rabble.ca Canadian federal election blog

Polling CanWest: Vote Harper!

by Ben Powless

Now we all know the mainstream media has their little biases. Anyone who’s read Herman and Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent, anything by Bob McChesney, has heard of Judy Rebick, or has read a newspaper would be reasonably able to rhyme off a dozen reasons why our media is inherently conservative (little c).

Yet it’s not so often that we get such a stark reminder about just how much the major papers belonging to CanWest pander so much to the Conservative party.

Yesterday, as I sat by the lake at my mom’s farm, reading about the world economy disintegrating around us, I came upon the editorial in the Ottawa Citizen, fully endorsing the Harperites. And I began to wonder what other Asper-family voiceboxes had done the same.

The Ottawa Citizen followed Harper’s paradigm, and claimed it to be about leadership, and little else (quoting principle and resolve, and not what you do with it – didn’t we learn this lesson in the 1940’s?).

The Vancouver Province couches it is as strong economic resolve in these troubling times (Naomi Klein, anyone?) – we can’t change the captain in rough seas, even if he’s heading for an iceberg, and thinks of us as cargo, not crew. The Vancouver Sun rains sunshine on Harper’s days in office. That animosity to the news media? All forgiven!

The Calgary Herald boasts of his incredible human rights record (have they followed the news?) especially around the Israel-Lebanon conflict. They are touted as scandal-free (have they heard of Chuck Cadman? Aboriginal issues?) and end with “The Calgary Herald endorses Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.” Though to be fair, they are probably all good buddies, and there’s no harm in that, right?

In much-contested Quebec, the Montreal Gazette pulls no bars in declaring its full support of Harper, but acknowledges they won’t win around Montreal, and calls on readers to vote against the Bloc however they can, after brushing off Quebecois concerns over stiff sentencing and arts cuts.

At least readers in Windsor were treated to a more balanced assessment of party vs. person, acknowledging that the Tories may not be the best representatives in the region.  The National Post held back too, only publishing a disgruntled diatribe against Dion’s language skills, perhaps reserving itself for voting day.

What ever happened to even the pretence of media independence? At least we can be thankful the voice of CanWest has chosen to bare itself for all to see.

So it’s all the more fitting to see such a stirring reminder of why we need independent media and analyses like those found at www.rabble.ca – among others.