traditional newsroom pizza, the late night, and the scramble to reach candidates for interviews after the results were finalized.

I'm unfortunately a bit more jaded now, and I tend to sigh whenever an election campaign begins, because I've come to learn what that means for someone who works in journalism. 

It means weeks of a constant “us against them” narrative from the main parties, who with every passing election seem to become more and more divided.

It means having our news inbox barraged every day with press releases from the competing parties, both of whom are promising the world if they're elected this time.

It means weeks of hysteria and doomsday warnings about what the “other” party leader would do if elected, as political attack ads dominate the airwaves and our social media pages.

It means a constant stream of vitriol in our Facebook comment section, and accusations from readers on both sides of the political aisle that we're a biased news outlet. 

It means emails from people urging us to report on “dirt” they've dug up on a certain candidate's past, and then complaints that we're not a “serious” news outlet if we don't deem their finding newsworthy enough to pursue as a story.

It means covering forums where candidates parrot the same points made by their party leader on the campaign trail, and no one in attendance is truly likely to change their opinion on whom they're voting for by the end of the night.

It means inevitable coverage about campaign signs being vandalized.

Don't get me wrong – I still think election coverage is a crucial function of a free press. And as the editor of this paper, I can assure you our team will continue to do it with plenty of energy. 

I just feel personally that as a journalist, covering elections thoroughly (while also balancing the other local news, crime, sports, arts/entertainment, and other beats we also write about) is becoming more and more of a frustrating balancing act, and an overall exhausting endeavour. 

Fortunately, elections are not (at least usually) an annual thing for us. With another one in the rear-view mirror, I'm just excited to get back to our usual scope of business – for however long that lasts.

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