...The war between the PMO and the press has been going on since Day One of the Harper government, and is old news. Access to the Prime Minister has been steadily reduced via a series of diktats from party apparatchiks who are themselves often hard to track down. Press spokespeople come and go, averaging about a year on the job as they tire of the grind of ignoring or misleading the people they’re purportedly paid to deal with. In August Mr. Harper started hunting for his eighth director of communications since 2006. Mr. Harper rarely holds press conferences, and strictly limits questions when he does. On official trips like this summer’s annual tour of the North, reporters are kept well out of question-asking range. The Prime Minister is happy to be photographed with smiling native children, or gazing gorgeous Arctic vistas, but is not open to queries about why promises made on earlier trips remain unfulfilled. And his coverage keeps getting worse. Now why would that be? It could be that the working press is packed with small-minded jackals in the pocket of Conservative enemies. Or it could be that, with minimal access to government officials, they spend their time instead seeking out other sources of information. The gallery has become adept at ferreting out information via access laws that allow them to formulate views untainted by government spin. They can see for themselves that the Tory agenda has been less than a complete success, but can’t offer a reasonable explanation because that would require someone in government actually speaking to them. The Tories slam the door in their face and tell them to find something else to report on; Thomas Mulcair opens his door and invites them in. What does Mr. DeLorey figure is going to happen next.? It’s the Conservatives’ free choice if they want to continue playing a self-defeating game. The media doesn’t need the PMO’s help to know that something stinks in the Senate, and it’s doubtful that Canadians will buy the notion that “media bias” is the cause. An election is two years off and the Throne Speech is considered the opening shot in the campaign. It got panned. The Harper PMO still thinks it can deliver its message over the head of the media, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Maybe that’s why the communications directors keep quitting. ...
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 06:02:35 +0000
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