It was interesting comparing how different news media announced the new sex education material issued by the Ontario Ministry of Education. For all the hoopla, it seems to be very tame stuff. It told us more about the maturity of the reporters, news directors and editors than it did about sex education. Global Television’s Queen’s Park reporter Alan Carter was by far the least mature. He insisted on referring to it as the Liberal government’s sex education program and promised large crowds of people objecting to the explicit words and sexual practices being discussed.
Carter’s poster boy for the Queen’s Park protestors was Monte McNaughton MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex who appears to speak for the social conservative side of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives in the current party leadership race. McNaughton’s answer is sex should be left to parents to discuss with their children.
Carter’s obvious bias against the Ontario Liberals is in sharp contrast to the more balanced coverage of Ottawa politics by the Global team based there. Carter has already wasted the goodwill that former senior news reporter Leslie Roberts and co-host John Tory built for the Focus Ontario program that Carter took over. We were hoping the very able Toronto City Hall reporter Jackson Proskow would move to that show but he was promoted to Washington.
The perception of Alan Carter’s reporting can best be described as snide. He has a seemingly sneering attitude in discussing subjects particularly related to the governing Liberals. This writer also tends to disagree with some of the things they do but we are writing commentary not news. And we use our political expertise to question and analyze the actions of politicians. We also encourage (signed) comment from readers.
It must be a knee-jerk thing. Over the years of arranging “spontaneous” demonstrations for this or that, you get to be a quick study of crowds, their numbers and their origins. The demonstration at Queen’s Park in the cold yesterday was a bit pathetic. Carter told listeners on Monday that there would be thousands at the demonstration. Early radio coverage placed the number at 200. The CBC and Toronto Star pegged it more accurately at 300. Carter admitted to 400 on the 6 pm news and also said that it was far short of the promised numbers.
The presence of Conservative provincial leadership hopefuls MPP Monte McNaughton and MP Patrick Brown told you what anti-abortion social conservative groups the people came from. It was actually more raucous during the question period in the Legislature than it was in the demonstration out front.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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