Chretien and national media duel to the death... of the CBC

PM/national media face-off escalates as regional CBC stations wither

By: Bruce Wark

Sun newspapers Ottawa Bureau Chief says the PM refuses to hold news conferences or scrums and worse still, his media handlers are treating reporters with contempt, ridiculing their questions and even - oh my God - giving sarcastic answers

  You may not have noticed but there's a fight to the death raging between the distinguished guys and gals who report on national politics and le p'tit gars de Shawinigan. The London Free Press reported the news on May 15th: "Chretien, Parliamentary Media At War" screeched the Freep's headline over a despatch by Sean Durkan, the cool-headed Ottawa Bureau Chief for Sun Newspapers.
  Yes, war is hell and this one's no exception! Durkan says the PM refuses to hold news conferences or scrums and worse still, his media handlers are treating reporters with contempt, ridiculing their questions and even - oh my God - giving sarcastic answers. Seems this has been going on for years but Durkan reports the battle has gotten even fiercer since Chretien's return "from his Curse of the Dummy Middle East tour just before Easter." Wow!
  Yes, war is hell and I'd say the seeds of this one were planted in Chretien's first term when the deep-thinking editorial scribes at the Globe and Male regularly penned elegant screeds urging the PM to step down "for the good of the country." In the considered judgment of the Globe's males, Canada needed a more credible leader to lead the charge against the separatists.
 

Le P'tit Jean may not like the national media in general but his hatred of the CBC borders on the pathological

  Then, to make matters worse, the peerless Comrade Bleak founded the National Pest which soon pried open every closet in Shawinigan looking for P'tit Jean's skeletons. Chretien retaliated by denying Bleak's lordly ambitions and in high dudgeon, the rebarbative Bleak hauled Monsieur C into court.
  Now the stage was set for April's famous Middle East tour. With a circulation battle raging at their head offices in Toronto, the journalists who write for the national rags took delight in the competition to paint the PM as Johnny Canuck, the stumblebum gaffemeister. The distinguished Parliamentary scribes won that round pretty convincingly but meanwhile Chretien's forces surged ahead on another front.
  Le P'tit Jean may not like the national media in general but his hatred of the CBC borders on the pathological. Remember how he sailed into office in 1993 promising to strengthen the national broadcaster? Instead he chopped a third of its budget and installed two destructive presidents: Perrin "Live Within Our Means" Beatty and Bob "The Scalpel" Rabinovitch. Instead of asking for more money from a government awash in cash, The Scalpel is promising to save Mother Corp by lopping off her regional limbs. Anyone who lives more than 50 kilometers from the CN Tower knows that after such surgery, there would be no way to stop the emaciated (and unmourned) Mother from bleeding to death.
  So, sorry Sean but I don't much care who wins the battle between Chretien and the distinguished guys and gals fighting in the Press Gallery trenches. But I sure as hell hope the little guy loses his war against CBC. May I too suggest that it's time for General Chretien to step down "for the good of the country"?

Bruce Wark teaches History, Ethics and Foundations of Journalism at the University of King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He worked for the CBC Radio News Service for nearly 19 years as an editor of national programs such as World at Six and Sunday Magazine. He also served as legislative reporter at Queen's Park in Toronto and as National Reporter for the Maritimes. His last CBC job was as producer of Media File, a national program on journalism and the media that was cancelled in August, 1991.

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