Here’s the real story here: Fully-grown reporter stomps up and down like a bratty teenager and demands stories be provided to her—preferably ones that make all conservatives look like totally moronic buttheads.
In the meantime, while waiting, the self-anointed elite member of Canada’s liberal media cognoscenti behaves like the spoiled offspring of an multi-million-dollar auto-parts empire, who knows politics and government better than anybody else.
She presumes to wag her finger publicly at the new prime minister, advising him to behave, telling him on three occasions that “he would be well advised…”, and in so doing she amuses us all with what is becoming an increasingly humorous display of liberal media’s abject sense of self-importance. She unwittingly demonstrates that she totally misses the irony contained therein, and misses the whole concept of blogs and bad karma. And polls. And people. And common sense.
Half-way through, the journalist with the excessively high regard for her own importance or station betrays that the liberal-left media’s ugly inner dishonesty is just waiting to rear its treasonous (though God almighty it’s fair and balanced!) head:
Newspapers, broadcasts, news sites and blogs still need to be filled. If journalists can’t talk to people close to the prime minister and close to power, they’ll talk to unnamed sources about him. Mischief, mayhem and mockery will follow.
Funny. I don’t have that problem at all, and I have one of the most popular blogs in Canada. And here’s another thing—and this is key, young lady: “Mischief, mayhem and mockery” preceded Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party’s rise to victory. Chew on that for a while.
And Stephen Harper is…. wait for it… it’s the third word in the article so you don’t have to wait long… “unprofessional”. Like a clerk at a newspaper stand who doesn’t say “…and have a nice day, Princess”. (Hat tip to DC in YOW)
Stephen Harper’s unprofessional and inadequate media relations have the potential to significantly harm his new government and he would be well advised to put his communications house in order before it’s too late.
Mr. Harper will not have any more success than any other prime minister in creating a “friendly” media, but he ought to know by now that the media, like it or not, have the power to torpedo political fortunes. Mr. Harper doesn’t have to like journalists (and all indications are that he doesn’t), but sidelining them is like holding your breath during a tantrum. They’ll still be there when you wake up. […]
As if on cue, the bratty “journalist” declares thusly:
It’s clear now why Mr. Harper’s media relations are in disarray. It’s because he is taking his own bad advice.
… thereby proving she has no clue about whom, exactly, is in “disarray”.
Here’s a list of whines contained within one article, aside from the above, in point form, because it’s not as ridiculous and embarrassing for the pantywaist writer as the way it was actually written by her:
…it is dangerous to entrench in media a view that you don’t understand what makes a good story
…haven’t a clue what matters to journalists
…believe media are nothing more than obstacles to be avoided
It was a bad move to keep Mr. Emerson away from the media
It made media think he and the prime minister don’t understand that this was an important story
It was a bad move to tell the health minister at first not to react to Quebec’s plans… It made media think he and the prime minister don’t understand the basic journalistic need to get appropriate quotes in their stories.
It was a bad decision not to issue a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office following the mudslide in the Philippines. It made media think the PMO can’t generate rudimentary communications materials.
It was a bad decision to keep reporters at the curb for the new government’s first cabinet meeting. It made media think the PM doesn’t understand or appreciate their important role.
It was a bad decision to make the first prime ministerial news conference a scrum instead of a formal, sit-down news conference. It made media think he doesn’t respect them.
…it is a mistake to believe that professional media relations are unimportant
[WAG THAT FINGER!] Mr. Harper would be well advised to allow his communications advisers to do what they are good at.
He would also be well advised to immediately assign several of his smarter and more affable caucus members to start talking to reporters, and building some decent relationships.
It will not be enough to fill ministers’ offices with directors of communications who are instructed not to tell journalists much of anything.
[SOUNDS LIKE A TEENAGER] Journalists won’t leave the prime minister alone just because he or his cabinet or staff won’t talk to them.
…understanding media, knowing their routines, respecting their roles
…media are key to his ability to communicate his message and stay in at least some control of his government’s agenda.
Her efforts are paying off in one respect: as you might expect, we already have a nominee for this week’s Unwittingly Comedic Quote of the Week Award, for this gem:
This isn’t to say that understanding media, knowing their routines, respecting their roles and using the many communications tools at the government’s disposal will co-opt journalists. Media will continue to resist government spin, to view every utterance of the prime minister as newsworthy, to take a largely adversarial stance with politicians, and to focus on conflict, drama and personalities. Media will always chase the story, regardless of its political stripe.
And the coup de grÃ
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
Contact Mr. Johannesen about this article using this form. Please refer to article's title.
FOLLOW @JoelJohannesen ON X!
- Proud To Be Canadian. But Maybe Not. - Tuesday December 17, 2024 at 2:07 pm
- Say something. - Friday October 25, 2024 at 6:03 pm
- Keep going, or veer right - Monday August 26, 2024 at 4:30 pm
