The New Democrats have long suspected some of the province's media outlets are biased against them. But senior party members don't often put those suspicions in print - principally because, in the words of Mark Twain, it's not advisable to "pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel." Nevertheless, that's exactly what New Democrat caucus policy director Ian Reid appears to have done on his personal blog. Under the headline The Tale of Two Stories, for example, Mr. Reid complains The Vancouver Sun didn't give the New Democrats enough credit when they released a leak copy of the Fraser Health Authority's service plan.
"In the Sun you had to turn the page to find out that the NDP had anything to do with the story. In the Province that information is up front in the headline and the lead paragraph," Mr. Reid writes. "The way the Sun writes the story the reader doesn't find out what (New Democrat health critic Adrian) Dix thinks this says about the government's management of health care until the fifteenth paragraph. He gets five paragraphs to tell that story. The government gets six to respond." The staffer went onto add "it's as if" the article was edited "to remove the story line.
In an interview, New Democrat communications director Chris Gainor stressed "this blog is Ian's personal opinion and not the opinion of caucus. And we've just found out about this. And we will be talking to him about it as soon as we can."
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Let's just be thankful communications directors don't write the newspaper articles.
What now cook up some calls to Open Line shows?
As biased or misleading news coverage goes, the episode cited by Ian Reid would appear to be at the very, very low end in terms of overall scumminess.
My favourite piece lately was Gary Mason's hatchet job on Carole James over the pay raise issue. It was full of non-facts (eg Mason claims the pay raise proposal comes from an "independent" panel, a statement that is a highly debatable opinion) and then goes into overdrive by claiming that the NDP MLAs will get tax receipts for the charitable contributions.
Can I ask this question. What has Gary Mason ever contributed to charity? Does he even give a day's pay to the United Way? Does he get a tax receipt for that?
Another "leak" from the secret source of the NDP - the INTERNET!
Yep, it's the fault of the media. It's the fault of the voters for not supporting the party. But let's be clear... it is not the fault of NDP caucus communications staff that the party cannot communicate its message. Nope, not at all.
Now that Ledge has adjourned for the summer, it's time to start writing some pink slips.
The Vancouver Sun is to Gordon Campbell and the Liberals what the Fox News network is to George Bush and the Republicans. The Sun and Global News with Tony Parsons are the biggest cheerleaders for this government, they are totally biased.
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