- Sixth Estate rounds up the party and organizational affiliations on Canada's major opinion pages. And in case anybody was wondering why our political dialogue so often has nothing at all to do with the public's real concerns about inequality and instability:
I identified a total of 218 op-eds, of which 104 were written by people with a direct connection to a political party, an economic interest group (business executives and unionists), representatives of those groups (progressive think tanks, business think tanks, trade associations, etc.), and social conservatives. Of those 104, 21% came from big-C Conservatives and allies like the ADQ, 13% were contributed by Liberal insiders and politicians, and just 6% came from the NDP.- Meanwhile, Dr. Dawg points out how coverage of Robocon has largely glossed over public demand for by-elections and a thorough investigation, while Dave questions why the Cons' electoral fraud school and talking-point dispenser is receiving publicly-funded not-for-profit treatment. And Union Blogs offers at least one source of balance against that normal slant.
The differences were even more stark with respect to the supportive think tanks and other groups which feed into these parties. (It’s worth noting here that despite election rhetoric to the contrary, Liberals are for the most part pro-business.) An astounding 70% of the op-eds were written by business executives, free-market think tanks, and trade associations. In contrast, just five articles came from progressive think tanks (and a sixth from the Mowat Centre, which I counted as progressive even though it really isn’t), and just one from a trade unionist.
- But then, the Cons are also working on tilting the playing field even more - with opposition MPs working to ensure neither our electoral boundaries nor our Parliamentary system are reshaped for the sole benefit of Stephen Harper.
- Finally, for those who haven't seen enough NDP leadership coverage from this corner, you can look forward to a Saskatchewan provincial leadership campaign in 2013.
Sixth Estate piece is a great article. In fact, it's something only a blogger would dare endeavour to research. Don't tell me you're a legit journalist until you have the balls to look into your own profession in this way.
ReplyDeleteI previously brought up a similar Lawrence Martin article (for, I believe Ipolitics). He reached an even dire conclusion when it comes to the media & the NDP...but he kept his language "broad" to avoid offending potential employers.
<span>Sixth Estate piece is a great article. In fact, it's something only a blogger would dare endeavour to research. Don't tell me you're a legit journalist until you have the balls to look into your own profession in this way.
ReplyDeleteI previously brought up a similar Lawrence Martin article (for, I believe Ipolitics). He reached an even more dire conclusion when it comes to the media & the NDP...but he kept his language "broad" to avoid offending potential employers.</span>