In the beginning this blog was to be about bias in the newspapers. After all, ownership of a medium will almost entirely determine its slant--remember Russell Mills fired back in the 90's as editor of The Ottawa Citizen for not pleasing its owner who was friends with the PM? In Postmedia publications, such as the Citizen, Stephen Harper can do no wrong; The Star is a more Liberal vehicle. The Globe and Mail, under Thomson ownership, plays around the centre, with small "c" conservative business values but more liberal social views, ostensibly balanced but clearly engaging in Harper bias early in the week--the dashing front-page splash of Stephen against a baby blue background the day the government fell, followed by several photographs and a high percentage of first-references to him early on.
Yet just when it seemed so much for objective newspaper reporting, along came Maclean's April 11 issue with its 2011 Federal Election Newspaper Analysis project, assessing 18 newspapers for such things as references to topics and leaders. Suddenly, it noted, the economy is front and centre along with crime and defence. "Where's the outrage?" the article asks, "Why the Conservatives' contempt of Parliament and spending on fighter jets is suddenly old news." Kudos to Maclean's for injecting some perspective into the reporting process.
But the media is playing an even more central role these days. As Marshall McLuhan predicted, the media itself is becoming the story.
In this youtube video, Stephen Harper's aide has the RCMP block camera coverage at an event in Quebec: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hlpNe6sXFc&feature=youtube_gdata_player. Our national law and order force protecting the prime minister--from invited journalists?! What country is this anyway?
Harper allows only five questions a day, two in English, two in French, one from a local journalist and now, no questions at all about any of the 308 riding candidates. That might bring up the names of unsavoury volunteers such as Giulio Maturi. We already know he won't talk about Ryan Sparrow, or any of the other half-dozen staffers who've fallen on their sword in the time he's been in office.
Muzzle the questioners; not a good prescription for democracy.
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