Some media can barely contain themselves on Liberal Leader Dion’s carbon tax proposal
Evidence shows Canadians don’t mean it when they claim to welcome eco-taxes. Yet a strange and wonderful myth persists that we are a nation of jolly environmentalists desperate for new ways to burn money. Not for long. Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion detailed a national carbon tax plan on Thursday in Ottawa that indelibly links his […]
Hockey song drama a big deal in a TV nation and more
The TV nation tempest over a hockey song was enough to make sales executives, politicians, and even journalists take notice. Anxiety over the feared cancellation of the Hockey Night in Canada theme provoked sorrow over the fate of a jingle. The Calgary Sun called it a “tragedy.” Some media mourned it as though a childhood […]
Media mostly ignore figures showing Canadian economy in serious trouble
New data show the economy is almost certainly in a recession. Funny, I don’t remember seeing that news release. Apparently CBC-TV’s The National didn’t either; on the same day disastrous economic figures were released, they dropped the story and led that evening’s newscast with an item on Brazilian pygmies. The news blackout spread to the […]
War has made some media redefine meaning of heroism in Canada
In the cynical 1970s they used to complain we didn’t have heroes anymore. Now Canadians can’t get too many. One journalist, Ted Byfield, ascribed it to aging baby boomers. “They want somebody from their own generation whom they can genuinely respect, hold dear, believe in,” Byfield wrote in the Calgary Sun. Veneration of Terry Fox […]
Clark’s prime ministerial Hill portrait unveiling bound to be more collegial
They will unveil Joe Clark’s portrait on Parliament Hill this week. It must be a beautiful painting. Clark always looked better on paper. There’ll be warm tributes and moving media retrospectives. Clark got more love letters from Ottawa pundits than he ever did from voters. He was a “Canadian statesman” (CTV), an “elder statesman” (The […]
Suspicions of media bias provoke lively debate
Is unemployment good news? Recent coverage of April jobless figures was so enthusiastic it could have been ghostwritten by the minister of labour. Readers were left to wonder: was it deliberate? Suspicions of media bias provoke lively debate. After misspelled names and missing ball scores, nothing prompts more complaints to the newsroom. Even journalists get […]
I-spy journalism is back, and that’s a good thing
I-spy journalism is back. It’s about time. Embarrassing coverage of politicians’ expense accounts grew sadly unfashionable when government rolled in big surpluses and taxpayers toasted full employment. Now that’s over, we can all get back to exposing waste. Many MPs and even journalists resent such coverage as trivial and undignified. “Slipshod journalism,” The Globe and […]
Obama garners mostly unrealistic, happy ending media coverage, no?
On TV everybody’s head looks the size of a small cabbage. The whole Rocky Mountains are only 21 inches wide. This is not the only distortion. In tiny, perfect TV land everything is crisp and simple. As a Hollywood screenwriter, Matthew Chapman, once put it: “The most important thing you learn is that a HAPPY […]
Media happy gang is back… and it’s annoying
Media’s happy gang is back. They thrive in war and recession. They are members of the “good news” movement. Seemingly uncomfortable with reality, they breeze through the newsroom chirping every cloud has a silver lining. Wrong again. Sometimes a cloud is just a cloud. The Edmonton Sun recently announced, following a rash of local stabbings […]
Most media coverage of graffiti really bugs me
OTTAWA—”Cut off their hands,” he said, “their hands!” My friend, an Italian immigrant, owned a small commercial building in Ottawa. It took him 35 years to pay for it, a lifetime of scraping pennies. He never went to college and rarely took a vacation, but was proud of his tidy building—until the vandals came one […]
