The Media's Darling?

[betsy]

Persistent quizzing of Martin and Duceppe by reporters....the media, or a lot of them...almost seem to be "protective" of Harper these days.

I can understand the rebellious and beligerent stance towards Martin (imagine trying to stifle free press)....but the way they grilled Duceppe for attacking Harper....boy, they kept on hammering at Duceppe and persisted that it's because of the polls that he (Duceppe) is trying to implicate Harper in the Options Canada. Duceppe was practically being placed on the defensive by the media!

The media seem to be aiding Harper...."innoculating" him more from being harmed by the negative ads.

[geoffrey]

Persistent quizzing of Martin and Duceppe by reporters....the media, or a lot of them...almost seem to be "protective" of Harper these days.

I can understand the rebellious and beligerent stance towards Martin (imagine trying to stifle free press)....but the way they grilled Duceppe for attacking Harper....boy, they kept on hammering at Duceppe and persisted that it's because of the polls that he (Duceppe) is trying to implicate Harper in the Options Canada. Duceppe was practically being placed on the defensive by the media!

The media seem to be aiding Harper...."innoculating" him more from being harmed by the negative ads.

If there was more truth in the ads, I feel the media would be more willing to be critical of Harper.

Instead, even the CBC would be embarassed supporting such fruitless allegiations.

Now that the CPC is enjoying responsible and truthful coverage in the media, Canadian's are actually seeing what the party is about. And this is why the polls are reflecting well for the CPC.

[Riverwind]

The media seem to be aiding Harper...."innoculating" him more from being harmed by the negative ads.

All the people who complain about media bias forget that reporters are voters too and tend to share the same concerns and feelings as everyone else. In the last two weeks, the Canadian public seems to have made up its mind that we need a new gov't and that Harper is good enough even if there are some areas of concern. The reporters are getting carried along with that wave like everyone else.

[uOttawaMan]

I totally agree... Martin's press conference today wasn't questioning by a bunch of reporters.. it was like an attack session during Question period in the house.

I know reporters have to sell papers, but come on, at least pretend to be being objective.

[shoop]

Are you really that in favour of objectivity? Were you saying that in 2000 when the wolfpack descended on Stock Day? Or 2004 when they attacked Harper?

Interesting to hear Liberals whining about the media.

I totally agree... Martin's press conference today wasn't questioning by a bunch of reporters.. it was like an attack session during Question period in the house.

I know reporters have to sell papers, but come on, at least pretend to be being objective.

[uOttawaMan]

You think I'm a liberal? lololol

I'm saying, the media should at least be trying to remain objective.

And before you start flaming and insulting me in true convincing fashion, I wasn't following politics at that time, I am fairly young.

[geoffrey]

Are you really that in favour of objectivity? Were you saying that in 2000 when the wolfpack descended on Stock Day? Or 2004 when they attacked Harper?

Interesting to hear Liberals whining about the media.

I hate to say it shoop, but two wrongs don't make a right, the media should not declare open season the Liberals. They deserve full accurate coverage of things such as their negative as well as false attack ads and RCMP investigations into their senior ministers. I'm sure CBC will cover their new and exciting policy announcements, once they make any.

And look, Monte Solberg with the help of Ezra Levant released the red book for the Liberals. Even the CPC is helping them. I enjoyed getting that Western Standard e-mail with the red book, before even most of the Liberals got it.

So with their biggest opponents helping them, and the media covering all aspects of their campaign, really the Liberals are dealing with the biggest support in this campaign.

[Shady]

I'm saying, the media should at least be trying to remain objective

Shut up about objective. The majority of Canadian media leans far to the left. Martin's catching the most heat because he's the PM and he belongs to the party neck deep in corruption and scandal. Tough crap, go whine somewhere else.

[uOttawaMan]

Read the Globe and Mail , National Post much?

"Right leaning" to the max.

[geoffrey]

Read the Globe and Mail , National Post much?

"Right leaning" to the max.

Maybe the Post in the Conrad days, I strongly disagree with labelling the Globe right leaning though.

[Riverwind]

Maybe the Post in the Conrad days, I strongly disagree with labelling the Globe right leaning though.

The trouble is the are two types of conservatives: economic and social. There are many Canadians who are social liberals but economic conservatives. The G&M reflects that point of view.

In other words, the G&M is a economic right wing news source.

There are very few socially right wing news sources in this country because there are too few of those people in Canada to make a media outlet with those biases profitable.

[Boondoggle]

Persistent quizzing of Martin and Duceppe by reporters....the media, or a lot of them...almost seem to be "protective" of Harper these days.

