Catherine Smith of Orleans, Ontario, writes in the Ottawa Citizen:"I find it fascinating that the careful control of media access to Stephen Harper and his cabinet continues to have journalists tied in knots of indignation. Do they not realize that this hunger for access plays to a carefully orchestrated plan? The goal is not to usher in a prolonged ice age in communications with the Prime Minister's Office, nor is it to foment a civil war between the pundits and cabinet ministers.
"On the contrary, the experiment has been designed to encourage the journalistic community to foam at the mouth in frustration and then, at the appropriate time in mid autumn, let the barriers down with a flourish. The media will have learned a lesson in humility and be so grateful for access that reporters will fall all over themselves to sate an overwhelming appetite for Conservative spin. Mr. Harper and his crew will welcome the attention just in time to chip away at Liberal leadership convention coverage and with single-minded determination create "winning press coverage conditions" for a Conservative majority in the next election.
"B.F. Skinner's famous theory of behaviour modification is very much in action here. One wonders if all the "rats in the maze" will continue to focus only on the sustenance beckoning at the end of the tunnel, or begin to comprehend the training techniques of punishment and reward that put them there in the first place."
2006/04/24
Harper and the Media
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1 comment:
one thing canadians have to realize is that the free press(journalist) are the ones that bring accountability to the table, when it comes to "government"
they are thge ones that inform canadians of what is going on
we (the populace) are the government, we mearly elect "representitaves"
the recent muzzling of cabinet members and the press should be a red flag, and the press along with canadians should be up in arms about what is going on
we deserve to know, we are a democracy, aren't we?
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