But this is a battle now in which increasingly the PPG no longer holds all the weapons of public persuasion. A proliferation of alternate media sources--including us humble bloggers--now puts PMO on a much more even footing against the PPG and its allies.
And now he's playing divide and conquer. If the official PPG doesn't want to play by the rules, he'll create a new PPG out of the ranks of local media:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says the national media are biased against him so he will avoid them from now on.
The prime minister says the Ottawa press gallery seems to have decided to become the opposition to his Conservative government.
He told a London, Ont., TV station Wednesday that he is having problems with the media that a Liberal prime minister would never have to face.
So Harper says he will take his message out on the road and deal with the less hostile local media.
"Unfortunately the press gallery has taken the view they are going to be the opposition to the government," Harper told London's A-Channel.
"They don't ask questions at my press conferences now.
"We'll just take the message out on the road. There's lots of media who do want to ask questions and hear what the government is doing."
At some point, the media is going to run out of angles on this story, and will find itself trying frantically to get back in the government's good graces. But they may have left it too late.
Moreover, by hiving off smaller media outlets from their ranks with increased access and opportunities for stories, the press will be facing divided ranks. Do you think reporters in Saskatoon and Sydney are going to turn down their newfound fortune to stand in solidarity with their starving brethren in the Ottawa press corps?
PPG will have none but itself to blame for being ostracized.
And isn't it sweet to see a PM not admit Liberal media bias, but also do something about it!
Source: Yahoo
4 comments:
Not to be rude, but do you honestly want to set a precedent where the PMO gets to determine WHO asks the questions?
Has everyone forgotten what happened to Bush and that gay-porno actor?
Assuming the liberals ever get back into power, do you honestly want the liberal PMO to choose who asks the question? Do you think a Liberal PM is going to take questions from a reporter that is critical of them or even asks the hard questions?
I've seen every conservative blog and people are decrying the MSM but I think conservative blogers aren't thinking things through....
It's a brilliant strategy. Set up a situation in which the media can only ask you questions if they do what you say.
Then, if the media plays ball, you get to determine who asks the Prime Minister questions.
If they don't play ball, point to the fact that no one's asking questions (which is b.s., they are asking questions, just not in the manner the PMO demands, but anyway....) use that as the reason you need to bypass the national media.
It's like everyone in the PMO is standing in the corner with their hands over their ears yelling "la la la la, la la la la, I can't hear you!!! Why won't you ask us questions? la la la la, la la la la, I can't answer your questions if you won't say anything, la la la la, la la la la...."
Well lord, they allowed exPM Martin to do exactly what Prime Minister Harper is asking. It's a simple request, if you have a question, put your name on the list to be called.
So, it was okay with the PPG when it was a Liberal in power, but now that it's the Conservatives, they are creating a phoney media war. What babies!
The media still can't understand that Stephen Harper is the PRIME MINISTER of Canada. We elected him, and we expect the media to show him some respect! Quit disrespecting MY PRIME MINISTER!
No, they DIDN'T let PMPM do that (that was one of their main complaints with the liberal election campaign), which is why many of them turned on him during the election. Don't rewrite recent history when many of us know better.
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