Check out this story for latest edition of Macleans magazine.
Stephen Harper, we're told by reporters covering the Conservative leader's national campaign tour, is a changed man. The formerly media-shy (or downright hostile) Harper smiles more. He ventures to the back of the plane to kibitz with reporters and patiently answers their questions. In short, he no longer seems to regard them as the enemy.
...Ordinarily, Soroka said he'd expect coverage of all the leaders to be "mildly negative," given that editorials and columns during a campaign generally amount to critiques of policies, strategy or character. He said it's striking that Harper has cumulatively scored a neutral net tone of zero, as has Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe. The New Democratic Party's Jack Layton is not far behind, with a net tone of -1 per cent. For Martin, once the darling of the mainstream press, the honeymoon is definitely over. He has scored a cumulative net tone of -12 per cent. Similarly, the Conservative party and NDP have each scored a net tone of zero, while the Bloc has done only moderately worse with a net tone of -3 per cent. The Liberals, like their leader, have fared the worst, with a net tone of -14 per cent.
This is something many bloggers have spoken about before. It also something we mused about whether it would change. Judging by the spanking of John Duffy by Mike Duffy and the treatment of the pulled Liberal ad it doesn't look like it.
Maybe the fact that Paul Martin has surrounded himself by (insert expletative here) is finally coming back to haunt him. The remaining question is will John Duffy be pulled like Scott "Beer & Popcorn" Reid?
Update: I received a Conservative release on the same topic.
Points to consider:
- CTV anchor Mike Duffy blasted Liberal strategist John Duffy on air because he had attempted to intimidate him into not publicly discussing a withdrawn Liberal attack ad. “This is a perfectly legitimate issue to be raised by journalists. It was raised there [at the leader’s debate]. We have every right to raise it. We have a public responsibility to raise it. You were in here earlier when we were off the air in a commercial break trying to intimidate me into not going back to that ad. We will not be intimidated. We will do our jobs as journalists” – Mike Duffy (CTV Newsnet, January 10, 2006).
- At the
Liberal convention in November 2003, a Canadian Press reporter overheard a rehearsal of Martin’s acceptance speech, which he taped for a story. The Martin people reportedly “went ballistic” and threatened that CP would be “frozen out”. According to “senior Martin flack” Brian Guest, the freeze would mean three years of no access to the prime minister for CP. (Toronto Star, December 4, 2003). - At the same time, Scott Reid called another journalist, clearly angry about a story and taunting her about her sources. (Globe and Mail, February 13, 2004).
- On CBC Newsworld on February 13th, 2004, Globe and Mail reporter Jane Taber stated that she received a call from Reid, “menacingly” stating that he knew who her sources were. (CBC Newsworld, February 13, 2004).
- Paul Martin’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Littler, is suing CTV reporter Mike Duffy and CTV itself over a story linking Littler to involvement in the Judy Sgro affair (Ottawa Citizen, March 9, 2005)
This campaign has been marked by the Liberals running against their record, running from their own attack ads, and now running against the media.
