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 […]
Mulroney-Schreiber inquiry to inflict some casualties
OTTAWA—”I, Martin Brian Mulroney, 18th prime minister of Canada, will be there before the royal commission with bells on because I’ve done nothing wrong and I have absolutely nothing to hide.”—Nov. 13, 2007. Okay, if that’s the way he wants it. In recounting tales of $1,000 bills and a New York bank box, Mulroney says […]
How do we know if ‘Team Canada’ policy failed in China?
It was a plain question, asked a hundred times yet never answered. Not once. I was reminded of it as the world learned of new Tibetan atrocities. The Times of London reported that among civilians killed by the People’s Liberation Army was a 16-year old schoolgirl shot in the head: “Lhundup Tso, the youngest reported […]
Media cult of global warming, once histrionic, now merely ridiculous…
So, that was “Earth Hour.” They dined by candlelight to save the planet. No sacrifice is too great for eco-heroes, so long as it’s inexpensive and free of drudgery. The Toronto Star interviewed a woman who boasted she never turns on the lights when going to the kitchen for a drink of water at night: […]
