Day six of the campaign and media narratives, many of them predictable, are emerging.<\/p>\n
Journalism loves narrative, especially at election time. One of the great classical story lines is \u201cthe surge of the underdog.\u201d The other is the \u201dcomeuppance of the prideful\u201d. Both are equally attractive as dramatic narrative. For Michael Ignatieff at the start of the campaign either was possible as a framing narrative.<\/p>\n
On another level, political journalists love a contest \u2013 it adds dramatic tension and makes you feel that getting up in the morning in yet another city is worth doing. Every election campaign begins with the journalistic hope for a meaningful contest.<\/p>\n
There are signs that we are seeing both story lines emerging. Although it is all impressionistic \u2013 as these things are \u2013 there is a sense that coverage of Michael Ignatieff is clustering around the \u201cunderdog beginning to surprise\u201d and in doing so, turning what seemed a probable rout into a possible contest. It is early days and there will need to be more evidence to sustain the story line over time if it is to be viable. But today\u2019s poll showing for the first time that the Liberal number starts with a 3 will be seized upon. If there are others showing that, or a narrowing of the gap, the media dynamic will change substantially and accelerate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The media frame that would follow as predictably as rain in April will be about rumblings and nervousness in the Conservative camp, inferences about the strategy behind the PM\u2019s attacks on Mr. Ignatieff and continued pressure on the PM in daily scrums to probe his equanimity. The obverse side of the \u201csurge of the underdog\u201d is after all the incipient \u201chumbling of the mighty.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s another issue emerging in media coverage. Again this is impressionistic. There\u2019s been lots of reporting and analysis over the years about the PM\u2019s consistent use of offence as defence and the proclivity of the government to aggressively state and restate that white is black even when there is significant evidence to the contrary. Reporters have remarked on it in admiration (for its effectiveness as a tactic) and in frustration (that most people don\u2019t seem to see through it.)<\/p>\n
The PM continued his aggressive attacks against the \u201ccoalition\u201d on day one of the campaign and has stuck to it (despite its indifferent relationship with history and current reality) for obvious strategic reasons. But it has led to media push back. An election campaign is a different time for political journalists. They do \u201creality checks\u201d at the drop of a policy, leaflet or clip. They emphasize their accountability role to show their independence and toughness. And they work together as a pack much more than they do at normal times. The election campaign is now a venue to vent some of the frustration that\u2019s been building with the PM, the PMO and the government and the way they consistently assert that white is black. As a result, the PM has been facing difficult media scrums day after day.<\/p>\n
Does any of this signify anything meaningful? It\u2019s still early days and it\u2019s not clear the public
\nwill have noticed any of it. If the numbers don\u2019t change much over the next while, these story lines will change once again to the detriment of Mr. Ignatieff. And if there is some momentum for the Liberals, they can look forward to the next predictable turn in media focus \u2013 harsh, critical scrutiny of someone who suddenly has a more plausibly positive future.<\/p>\n
Elly Alboim is an Associate Professor of Journalism and former CBC TV News parliamentary bureau chief<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Day six of the campaign and media narratives, many of them predictable, are emerging. Journalism loves narrative, especially at election time. One of the great classical story lines is \u201cthe surge of the underdog.\u201d The other is the \u201dcomeuppance of the prideful\u201d. Both are equally attractive as dramatic narrative. For Michael Ignatieff at the start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,17,18,19,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","category-election-2011","category-election-2011-campaign-strategy","category-election-2011-faculty-links","category-election-2011-media-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1397"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1425,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1397\/revisions\/1425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}