{"id":113,"date":"2008-09-10T15:48:15","date_gmt":"2008-09-10T20:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/election08.cusjc.ca\/?p=113"},"modified":"2008-09-10T19:40:20","modified_gmt":"2008-09-11T00:40:20","slug":"the-networks-the-parties-and-the-debate-continued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/?p=113","title":{"rendered":"The networks, the parties, and the debate, continued"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ira Wagman<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the benefits of sharing the same building with current and former journalists is their ability to mine their sources for information. \u00a0Paul Adams’ post on the piece by former CBC head Tony Burman<\/span><\/a> on the Globe and Mail web site in regards to my earlier entry on this blog is an excellent case in point. \u00a0However Paul\u2019s posting and the comments of \u201cFinal Spin\u201d, the first person to comment on the blog (do we have any cool gear we can send to this person for being the first one to comment?), miss the point of what I was getting at there. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The point is not whether the nets wanted Elizabeth May to participate in the debates. \u00a0This is of little consequence to my argument and frankly, since it doesn\u2019t look like we\u2019re going to find out how the discussions were actually undertaken, who was involved, and how the decision was rendered, we are shadow boxing on this one for the time being. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The point is not what the broadcasters didn\u2019t do or didn\u2019t want to do. \u00a0These are questions of motivation which are great for speculators but offer little analytical value. \u00a0It is was they did do that is important. \u00a0By citing party participation as a factor in the decision-making process, the consortium effectively took the parties at their word. \u00a0Even if broadcasters adopted the party’s arguments for their own interests\u2014and maybe they did think 5 people on the podium would be difficult to manage —\u00a0it doesn’t change the\u00a0optics that the political parties are telling the media what to do. \u00a0Even the idea that one person would have \u201cveto power\u201d, as Mr. Burman suggests places the power where it shouldn\u2019t be. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Consortium\u2019s position should have been as follows :<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The debates are an excellent opportunity to gain national exposure for your party and to engage with the other party leaders. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. The debates take place on October 1 and October 2.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. The decision about participation at the event rests with each political party.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. The debate will take place with those who choose to participate.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, the question of participation should not be related to the question of whether the debate should take place. \u00a0If only one of the parties chose to participate, then it\u2019s an hour of free advertising for them. \u00a0Once someone learned that there was only one horse in the race, another would enter the fray. \u00a0And if none of the parties participated, then the broadcasters could run a 2-hour special, one using the investigative staff of CTV News, The National, and Le\u00a0Telejournal which would focus their efforts on the decline of real debate in the deliberative process of elections. That would be fine with me. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m obviously guilty of overstatement here, but the fact remains that it is not the broadcasters responsibility to get in the middle of things. \u00a0And this is precisely what they have done and it is highly problematic, whether Elizabeth May is in or out of the debate. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s because for me the issue is not about Elizabeth May, but rather about the position Canada\u2019s media needs to occupy in the election. \u00a0If it\u2019s true that 24 Sussex really had veto power over this (or that any political party would hold that kind of influence over the networks) then this says something very serious — and indeed, very troubling — about the relationship between Canada\u2019s media outlets and the political parties they cover. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ira Wagman is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ira Wagman One of the benefits of sharing the same building with current and former journalists is their ability to mine their sources for information. \u00a0Paul Adams’ post on the piece by former CBC head Tony Burman on the Globe and Mail web site in regards to my earlier entry on this blog is an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election2008","category-election-2008-media-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113\/revisions\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}