The Press Gallery can just shove it
The Parliamentary Press Gallery is complaining, no, whining, that for the Obama visit press conference last month, they were informed that only 40 passes would be issued to the PPG. In the end, they got 43 issued to them.
But now they're raising a total stink because they discovered, horror of horrors, that the PMO issued 28 press passes to journalists of their own choosing.
A couple of questions that the PPG didn't address in their letter to the Hill Times...
1) How many passes were issued by the PMO to journalists the PPG would have given them to anyway?
2) Did the PPG ever have any intention of issuing them to bloggers? (Since I already know what your answer to that one would be, you can skip answering that one)
3) Do you think, just maybe, because of the way the PPG has consistantly soured relations with the PMO, that they decided to hang on to a few passes to ensure that more supportive journalists weren't automaticly denied access by the PPG's little cabal?
4) From the PPG's letter: "it is not in any way up to the Prime Minister's Office to select the journalists who will attend a press conference" SAYS WHO??? If the PPG is not helping, or rather, if they're deliberately blocking the Government's efforts to get their message out, the PPG has obviously left them with no alternative. Therefore, as a direct result of previous actions, the PPG is not going to be given full control of access to press conferences. Full stop, end of story, -30-.
You've got to love their little demand and the end of the letter: "We request that, from now on, when access to a popular media event is limited for legitimate reasons, all press passes be given to the Parliamentary Press Gallery. It will determine who will receive a pass, based on criteria accepted by its members."
How's this for criteria? Report what the Government is actually saying for once, and quit spinning all your stories so one-sidedly.
Otherwise, this sort of thing will keep on happening. Deal with it.
But now they're raising a total stink because they discovered, horror of horrors, that the PMO issued 28 press passes to journalists of their own choosing.
A couple of questions that the PPG didn't address in their letter to the Hill Times...
1) How many passes were issued by the PMO to journalists the PPG would have given them to anyway?
2) Did the PPG ever have any intention of issuing them to bloggers? (Since I already know what your answer to that one would be, you can skip answering that one)
3) Do you think, just maybe, because of the way the PPG has consistantly soured relations with the PMO, that they decided to hang on to a few passes to ensure that more supportive journalists weren't automaticly denied access by the PPG's little cabal?
4) From the PPG's letter: "it is not in any way up to the Prime Minister's Office to select the journalists who will attend a press conference" SAYS WHO??? If the PPG is not helping, or rather, if they're deliberately blocking the Government's efforts to get their message out, the PPG has obviously left them with no alternative. Therefore, as a direct result of previous actions, the PPG is not going to be given full control of access to press conferences. Full stop, end of story, -30-.
You've got to love their little demand and the end of the letter: "We request that, from now on, when access to a popular media event is limited for legitimate reasons, all press passes be given to the Parliamentary Press Gallery. It will determine who will receive a pass, based on criteria accepted by its members."
How's this for criteria? Report what the Government is actually saying for once, and quit spinning all your stories so one-sidedly.
Otherwise, this sort of thing will keep on happening. Deal with it.
posted by Christian Conservative @ 1:07 p.m.
3 Comments:
At Mon Mar 16, 02:45:00 p.m. EDT,
Ted Betts said…
"The Parliamentary Press Gallery is complaining, no, whining, that for the Obama visit press conference last month, they were informed that only 40 passes would be issued to the PPG."
Um, not exactly. They are complaining because Harper lied to them, outright lied to them. Again.
But let me ask you this: when has "The Media" not reported what the "Harper Government" (as recently rebranded)??
Seems to me that, even if you want to pretend that there is "bias" out there in "The Media", the print and broadcast media is still reporting what he says. Regurgitating it in my view without any critical analysis or filter.
For example, even though Canada is doing worse than most in terms of job loss, GDI and GDP, Harper claimed last week we are doing much better and the media simply repeated his statements without, for the most part, even getting commentary from Ignatieff. Now, in later stories they do follow up and quote financial analysist and economic experts including the IMF and (yesterday) the Bank of Canada governor saying that Harper's assessment is full of crap. But they did report what he actually said.
Another example. For weeks the media has been repeating the Tory talking points about the senate "slowing things down" and the House "slowing things down" when in fact neither the senate nor the House even had a bill in front of it to slow down. The Conservatives had not even brought it up for a vote yet! Did you hear about that in "The Media"? No, but you did read what the Conservatives were actually saying.
Bias just depends on which way you are looking. But lack of unquestionning support is not the same thing as spin or bias.
At Mon Mar 16, 04:30:00 p.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
I recall there was a picture from the press conference that caught a Canadian reporter actually taking a personal picture of Obama with his own point-and-shoot camera.
http://www.stephentaylor.ca/reporter-digital-camera.jpg
The PPG definitely seemed to be treating Obama as a celebrity first, a head-of-state second.
And, if some members of the PPG refuse to do their job in covering Federal politics, let's hope their employers have the good sense to find someone who will.
The PPG goes to the PM to cover him, not the PM going to the PPG.
At Tue Mar 17, 03:00:00 p.m. EDT,
Anonymous said…
Hey Press Gallery... that was a month a go... who the hell cares?
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