Provided by Bourque, this Halifax Herald editorial has caught my interest, reminding me of the long history of the mainstream media (MSM)'s arrogantly biased attitude towards political leaders and parties of conservative orientation. I simply cannot remain silent about this anymore.
Seems whoever wrote that editorial (I believe it could be theoretically anyone, not necessarily the actual editor of a paper, unless required by law) is surprised that Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has indicated recently that the MSM must shoulder much of the burden of blame for the non-issue, unnecessarily overblown CPC malcontent Carol Jamieson's screechery against Mr. Harper. Note that it is her historical wont to do to all conservative leaders.
The editorial reads, in part:
Suck it up, Mr. Harper. You're not the first politician to have to deal with uneven, and even unfair, media coverage. A campaign spent treating journalists assigned to cover you as the enemy is a recipe for disaster. Like it or not, many Canadians make up their minds on how'll they vote not from campaign events in their community, or slickly (or not) produced ads, but on what they can sift from news coverage, day after day, until election day.
Oh, the arrogance! Of course, all politicians have had some unfavorable MSM treatment. However, the author of the editorial fails to accept that it's plainly apparent to anyone who has had open eyes, a functioning brain and an ability to identify clear patterns over time that conservative leaders and parties are at an unfair disadvantage relative to leftist "liberal" leaders and parties. See the related post immediately below this one for more on that.
The author also seems unwilling to admit to him/herself that there's no doubt that "Liberal" leaders in Canada have always treated the MSM exactly as described in said editorial. Trudeau- runs away, cavalierly belittles reporters, etc. Chretien- why, he's been shown on television actually physically threatening a reporter in Parliament and himself always ran up the stairs so as to avoid questions and nearly never scrummed, not to mention his sexist treatment of CBC's Christina Lawand, effectively telling her she's getting old, to go have babies and apply to a social program about which she simply asked a legitimate question. Now, just watch Paul Martin control media access to himself via RCMP physical intimidation (during his photo op visit to tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka -the nation with the Tamil Tiger terrorists, but that's another story-). All this despite having a relatively easy relationship with the left-leaning MSM! They let them get away with far more than any conservative ever could!
Most arrogant of all is the author's monopolistic claim that the electorate will only be properly, fully informed by "sifting from news coverage". Whose coverage, the MSM's biased crap? And how many people actually have the time to go over all of it, every day, and take many hours of the day just figuring it all out for oneself, filtering out all the blatantly biased leftist spin, wondering what important facts were omitted from reporting? No wonder the blognet is expanding in relevance and readership at an amazing rate- this very blog (nee 9/11/2005) has had, since counting started Sept. 15, 2005, 600 visits with over 1,700 separate post views. By today, the 26th of September. Not bad for a perfect nobody with no money, no employees, only a pc, an internet connection and the internet and his brain to work with. And I'm not alone, either. Understand that, leftist MSM elites.
A warning to the MSM: clean up your act; grow up; do your job as real professionals or have your organizations purchased by citizen investor groups one by one and see the CRTC be abolished and replaced with a proper watchdog enforcing rules that serve the people, not the governing party. Don't dismiss this warning. We're already sliding down that slippery slope.
