Wells claims leftist media?
I'm not going to dwell on this but I thought it interesting enough to ponder for a second.
On his blog, after talking about the 'relaxed and jokey' press conference Harper had to start the campaign, Wells writes:
"For now, but I think not for long, Harper's likely to get an easier ride from his bus. Again, it has less to do with politics — I can pretty nearly guarantee you there are more NDP voters than Conservative voters travelling with Harper — and more to do with the fact that the hivemind hasn't decided what the Harper narrative is yet."
When people complain of the 'leftist' media - it's a cliche - and they get labelled as a conspirazoidal rightwing nut. Sure, many go way to far and want to blame every mistake or unflattering analysis on the media personality's ideology - but let's realize the little bit of truth in some of those claims.
In my opinion, it's going to be good for Harper to have media personalities leaning towards the left - they'll be more likely to ask Harper the questions (what about health, what about health) that, if he's good enough - Prime Ministerial enough - will convince Jane and John Q Public that he is the best leader available. That, afterall, is the Liberal's greatest strength at this point - Martin is viewed as the best 'leader'. Much of that strength will be lost as the public sees Martin as most of us have seen him - slightly bumbling, prone to exagerations - not the man we expected to see. This won't be enough for a lot of people to vote for the Conservatives - Harper needs to prove himself and having a left-leaning ridership on his campaign bus might help him do it.
Update: Read Pogge's thoughts on "the bias of individual reporters and the institutional bias that may exist at a particular newspaper or television network"
On his blog, after talking about the 'relaxed and jokey' press conference Harper had to start the campaign, Wells writes:
"For now, but I think not for long, Harper's likely to get an easier ride from his bus. Again, it has less to do with politics — I can pretty nearly guarantee you there are more NDP voters than Conservative voters travelling with Harper — and more to do with the fact that the hivemind hasn't decided what the Harper narrative is yet."
When people complain of the 'leftist' media - it's a cliche - and they get labelled as a conspirazoidal rightwing nut. Sure, many go way to far and want to blame every mistake or unflattering analysis on the media personality's ideology - but let's realize the little bit of truth in some of those claims.
In my opinion, it's going to be good for Harper to have media personalities leaning towards the left - they'll be more likely to ask Harper the questions (what about health, what about health) that, if he's good enough - Prime Ministerial enough - will convince Jane and John Q Public that he is the best leader available. That, afterall, is the Liberal's greatest strength at this point - Martin is viewed as the best 'leader'. Much of that strength will be lost as the public sees Martin as most of us have seen him - slightly bumbling, prone to exagerations - not the man we expected to see. This won't be enough for a lot of people to vote for the Conservatives - Harper needs to prove himself and having a left-leaning ridership on his campaign bus might help him do it.
Update: Read Pogge's thoughts on "the bias of individual reporters and the institutional bias that may exist at a particular newspaper or television network"
