Bank of Canada missed forecasts by a mile and failed to anticipate steepest downturn in 20 years
The Bank of Canada disapproves of the way ‘skeptics’ have covered this recession—and who can blame them? Real figures show the bank missed its forecasts by a mile and failed to anticipate the steepest downturn in 20 years. But when the bank didn’t like the story, it just came up with its own. In the […]
Politicians Disneyfy war when they’re bent on war
Patriots get sentimental about old wars. It makes it easier to perpetuate new ones. In the same month the government sank deeper in Afghanistan, red-blooded Canadians marked a November-long, flag-hoisting remembrance with mandatory attendance and trench games for the kids. In Tillsonburg, Ont., a group of Grade 10 students jogged through a ditch maze in […]
LaPointe named CBC’s new ombudsman
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation named a new ombudsman, Kirk LaPointe, late of The Vancouver Sun, CTV and others. LaPointe reminisced in his blog, “Twenty-five years ago this month I began managing in newsrooms.” And that got me and some of his former colleagues reminiscing. This is the story. On Oct. 18, 2001, CTV cut 150 […]
Pollsters, pundits missed Ford landslide
Reporters are naturally curious. Yet few seem inquisitive in pressing an interesting question: Why were voters fed misleading coverage of the nation’s mayoralty races? “It wasn’t the finest hour,” said pollster Frank Graves, speaking from his Ottawa office. In three cities, in three separate campaigns, media tilted coverage with the same result. They got the […]
Was Flaherty telepathic? Or is the government making it up?
Deficit spenders, like problem gamblers, like to boast of their winnings no matter how improbable the math. Spenders at the Department of Finance claim $47-billion in “stimulus” saved or created 200,000 jobs. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty last year put the target at 190,000 jobs—an uncanny forecast. Was Flaherty telepathic? Or is the government making it […]
It’s a political myth that Liberals abolished race-based immigration
It is a political myth that, unchecked, has been cited by MPs and journalists and even worked its way into the record. Liberal MP Martha Hall Findlay, writing in October’s Policy Options magazine, mentioned it on page 55. “From 1963 to 1968, a great deal was accomplished through cooperation between the Liberal government under Lester […]
Flick of a director’s switch would smarten Parliamentary coverage
The flick of a director’s switch would smarten Parliamentary coverage. Yet politicians and pundits instead propose a range of dubious remedies to cure what headlines condemn as the Commons’ “boorishness,” (The Toronto Star); a “gong show,” (The Globe and Mail) where “MPs act like children,” (The Ottawa Citizen) and Question Period is “dumb,” (The Edmonton […]
Does Prime Minister Harper’s office run a media blacklist?
Does Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office run a media blacklist? “Oh, God, I don’t know if we have that,” said PMO press secretary Andrew MacDougall, when asked for names of Parliamentary Press Gallery members denied multiple interview requests since Harper took office in February, 2006. After checking, MacDougall emailed, “I won’t be able to help […]
Does Canada face an epidemic of obesity, or merely an outbreak of sensational reporting over health data?
Does Canada face an epidemic of obesity—or merely an outbreak of sensational reporting over health data? Recent coverage of the nation’s weight reaffirmed the newsroom caution statistics are typically the weakest link in any story. They are wildly subjective and ripe for torquing. As an old proverb goes, statistics are employed like a drunk uses […]
Casualties are unambiguous, it’s why government hides or distorts them
In these last months of war, will they say we couldn’t even count? The mission in Afghanistan is so caked in half-truths and concealment the government now lies to itself. The official Department of National Defence weekly The Maple Leaf recently reported “the 143rd casualty of the Afghan conflict was repatriated.” In fact casualties—the dead, […]
