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Her Jay
Location: Ontario for now....
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Found an interesting story in 'The Hill Times'. Seems to recap things and also has an interview with the new press gallery president, Yves Malo. Seems Harper is trying to stick to his guns, guess we'll see how it works out.
Quote:
Harper plays to his western base in battle with national media
As the new Conservative government rises in public opinion polls, the national media are being avoided and criticized by the PMO. So far, PM Stephen Harper is winning the PR battle.
As relations between the Prime Minister's Office and the Parliamentary Press Gallery turn increasingly fractious in Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is enjoying to his political advantage a public perception of the media as whiners, reporters and political observers say.
Prime Minister Harper's (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) government saw a significant rise in the polls last week, 43 per cent nationally, as he threatened to avoid the national media altogether by focusing on local media outlets across the country instead.
Don Martin, national columnist for the Calgary Herald, told The Hill Times last week that Mr. Harper's critical comments about the media are playing to his western base of voters, who view the national media as liberal-minded.
"He's singing a song that's music to the ears of westerners. There's an awful lot of cynicism and skepticism that the press gallery is this monolithic, liberal-loving, latté-sipping block of people who all see things the same way. The reality is obviously very different," Mr. Martin said, adding that some western Conservative MPs have said that one of the main issues constituents complain about is the national media giving Stephen Harper a rough ride.
"I don't really get it, because if Harper read Paul Martin's press clippings, he'd obviously see that there wasn't a lot of Liberal love-ins going on there. And if he reads his own clippings since January 23, he can't help but think he's had a virtual love-in with these guys."
Mr. Martin added, however, that neither the PMO or the media look good in this conflict, and the press gallery has public relations work of its own to do. "They have to show that they're willing to work with this guy and that they're not just having a hissy fit because they're not getting spoon-fed scoops by ministers and communications directors anymore," Mr. Martin said.
During a brief visit to London, Ont., Mr. Harper told the local A-Channel news that the national media were giving him a hard time because he is Conservative. "I have trouble believing that a Liberal prime minister would have this problem," Mr. Harper said. "But the press gallery at the leadership level has taken an anti-Conservative view."
Mr. Harper also suggested that the government would avoid the national media by targeting the local media. "We'll just get the message out on the road. There's lots of media in the country who do want to ask me questions and hear what the government is doing," he said.
Mr. Harper's comments--which the press gallery executive called "unfounded" and "regrettable"--followed yet another standoff with reporters on Tuesday last week, when roughly 20 to 25 journalists walked out on the Prime Minister at a news conference on the Hill. A dispute had emerged, once again, over the issue of whether the Prime Minister or the press gallery should control which reporters ask questions at news conferences.
Right now, the Prime Minister's press aide, Dimitri Soudas, asks reporters to sign up if they want to ask questions, but press gallery members say the system gives the Prime Minister the opportunity to "cherry pick" reporters from the list, suggesting the Prime Minister avoids answering questions from more critical reporters.
In protest, before the news conference began, reporters refused to sign Mr. Soudas's list, and were subsequently told that there would be no questions. A Global National story called the boycott an "act of defiance against new news conference rules imposed against the media." Journalists had reportedly prepared questions on Darfur, a coalition attack in Afghanistan that killed more than 15 civilians, and the standoff between aboriginals and their neighbouring community in Caledonia, Ont. After they walked out, Mr. Harper announced $40-million in military and humanitarian aid to Darfur to a near-empty room.
In mid-May, Mr. Harper cancelled another news conference on the Hill after reporters had again refused to sign the list. But Mr. Harper had a message to get out that day, and along with allowing reporters a few short scrums, the PMO instructed a few lobbyists to call reporters for the midday news cycle to feed them communications lines.
Later last week, at another news conference in Vancouver, Mr. Harper blamed the stand off on the press gallery. "The press gallery will not allow journalists to ask questions. If journalists want to ask questions, to me, that should be their choice. They're the ones who suffer, and otherwise, I don't think the public cares. It's unfortunate but I think it's something that the press gallery is going to have to work out among itself."
Although the media have had equally poor relations with previous prime ministers, such as Pierre Trudeau, the national media under Prime Minister Harper have found restricted and controlled access to ministers and the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister holds unannounced Cabinet meetings without scrums; restricts media from the third floor where Cabinet meets; refuses to allow reporters to ask questions at photo opportunities in the Prime Minister's Office; and has implemented a centralized communications strategy in which all significant government communications, including MPs' letters to newspaper editors, must get PMO approval.
But Mr. Harper seems to have little to lose as he alienates the national media and targets local outlets. Some reporters say ministers are more available to media locally, and last week The Canadian Press reported that outside Ottawa, Mr. Harper led lengthy news conferences this month, taking questions from 11 reporters in Toronto, 14 in Calgary, 11 in St. John's and 17 in Vancouver.
Mr. Harper's steadily deteriorating relations with the press gallery also come as a new poll released by Ipsos-Reid last week found the Tories with more support nationally than the party has seen in 20 years, at 43 per cent. The Conservatives have an 18-point lead over the Liberals, at 25 per cent support nationally, according to the poll. The NDP dropped a few points to 15 per cent and the Green party remained at 5 per cent. The poll surveyed 1,003 Canadians May 16 to 18 and is considered accurate within a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Pollster Darrell Bricker, president of Ispos-Reid, told The Hill Times that the public is responding to the change in tone and direction of the government. Mr. Bricker said the public may view Mr. Harper's cool relations with the media as part of that change in tone, adding that the Prime Minister's focus on local media is a shop-worn strategy effectively carried out by former prime ministers Brian Mulroney and Jean Chrétien.
