Well said

Randy Burton tears into Harper for his media policy:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he's not talking to the national press anymore.

Instead, he'll be taking his message on the road to local reporters across the country. They, at least, still want to know what his government is doing, or so he believes...

One can only hope that Harper will be more amenable to straying from the script than the last time he was here. That was in the midst of the 2004 election campaign, when he refused to answer any questions about agriculture in Saskatoon because his schedule dictated that he speak only about health care.

You can see the problem. Local questions are useless without local answers.

I don't agree with Burton's later discussion of whether media coverage of politics is needed at all; it would seem to me that a lack of reporting on politics in general would be the best-case scenario for a government looking to put one over on the public. But it's nonetheless great to see local media refusing to leap at the opportunity to act as Harper's mouthpiece.