Why the New Glasgow News did not cover my Press Release: An Hypothesis

(The following is extracted from an exchange in The News, February 15, 2008. To see the full exchange, please visit here.)

James, let me give you a current sample of some hypothetical media manipulation right here in our own little Dogpatch. I ask you to follow the bouncing ball. On February 12th I submitted a press release to The News announcing the platform for my pending Central Nova independent candidacy. Included was the date of March 10th for a nomination meeting at Summer Street Industries open to all (a nice benefit of not being locked into a riding association). It is now the 15th with no story and calls not being returned by the editor, yet we have had leading stories dealing with suspicious packages, flue fires and ticks.

The ball is bouncing. The community is dependent for its printed news on a monopoly. That monopoly in turn is a tiny division of a large corporation headquartered in Montreal, Transcontinental Media, to be exact. There is a politician whose riding is in Montreal and who happens to be the leader of the Federal Liberal Party. All politicians require money. Said politician has cut a backroom non-aggression deal with the leader of another political party, parachuting her into Central Nova. This latter politician, in turn, has a dedicated weekly column in The News (remember, the monopoly), at the exclusion of other candidates, declared and pending. She also has a Riding Association that has absolutely zero dollars in its accounts as of the last reporting period with Elections Canada, whereas the Liberal Riding Association that has been taken out of the electoral loop is topped up at over $10,000. Might there be some favours being called in, and if yes, then by whom?

Boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!

(Note: The above should be read within the context of pending inquiries to 1. the Canadian Newspaper Association, in particular re its Statement of Principles, wherein it is stated: The newspaper should strive to paint a representative picture of its diverse communities, to encourage the expression of disparate views and to be accessible and accountable to the readers it serves, whether rich or poor, weak or powerful, minority or majority; and to 2. Elections Canada.)

It’s all hypothetical of course. One works with and makes conjectures from the evidence at hand. Did you follow the bouncing ball? There is an old Irish saying: A hound is yet a pup until it has learned how to hunt. It has nothing to do with paranoia, but more to do with adhering to some basic Colombo principles, i.e. follow the money.

If you have read this post, then it has not been nuked. FYI, you are more than welcome to view my platform at http://roninnova.blogspot.com/.

(Should this post get deleted, please note that the string of posts up to this point has already been printed, suitable for faxing.)