Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW

Categories: Capital Read, Inkless Wells

The gallery and the politicians: an Inkless bleg

by Paul Wells on Monday, October 5, 2009 6:22pm - 63 Comments

Folks: on Oct. 29 I’m going to be addressing students at the Glendon School of Public and International Affairs, at York University. I’ll be speaking in general about the quality of political reporting in this country. I’ll be saying, in general, that when politicians complain about political journalism, they sometimes have a point and sometimes not. And to the extent they have a point — that the depth, seriousness, level of understanding that reporters bring to bear isn’t up to what you might hope — I’ll be pointing out that there are broad, systemic reasons that explain some of this. Collapsing newsroom budgets, shrinking staffs, exploding newsholes and so on.

Anyway, the folks at Glendon have asked whether there’s anything I’d like the students to read or watch before they hear from me. One of the great things about Glendon is that the students are bilingual, so I’ll be sending a chapter from Allan Levine’s underappreciated book Scrum Wars: The Prime Ministers and the Media, and if I could I’d urge them all to watch Jean-Claude Lebrecque’s fascinating documentary À Hauteur d’Homme, which followed Bernard Landry’s losing campaign in 2003 and presents, in excruciating detail, the unlovely spectacle of a press bus full of reporters who smell a loser. (Can’t find a clip online, but here’s a bunch of Radio-Canada radio coverage from around the release.)

But over to you: Do you know an article, analysis, video clip, radio debate, blog post, or other bit of media, in either official language, that captures or illustrates the assorted debates about how well we do our jobs? One senses, reading the comments around here, that many of you have strong opinions on these matters. I’m not going to be able to take all your suggestions but I’d be curious to see them and grateful for your contributions. Thanks.

Tags: Glendon, Jean-Claude Labrecque

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me dere robert

Simply ask them what the Green Shift was and count how many respond "Tax on Everything!".

Or get a years count of Jane Tabers anonymous sources vs her identified sources.

I think it's really difficult to find examples of the media doing a poor job because the problem is what they don't tell you. They just regurgitate what the politicians say whether its true or not. I think that political situation would greatly improve in this country if every time they reported on politics they followed up with things like.. "and these are the facts.." or "and this is the impact it will have on you…" or "which means…"
NoName

There's the chapter on the downfall of Gary Hart in "What it Takes" that springs to mind. It's American, true, but it's an amazing example of how the press can build a narrative from which a candidate can't escape.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Inkless Inkless

Good example. What an amazing book that was, chapter after chapter after chapter.

knick

Your audience might appreciate this recent example of gossip disguised as news which says something about the quality of political reporting in this country:

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/705996
JRF

Gotcha! by George Bain.
http://intensedebate.com/people/SeanStok SeanStok

This study looks at Canadian television newsroom producer's political inclinations, so it may be of interest. It's not great social science, in that the authors compare a non-random sample to broader census data, but it nevertheless is an attempt to ask if those who report the news are disproportionately weighted in any one political 'direction.'

http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/articl…
http://intensedebate.com/people/YYZ YYZ

This Noonan column from yesterday's WSJ doesn't capture the whole essence of the debate; but the main thesis is that the 'elders' who are now running the major media outlets need to remember they have a responsibility to the public – and shape their publications' coverage accordingly.

http://online.wsj.com/article/declarations.html
Mulletaur

If you're looking for examples of total yellow journalism and hackery, the Toronto Star's front page story about supposed defectors from the Liberals to the Conservatives is a perfect example. I thought journalists were supposed to confirm stories by reference to several sources rather than just whatever one of Jason Kenney's staffers says ?
peter

I've been spanked by you in the past for this, but arguably the selective blindness of media icons and the corruption of the financial press when it comes to real crimes is shocking. Matt Tabbi's recent Rolling Stone piece on Naked Short Selling and the criminals who enabled and engaged in it should be a good place to start…of course it borrows heavily from Patrick Byrne's Deepcapture blog….

That said the biggest problem in the media seems to be the cultural change the common law founded democracies are facing. It used to be that the forest would be healthy if the trees were looked after, we now are faced with legions of rule-following bureaucrats who are convinced that their job is just to tend to the forest (an abstract concept) and it is tough titty if their silvaculture programs kill (or maim) some trees (us)…the forest will be fine.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Thwim Thwim

Maybe. But the thing is.. they need to publish *something*. Remember, they don't make their money on giving us information. They make their money by selling our attention. They can't do that unless they've got something that draws our attention in the first place.

So as long as the government refuses to provide them with substantive information that might legitimately draw attention, they're going to find whatever else they can.
Foth Swallowed

" Do you know an article, analysis, video clip, radio debate, blog post, or other bit of media, in either official language, that captures or illustrates the assorted debates about how well we do our jobs? "

Such a book would not get printed in this country unless it were a self-congratulatory reacharound by an MSM hack.

Speaking of which, I suppose you could try Birds Of A Feather by Fotheringham, or Malice in Blunderland.

I disagree with the question, though; these types of books are inevitably written by unionized MSM hacks or unionized academics and published by left wing publishers and promoted by logrolling left wing journos and, the medium being the message, consequently have such a left wing tilt as to be utterly meaningless, the McGill "study" "proving" that Canada's media is not biased against conservatives and Conservatives being the most egregious and laughable example that comes to mind.
Bill D, Cat

Are blog posts fair game ?
http://intensedebate.com/people/PoliticalPundit PoliticalPundit

Paul was not asking for a right wing rant! Get a life!!
Mulletaur

There is no criticism of journalism and journalists in Canada, except for these blogs. You might try the British satirical magazine 'Private Eye' and the 'Street of Shame' section.
http://intensedebate.com/people/SisyphusThis SisyphusThis

That's right. If he wants a right wing rant he only has to stand up in the office
and yell ….. oh, maybe …. Warren Allmand !