Media try to milk a mouse

Fuss over Mulcair's parking blown all out of proportion.

by John Baglow

OTTAWA, June 13 ,2013  —  NDP leader Tom Mulcair waved and drove past a security checkpoint yesterday as he has always done. Turned out there was a new RCMP officer at the post who didn’t recognize him. An officer was sent after him, who drove to Tom’s parking spot, where Mulcair, surprised, said “Don’t you know who I am?” A respectful conversation ensued, and then Tom headed down to make things right with the RCMP commander.

Enter the corporate media shills.

The story actually originated with CTV, Mike Duffy’s former homeland. A breathless C(onservative)TV reporter of whom I’ve never heard, Mercedes Stephenson, “broke” the story on Twitter, citing (yeah, you guessed it) “sources.” It was snapped up uncritically by the group-thinky pack in the Parliamentary Press Gallery, and used in their usual dishonest fashion by Conservatives evading matters of substance during Question Period.

Mercedes wasn’t done. She proceeded to claim that CTV had obtained a “document” that there had been a “verbal warning.” That would be interesting. What was it written on? Air? But that, too, was dutifully reTweeted by the pack.

Aaron Wherry of Maclean’s, one of the few people in the game who can actually think for himself, talked good sense. But SUN “news” brayed, “Twitter reactions to Mulcair meltdown.” (“Meltdown?” Pure mendacity.) The rest of the PPG more or less accepted the CTV version and went on from there.

Another mouse, caught and milked. Add that to the artificially-generated outcry a few days back over the fact that, nineteen years ago, Mulcair refused a bribe.

And so our “professional” newsgatherers carry on. They’d be a disgrace to the profession — if there were actually a profession left these days for them to disgrace.

© Copyright 2013 John Baglow, All rights Reserved. Written For: StraightGoods.ca