...And I had no idea what I was getting into.
The TandT is its normal self, with a big first page photo of a cat up for adoption, and a big story how it's still possible to rent movies. Oh, and shale gas representatives cancelled a meeting with a town council because they feared for their personal safety should anti-shale gas people show up. What a coincidence!
Anti-shale gas people fear for their personal safety if shale gas exploration goes on - but I haven't seen a story about that.
On balance, the cat story is the only one worth reading in Section A.
C12(NewsToday) has a full colour picture suitable for framing of David Alward smiling at the camera with five members of the Lions Club. I have no idea why.
The NewsToday section has, as usual, very little news, and that seemingly chosen at random. There is no mention of the fact that Harper is now trying to sneak through a bill which will effectively give him control over CBC programming - especially news and commentary. What a delight!
We, who now get only the news and opinion that Irving wants us to get in the press, and much the same from his brothers in spirit who own most of radio, TV and other newspapers, will soon lose the only independent news source we have to get whatever Harper wants us to know - not much.
Not a word about this in the paper. Of course not. The TandT would be the last in the world to see anything wrong with journalists being reduced to pimps by the boss. Nor will we see an editorial about it. There is no editorial writer in Brunswick Press who has the integrity, guts (or brains) to write anything Mr. Irving would not want to see. Take a look at today's editorial.
It rants at the gas tax. Okay. That's an easy target. But notice who he puts the blame on.
He doesn't blame the rich whose tax avoidance is notorious. He doesn't blame the rich who milk us for every government favour possible, who eat up millions every year in grants, interest-free loans, and other special deals. He blames the government for spending too much.
Hey! The government? Isn't Mr. Irving, by his own announcement, a member of the government? Isn't he the one who appointed the financial advisors to the minister of finance? And if costs are so high, isn't it because of the demands he makes, and the tax breaks he gets?
But there's no hope anybody in Brunwick Press would ever say such a thing. Mr. Irving wouldn't like it, and he'd slap their little bottoms. So they fall back on the prejudice you can always sell to the more gullible members of the public Duh, yeah. government too big. Wastes money. Duh.
Yeah. And who the hell do those people think is really the government in this province?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The news needs opinion, analysis and discussion. Without those, it's just scraps of information that have no meaning. We don't get that opinion, analysis and discussion in the editorial - ever.
To their credit, Norbert Cunningham and Alex Bruce do offer it - Norbert sometimes, Alec usually. But even they have never written a word that might offend Mr. Irving.
On op ed page, a key page for analysis and discussion, all we get from Brian Cormier, Eric Lewis, Rod Allen and other staff writers on that page is twaddle, sentimental tidbits, personal aneccotes and doggie-woggie stories.
Now, it's quite possible they are as empty-headed as their columns suggest they must be. Perhaps they don't really understand anything about the news. If so, they should be reassigned to duties they can understand - and be issued brooms.
The stories about mayor Ford, Duffy, and the Montreal political scandals are not just titillating gossip. These could create some very serious problems, indeed. As well, I have seen no sign of any discussion of the court ruling that Harper's Conservatives were guilty of wide-scale fraud in the last election. The only reason the election wasn't overturned is because of the impossibility of proving whether the fraud affected the general outcome.
But the bottom line is that we have a federal government which is making fundamental changes to this country; and there is every possibility it did not win even a minority government status in the election. It also, with other events, suggests that Harper is thoroughly anti-democratic, and may be guilty of criminal activity.
This is the man who is sending more people to jail unless, of course, they have social and political connections - like Duffy and Mulroney.
The war in Syria, of which we get little information and that usually in a choice of words calculated to appeal to prejudice, has the potential to blow up into the most dangerous war the world has ever seen. And, even if "our side" wins, the danger of a general blow up will still remain. (And it will be impossible for Canada not to be involved.)
Any deep thoughts on that...Rod? Brian? Eric? Anybody?
The TandT is its normal self, with a big first page photo of a cat up for adoption, and a big story how it's still possible to rent movies. Oh, and shale gas representatives cancelled a meeting with a town council because they feared for their personal safety should anti-shale gas people show up. What a coincidence!
Anti-shale gas people fear for their personal safety if shale gas exploration goes on - but I haven't seen a story about that.
On balance, the cat story is the only one worth reading in Section A.
C12(NewsToday) has a full colour picture suitable for framing of David Alward smiling at the camera with five members of the Lions Club. I have no idea why.
The NewsToday section has, as usual, very little news, and that seemingly chosen at random. There is no mention of the fact that Harper is now trying to sneak through a bill which will effectively give him control over CBC programming - especially news and commentary. What a delight!
We, who now get only the news and opinion that Irving wants us to get in the press, and much the same from his brothers in spirit who own most of radio, TV and other newspapers, will soon lose the only independent news source we have to get whatever Harper wants us to know - not much.
Not a word about this in the paper. Of course not. The TandT would be the last in the world to see anything wrong with journalists being reduced to pimps by the boss. Nor will we see an editorial about it. There is no editorial writer in Brunswick Press who has the integrity, guts (or brains) to write anything Mr. Irving would not want to see. Take a look at today's editorial.
It rants at the gas tax. Okay. That's an easy target. But notice who he puts the blame on.
He doesn't blame the rich whose tax avoidance is notorious. He doesn't blame the rich who milk us for every government favour possible, who eat up millions every year in grants, interest-free loans, and other special deals. He blames the government for spending too much.
Hey! The government? Isn't Mr. Irving, by his own announcement, a member of the government? Isn't he the one who appointed the financial advisors to the minister of finance? And if costs are so high, isn't it because of the demands he makes, and the tax breaks he gets?
But there's no hope anybody in Brunwick Press would ever say such a thing. Mr. Irving wouldn't like it, and he'd slap their little bottoms. So they fall back on the prejudice you can always sell to the more gullible members of the public Duh, yeah. government too big. Wastes money. Duh.
Yeah. And who the hell do those people think is really the government in this province?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The news needs opinion, analysis and discussion. Without those, it's just scraps of information that have no meaning. We don't get that opinion, analysis and discussion in the editorial - ever.
To their credit, Norbert Cunningham and Alex Bruce do offer it - Norbert sometimes, Alec usually. But even they have never written a word that might offend Mr. Irving.
On op ed page, a key page for analysis and discussion, all we get from Brian Cormier, Eric Lewis, Rod Allen and other staff writers on that page is twaddle, sentimental tidbits, personal aneccotes and doggie-woggie stories.
Now, it's quite possible they are as empty-headed as their columns suggest they must be. Perhaps they don't really understand anything about the news. If so, they should be reassigned to duties they can understand - and be issued brooms.
The stories about mayor Ford, Duffy, and the Montreal political scandals are not just titillating gossip. These could create some very serious problems, indeed. As well, I have seen no sign of any discussion of the court ruling that Harper's Conservatives were guilty of wide-scale fraud in the last election. The only reason the election wasn't overturned is because of the impossibility of proving whether the fraud affected the general outcome.
But the bottom line is that we have a federal government which is making fundamental changes to this country; and there is every possibility it did not win even a minority government status in the election. It also, with other events, suggests that Harper is thoroughly anti-democratic, and may be guilty of criminal activity.
This is the man who is sending more people to jail unless, of course, they have social and political connections - like Duffy and Mulroney.
The war in Syria, of which we get little information and that usually in a choice of words calculated to appeal to prejudice, has the potential to blow up into the most dangerous war the world has ever seen. And, even if "our side" wins, the danger of a general blow up will still remain. (And it will be impossible for Canada not to be involved.)
Any deep thoughts on that...Rod? Brian? Eric? Anybody?
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