As IF Times

link Rob Ford crack scandal: What’s behind mayor’s ‘mind-boggling’ PR strategy? – Canada – CBC News.

Finally, something interesting happening in Canadian politics.  Rob Ford’s personal shortcomings and foilbles have even managed to make the headlines of all of the U.S. news outlets.  As is the case south of the 49th parallel, when a contentious issue comes to the fore, an easy shortcut to determine which side is the wrong side is to observe which side the ‘enlightened’ media favors.

In this case, the CBC and Toronto Star, long time vocal and strident critics of Ford’s are demanding that he step down.  Hmm.  On the one hand, a rough hewn, plain talking, crack smoking mayor and on the other, the notoriously left leaning CBC and Toronto Star.  Tough one.

Given that Mr. Ford has publicly admitted his shortcomings and has reduced the likelihood of further embarrassment to himself, (unless they find small boys chained in his basement), the CBC and Star are out of bullets.  What surely galls these two media sources the most is that Ford’s approval rating among voters has apparently gone up since his outing of being a crackhead!  When past Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was revealed to have smoked pot years ago, there wasn’t a clamor by the CBC for his resignation.  Indeed, his progeny, the Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has admitted the same, but no finger wagging there either.

Thus far, the voters are shrugging off this explosive revelation about Ford, because despite this ugly blotch on his character, he is still seen as the guy that is working on their behalf. Unlike voters in other parts, people in the Toronto region were tired of the corruption and ineptitude in their city before Ford was elected.  Ford’s charm for the people is that he appears to be one of them, not like the weather vane headed weasels that  are typically offered in politics.  He’s like a skinnier, blond, crack smoking Chris Christie, the recently re-elected New Jersey Governor.  They love him in those parts too.  Both of them are plain speaking, take no guff personalities who are obviously not vegetarians, the exact opposite of the effeminate, placating pols that populate public offices today.

You know that the quality of politicians has reached a low ebb when a character like Ford, with considerable and obvious warts, is still embraced by the electorate.  It may be that  people are just fed up with the usual cast of disingenuous ideologues that typically are in office.  The CBC and Toronto Star may feel that Ford’s behaviour is an affront to the dignity and credibility of Canadians.  On that score, they’re even.

link  Right-wing Sun News Network set to launch with promise of ‘straight talk’ – News1130.

If they had tried to stage this type of publicity, it would have cost them millions.  Instead, the new Sun News Network has already stirred the leftist elements in Canadian society to rise up in angst over what they view as inappropriate news content for the innocent public.   By virture of all this protest, the new Sun  network is guaranteed some big viewership numbers out of the gate.   Literary moguls, at least by Canadian standards, such as Margaret Atwood have spoken out against the impending launch of the network…. and they have yet to even hit the air.  Does she know what the content will be in advance of everyone else?  Even if she did, I don’t recall an election whereby she won the right to censor media content on behalf of 30 million Canadians. 

Pit bulls are a breed of dog that appeal to a certain type of owner.  The shih-tzu and cat set probably wouldn’t go for them, but imagine if someone opposed the ability for anyone to own a pit bull.  Imagine if someone tried to block the sale of rap music or Yanni’s latest offering.  While arguably admirable pursuits, the fact is, people are free NOT to consume such cultural treasures.   Margaret Atwood has taken umbrage with the idea of  Sun News and wants it banned before it even begins.   It’s as if she became the  Appointee Responsible for Media, Public Information and Television, or ARMPIT.  How did Atwood appoint herself Canada’s ARMPIT?  Ex-CBC newsman Don Newman groused about ‘the end of Canadian journalism”, whatever that means. 

While intriguing as a concept, we won’t know until we see the content of the new Sun News Network to determine if they are any good or if they will add anything to the news menu.   At the very least, it promises to offer relief from generations of delusional and inane broadcasting offered in Canada.  South of the border in the U.S., they also have delusional programming with laughable pretensions to objectivity, but at least they are not supported by the taxpayer as is our own CBC.  In fact, it can be argued that the whole notion  of ” Canadian-ness” has been shaped by the CBC for generations rather than being a media outlet that reflects Canadian society.  The relevance of the Toronto-centric media to the rest of Canada is comparable to the New York-centric media to the rest of the U.S.  Canada has grown sufficiently as a nation that it  needs dissenting voices from the homogeneous lump of national media as it exists today.  There should not be a ‘national news voice’ for our country any more than there should be a national news voice for the U.S.

With Sun’s launching, it’s hopeful  the new network does actually give voice to Canadians not in the circle of media acolytes centered in Toronto.  I suspect many Canadians are tired of the Global Warming charade being debated by David Suzuki vs someone from the left.  It’s doubtful the rest of Canada thinks Murray Mclauchlan is representative of Canada’s music genius.  And come on,  as iconic as he is, Lloyd Robertson is 77! Why is he still reading the news? He is like the Yoda of Canadian broadcasting.    Couldn’t they find someone in their ’60’s?  At the very least, Sun will provide jobs for some younger broadcasters.  Maybe it’ll be an impetus for some of the other news dinosaurs to retire.