I can understand the rebellious and beligerent stance towards Martin (imagine trying to stifle free press)....but the way they grilled Duceppe for attacking Harper....boy, they kept on hammering at Duceppe and persisted that it's because of the polls that he (Duceppe) is trying to implicate Harper in the Options Canada. Duceppe was practically being placed on the defensive by the media!

The media seem to be aiding Harper...."innoculating" him more from being harmed by the negative ads.

Let's be honest about this, the media was just trying to get Duceppe to admit to what he was doing. Duceppe has said he wants to increase the number of seats that the Bloc has, but recent polls show his numbers going down while support for the Conservatives in Quebec is going up. The Conservatives are ahead of the Liberals in Quebec; therefore, Harper is more of an opponent now than Martin. Instead of attacking Martin constantly, as he usually does, he is suddenly spending more time attacking Harper. His reasons for doing so are blantantly driven by numbers. He has to attack the federal party that has the most support in order to maintain support for his separatist party. Personally, I think any federal party that bites into support for the Bloc is doing a good thing.

[Montgomery Burns]

Read the Globe and Mail , National Post much?

"Right leaning" to the max.

You're kidding?!

The National Post used to be a "right leaning" paper in the Conrad Black and Mark Steyn days, but after being bought by the liberal Asper family, the paper has become centrist--which actually is quite good (although not as good as before).

And the Globe & Mail is a leftwing paper--but fairer than the hard-left Toronto Star--and is owned by the same company that owns CTV...

[kimmy]

I totally agree... Martin's press conference today wasn't questioning by a bunch of reporters.. it was like an attack session during Question period in the house.

I know reporters have to sell papers, but come on, at least pretend to be being objective.

Are you really that in favour of objectivity? Were you saying that in 2000 when the wolfpack descended on Stock Day? Or 2004 when they attacked Harper?

Interesting to hear Liberals whining about the media.

You know what, guys? I think the effect we're seeing is that the media is not necessarily out to "get" one party or the other... just as long as they can "get" somebody. I think this is something Sparhawk articulated months back when we were discussing media bias in wake of the stories circulating about staff turnover in the Conservatives' backroom.

How often have you heard the phrase "they smell blood"? It's a phrase that used by sports broadcasters a lot, when one team is reeling, discombobulated, panicking, and making mistakes, and their opponent senses opportunity on every play. Or when a boxer can barely defend himself and his opponent senses the chance to land the knockout punch is just moments away. The phrase, of course, refers to hunters and prey: a wolfpack or school of pirhanas or sharks, senses a wounded and vulnerable target and closes in for the kill. And given the way the metaphor is used in sports, you might think the Liberals are the reeling boxer or the football team in total disarray, and the Conservatives are the opponent ready to take advantage.

But I think it's actually the media that are the school of pirhanas, and the Liberals are thrashing around in the water, and the Conservatives are cautiously on the shore relieved that it's not them feeding the pirhanas this time. The media? They're hungry and they just want to kill something.

In previous elections, reporters sensed that it was the Conservatives (or their predecessors) that were going to yield a big story. Ask the right question, press the right button, and you might get a scoop. This time around, reporters sense that from the Liberals. The Liberals have provided such sexy, gossipy, headline grabby topics to talk about. They're talking about moles within their ranks, and secret backroom wars between different factions. They've made some spectacular blunders. Meanwhile, the Conservatives have runn a safe, competent, mature campaign. Given the situation, how could it be a surprise that the Q&A session after Harper's speech was calm, easygoing, and relaxed, while the Q&A after Martin's speech was like a piece of meat being thrown into the hyena cage at the zoo?

John Duffy was the Liberal strategist who had his head torn off by Mike Duffy on live TV on Tuesday. John was upset that Mike wanted to talk about the bundled ad, instead of "hidden agenda" stuff. Well guess what, John? The "hidden agenda" talk is simply not very interesting to the news media anymore, as they've been covering that talk for years, and Canadians have been hearing that talk for years, and it's simply lost it's impact. Is the media bias because it has given more press to the ad that got pulled than the ads the Liberals are taking to air? The Liberals can spend their money and put whichever ads they want on the air, but that in itself isn't news. "Party launches attack ads!" is mildly newsworthy, but it happens all the time. But "Party pulls spectacularly dumb ad!" is also pretty newsworthy. The "Soldiers. In Our Cities. With Guns" ad is not just newsworthy, it's historically significant: it's being mentioned alongside of some of the most catastrophic blunders in recent Canadian history-- the 1993 ad with Chretien's mangled face, and the 1997 Reform ad complaining about Quebec Prime Ministers. How could it not be news when a party produces a brain-fart of such whithering stench that it smells from coast to coast?

