David Nickle with InsideToronto:
[T]he Ford administration has so far been marked by a distinct absence of regular media availability – as was his mayoralty campaign, conducted more over YouTube and automated telephone calls than anything involving direct access.
via InsideToronto Article: THE CITY: Mayor Ford engages in the pursuit of accountability.
Call it the Stephen Harper strategy. For whatever reason, avoiding the media has been a very successful move of late for politicians. Their popularity doesn’t suffer and they get to control their message through media releases. Plus, when the hard-to-reach politicians finally DO grant an interview the outlets slobber all over themselves and ask softball questions because they’re so grateful jut to have access for once.
It sounds like I’m whining but I don’t think I am. I’m… lamenting, maybe. Honestly it’s been such a successful strategy for some conservative politicians that progressive politicians might as well imitate the behaviour and start freezing out the media too.
Tags: media