That headline was a casual comment by Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star on Tom Clark’s West Block show on Global last Sunday. She was, of course, talking about politics. It was the old truism that in politics that you do not worry as much about your enemies because you keep them where you can see them. Danger lurks among the people behind you.
It is something that is always there in politics. Last week the “expert” from Toronto who came to take charge of the recount in Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte electoral district warned the scores of people supporting the Liberal candidate not to speak to the news media. There was nothing factual that they could have told the media that would matter. The warning was based on the many times people have fabricated something to make themselves seem more important.
And the more important the politico, the better stories their followers and hangers-on seem able to create.
But those of us whose job it was to deal with the news media for the party and try to get the favourable slant on the story had to deal with both sides. Unlike the corporate schmoozer, the political spin doctor runs ahead of the pack in the same manner as the point man on an armed patrol into enemy territory. You are on your own and you stay alive by your wits.
And you know that the media are not your friends. There might be some you respect more than others but they all have a job to do. If you are not careful, you are just one more road kill on their way to their story.
While there were many hours over the years spent with media people in both the Ottawa and Toronto press clubs, you always made one drink last a long time.
You always felt disappointed though when supposedly friendly politicos tried to use your goodwill with the media to test run their schemes. It has always been interesting in politics that we have to spend far more time talking people out of news releases than writing them. A political person with a good news sense is a rare find.
What is of greater concern today is the continual degrading of news outlets across the country. Conglomerate ownership, emerging use of personal media, changing patterns of advertising and the fluid nature of Canadian demographics forces continued attention. It is a process of life.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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