Of course right now the media is pursuing the Liberals like a pack of starving pirhanas. They're hungry for scoops. The Conservatives haven't dished out any, but the Liberals keep coming out with one after another. The media smells blood coming from the Liberals this time.

-k

[betsy]

I wonder if the media is somehow feeling some sort of guilt?

For these same media had aided the Liberals in demonizing Harper in the past....only to find that for doing so, in a way, they had aided in the victimization of our system.

And they had seen something appealing about Harper's alternative government.

Then to make this realization really drive home, they had now seen who the real scary party is....when they felt their own turf (free press) being tampered with.

Now they feel they had to rescue the nation. To aid in preventing our democratic system's decay.

This probably is an attempt at atonement.

Then of course, seeing Harper's climb in the polls...and seeing first-hand the population's response, they feel they have to join the band-wagon. After all, everybody loves a winner....or at least want to be able to say, they supported the winner.

[betsy]

CPAC Radio phone-in with Dave Rutherford discuss the media's treatment of Harper.

A junior reporter challenged Martin after he dodged a question. She came right back at him and demanded for him to answer. This, coming from a junior reporter, is apparently unheard of in this field.

It's noted that with Martin....there is an element of "bashing".

It's also noted that the media is now endorsing Harper. Toronto Sun and Globe and Mail (especially these two very Liberal-leaning papers) are showing flattering sides of Harper.

True, Harper peaked last election...only to fall back again.

They say the big difference this time is that, Harper has the support of the media. They say his numbers in the polls is therefore much more solid.

[Hicksey]

CPAC Radio phone-in with Dave Rutherford discuss the media's treatment of Harper.

A junior reporter challenged Martin after he dodged a question. She came right back at him and demanded for him to answer. This, coming from a junior reporter, is apparently unheard of in this field.

It's noted that with Martin....there is an element of "bashing".

It's also noted that the media is now endorsing Harper. Toronto Sun and Globe and Mail (especially these two very Liberal-leaning papers) are showing flattering sides of Harper.

True, Harper peaked last election...only to fall back again.

They say the big difference this time is that, Harper has the support of the media. They say his numbers in the polls is therefore much more solid.

I wouldn't call the Toronto Sun liberal, but I agree the media is being much less hard on his this time around.

[shoop]

The media is going after Martin and his cronies because of their arrogance. Treating people like pissantes will eventually come back to bite you in the butt.

Look at the thing with John Duffy on the Mike Duffy show. Or that Liberal spokeswoman swearing on air last night.

At least the eight-year-old for CTV was nice to him.

Martin drinks milkshake with kid reporter.

A junior reporter challenged Martin after he dodged a question. She came right back at him and demanded for him to answer. This, coming from a junior reporter, is apparently unheard of in this field.

It's noted that with Martin....there is an element of "bashing".

I wouldn't call the Toronto Sun liberal, but I agree the media is being much less hard on his this time around.

[Hicksey]

The media is going after Martin and his cronies because of their arrogance. Treating people like pissantes will eventually come back to bite you in the butt.

Look at the thing with John Duffy on the Mike Duffy show. Or that Liberal spokeswoman swearing on air last night.

At least the eight-year-old for CTV was nice to him.

Martin drinks milkshake with kid reporter.

A junior reporter challenged Martin after he dodged a question. She came right back at him and demanded for him to answer. This, coming from a junior reporter, is apparently unheard of in this field.

It's noted that with Martin....there is an element of "bashing".

I wouldn't call the Toronto Sun liberal, but I agree the media is being much less hard on his this time around.

Now that's just precious. A Liberal spokesperson swore on the air last night? I didn't hear about this.

You got a link?

[mar]

I wonder if the media is somehow feeling some sort of guilt?

For these same media had aided the Liberals in demonizing Harper in the past....only to find that for doing so, in a way, they had aided in the victimization of our system.

And they had seen something appealing about Harper's alternative government.

Then to make this realization really drive home, they had now seen who the real scary party is....when they felt their own turf (free press) being tampered with.

Now they feel they had to rescue the nation. To aid in preventing our democratic system's decay.

This probably is an attempt at atonement.

Then of course, seeing Harper's climb in the polls...and seeing first-hand the population's response, they feel they have to join the band-wagon. After all, everybody loves a winner....or at least want to be able to say, they supported the winner.

I think the last part of your post is the most accurate, though incomplete.

Ultimately, I think they just want to be proved right. They have been saying since the last election the scandals would sink the Liberals and now they view everything in that context. I'm sure some of them are Conservative supporters but for most its a combination of spinning everything to conform to their pre-conceived idea of the outcome and a little bit of sheer boredom with covering the Liberals all these years and wanting a new target.

You can bet the honeymoon with Harper will be short (though its certainly a love fest now).