by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
May 26, 2004
as May 23rd approached; the day that Paul Martin was going to ask the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament and drop the writ for a June 28th election, the Liberal and liberal Canadian media began to pull for their Liberal Party heroes. and if this election is anything like the last one, the elite media will do its best to ensure that the most corrupt government in the history of Canada remains in power.
During the last federal election in 2000, the media did their best to portray then leader of the opposition, Stockwell Day, not only as a fundamentalist right-wing Christian zealot, but as someone who was not bright enough to govern. The classic example of this tactic was the constant reference, day after day, of the fact that Day made a mistake in the direction that the Niagara River flows. During his 10 years in office, Jean Chrétien made similar faux pas but the Chrétien-friendly media would have as little chuckle and then it would be forgotten the next day. The media apply one standard to their friends and another to those whose ideas and policies they do not agree with.
Toronto’s Citytv got off to a good start in advance of the election call. Now it is perhaps a little unfair to criticize City because their presentation of the news could be better referred to as the amateur hour. Love them or hate them, at least the Toronto Star and the CBC are staffed by professional, well-qualified journalists. There is always a danger in accusing Citytv of being biased because in order to have a bias, you need a basic understanding of the objective facts.
On May 20 Citytv new presenter Francis D’Souza gave the results of a poll and exclaimed that if the election were held today, the Liberals would get a majority. D’Souza failed to mention that the poll was conducted between May 8 and May 13, well before the Ontario Liberals brought down their May 18 budget. a newer post-budget poll showed that the dissatisfaction over the budget resulted in the federal Liberals only being able to attain a minority government. a desire to pump up the Liberals took precedence over full and accurate reporting.
The next day, in an email preview of the 6 o’clock news, City announced that "Everyone is expecting a federal election call this weekend. and it looks like some already think they know the outcome of the upcoming vote." The "some" that the email referred to was the latest Ipsos-Reid poll that showed the Liberals winning only a minority government.
When Citytv likes the results of a poll, it becomes a fact. When they don’t like it, it is just an opinion held by "some".
Stay tuned--there will be a lot more of the same before June 28.