Extra! Extra! The Media Becomes the News!
The cold war between the PMO and the media heated up again yesterday.
This time the battlefield was Charlottetown, P.E.I., where the Conservative Party is holding its summer caucus meeting. On Wednesday, the RCMP evicted journalists from the hotel hosting the event.
As I watched some of the coverage on the CBC, I noticed one journalist – it looked like Jim Travers from the Toronto Star – yelling “Quick escape the gulag!” as he and his colleagues were being escorted from the hotel.
I completely understand the frustration of members of the media in this case. They’re only trying to do their job. But instead of reporting the news, they became active participants in it.
Does this somehow taint the objectiveness and integrity of the media? Is this why people are turning to Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert? I mean, if you can’t get an honest representation of the real news, you might as well get a good laugh at its expense.
However, maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way. You know what they say, “No news is good news.” Unless your job is to analyze it.