"To a certain extent, his disposition toward the media represents change too, because there wasn't a camera that Paul Martin wouldn't stand in front of, and Stephen Harper isn't in front of everybody, every day, and in their face explaining what Ottawa is all about, what the latest crisis of the day is in Ottawa, and people may be responding to that in a positive way," Mr. Bricker said. "The media may be all upset because it's not getting its daily burger from Stephen Harper, but the bottom line is that the public is responding favourably to what they see these days--a government that seems to be working."
But Peter Donolo, former communications director to prime minister Jean Chrétien, said that although Mr. Harper's strategy may be working so far, it will not last.
"My view is that over the short term there is very little impact of this debate over his office and the press gallery. Nobody cares. The public doesn't care. In fact, the public is more likely to side with the prime minister and his office than it is with the gallery," Mr. Donolo said. "I think they think it's whining on the part of journalists."
But Mr. Donolo also said the public are coming to view Mr. Harper as "chippy," that he responds poorly to criticism and goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid it. Mr. Donolo added that, over time, irritated reporters are less likely to give Mr. Harper the benefit of the doubt in their coverage.
"I worked for Chrétien for a very long time, and I think that helped keep us out of trouble. In his case I think that's going to be a problem for him," Mr. Donolo said.
If a minister or Mr. Harper makes a mistake, he said, the media will not be kind. "I think there's no question that the media will pile on, and part of the reason will be because, rather than spending time building bridges, they've been burning them."
Yves Malo, new president of the press gallery and a reporter for TVA, sat down with The Hill Times last week to answer some questions about the fallout between the Prime Minister's Office and the Parliamentary Press Gallery.
What is at the heart of this dispute with the Prime Minister's Office?
"It's only a matter of, are we going to let the Prime Minister's Office choose which journalists are going to ask him a question. There are other things to discuss, but the main thing is that one. That's the first subject. Then the Cabinet meetings, photo ops. These are the three subjects where it's not going well. We have to manage to find a way to resolve the question of the list, what we call 'the list.'"
How long has the Prime Minister been using this list?
"He started that right away. We tried their lists, and a month-and-a-half later we saw very well that it doesn't work, that some people never got questions. That's why at the last general assembly we decided unanimously that we won't go along with their lists."
Former prime minister Paul Martin had been choosing reporters to ask questions during the 2006 election. Reporters don't necessarily like that but say it's acceptable because it's not in a Parliamentary setting. What is it about the Parliamentary setting that changes the relationship?
"An election is not the same thing as day-to-day coverage. You're in a bubble. It's very dense, 30 to 40 days, and you have a message to deliver. It's another context. It's not the same thing. So you cannot apply that formula to day-to-day coverage because we have to serve our public and the public need to know that we are independent, to be sure that we are not picked by the Prime Minister's Office because we think the way they think. We have to be sure that people know we are independent."
How have journalists' access to government been taken away?
"First, no questions at photo ops, the first thing they removed. Then they did not inform us of the Cabinet meetings. Then no more cameras on the third floor. After that, it was the list. So they removed almost all the access."
It appears the Prime Minister feels that he doesn't need the national media, saying he will avoid it. Is that approach going to work?
"I don't think so. We are more than 200 journalists here on the Hill and when he said he's going to talk to local media, it's a weird strategy because the local media have very good journalists, but their concerns are not national, their concerns are local. If a local journalist asks a national question ... they don't necessarily have the background to put forward a good question and a good follow-up question. Not because they're not good journalists. They are, but their concerns are local, not national. So when he tries to avoid the national press, I think it's a mistake, not only a mistake but it's too bad for the public to be well-served and well-informed of what's happening in Ottawa."
What's it like for daily reporters in this communications environment, who need material every day? This is a very controlled communications environment, and there's a big difference between the work of columnists and daily reporters who need material every day. Are they finding it hard to get stories, or to get calls back from the PMO?
"To get a story every day, it's not tough. The only problem is with the PMO. When a minister is doing a press conference, we line up behind the microphones everything goes very well. We have no problem with that. Yes, the PMO is not calling back very much when you call there. I've never spoken to Sandra Buckler [Mr. Harper's communication director]. She's never answered any of my calls. It's not tough to do a story, and if the Prime Minister refuses to talk to me, well, no problem. I can talk to [Liberal Leader of the Opposition Opposition] Bill Graham, [NDP Leader] Jack Layton, [Bloc Québecois Leader] Gilles Duceppe. I can talk to other ministers, I can talk to lots of people. I prefer to have Stephen Harper, but for the moment, he's chosen not to speak to us. We have to resolve the problem sooner or later, and I prefer that sooner."
What's the next step for the press gallery?
"Open the lines of communication with the PMO. I wish that everything was going fine. All the editors of the major newspapers are in Halifax this weekend for a big reunion, and we expect from them their support."
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Absence makes the heart grow fonder
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