Entries Tagged 'The News Media' ↓

So there we were in the foyer of the House of Commons – me, a lowly MP, my trusty assistant Gisele and our video camera. It was 3:15 pm, high noon for media scrums, and so we positioned ourselves out of harm’s way tucked into one of the stone pillars. We were here to shoot an interview with another lowly MP who every week spends two days traveling back and forth from the interior of BC.

Near the end of the six or seven minutes this exercise took I notice a uniformed Commons security guard hovering over me. Beside him was a guy in a designer brown suit. As soon as we’d finished talking, they swooped and gave me the gears for having the audacity to actually shoot some video in the same are the media was using. The brown suit turned out to be the president of the Parliamentary Press Gallery and all I can say is the encounter did not end well.

There was no freaking way that I, as an MP, was going to yield one inch of the House of Commons floor to anybody lugging a Betacam or jacking a microphone. Just as I have never complained when sixteen cameras rush to scrum the hot politician of the day, completely blocking my way, I did not expect media to complain and call in the cops when I brandished my DV cam. But they did. Jerks.

In any case, I have made it clear that MPtv – the webcasting window on Parliament Hill that I have launched – is going to shoot whatever the hell it wants, when it wants, and then broadcast it to your computer, unfiltered. This may be seen as competition by the MSM, but it is not. Instead, MPtv will bring you shots you have never seen and people you might not have listened to. This is just week three of doing this, and so far we are only scratching at the surface of this powerful new communications tool. It is my mission right now (at least, one of them) to share this Hill with everyone, lest the people who populate it at the moment think it is some kind of club. And that, you can bet, includes the foyer-sucking media.

Anyway, MPtv goes live tomorrow (Thursday) night at 7 pm, and the show will then be archived here for downloads. Here’s the scoop:

The Minister of Grrrrrrr: He’s turned into Stephen Harper’s Commons pit bull, able to bark out indignation and intimidate the opposition wolves into whimpering puppies. But is John Baird too aggressive to last on Parliament Hill? No way, says the Treasury Board boss, I’m just a friendly mouthpiece for the middle class.

Behind the lines in the Liberal attack team: They may have 11 leadership candidates and appear unfocussed and in disarray, but the federal Liberals say they have a plan and will soon stop being so nice to Tories! MPtv talks to a member of the Tactics Team, who has made a passion of using a near-empty Chamber as his partisan weapon of choice.

Hey, honey, I’m in Penticton. Can ya pick me up? Imagine you’re an MP who every week faces an entire day of travel (each way) to get to work, has to leave wife and family at home, and yet manages to love every miniute of this damn job. Welcome to Ron Cannan, sunny Kelowna’s new guy in Ottawa. Oh yeah, and his wife is a trooper.

The library of Dreams: It is the jewel of the crown, the part of Parliament that has refused to die on several occasions. A quick-thinking door-slammer saved it from destruction by fire in 1916 and over the last five years the place has been completely rebuilt, at fabulous expense and with stunning results. We go deep into the books for an exclusive tour.

Rockin’ in the Other Place: She was on Dief’s last cross-Canada campaign train as a starry-eyed political groupie. Now, umpteen prime ministers and four parties later, the original Conservative Party Girl occupies one of the best offices on the Hill and plots dragging the Senate into the future. Senator Majory LeBreton even shows us her private can.

Still chasing the story: He’s been a Hill media fixture for two decades, first as a TV talking head, now as an inky scribe for the country’s sauciest chain of dailies. But has Bill Rodgers ever seen any challenge like the media-resistant government of Stephen Harper? We talk to a veteran hack about the battle to get juicy stuff on a really clean guy.

Watch MPtv, Thursday June 15, 7 pm Eastern, live at www.garth.ca

Congratulations on your first episode of MPTV. I had a hard time watching it – the windows streaming media kept cutting out and rebuffering – but the bits I could see and hear were great! Your interview with the Speaker was very interesting and it’s great to see that there is support for what you’re doing. Might I suggest a switch to Quicktime streaming software for future broadcasts? I have found that it’s considerably more reliable than windows media and I have a feeling that reliability will be a big issue once more people start tuning in regularly. Anyway… congratulations again!
- Kevin in Alberta

It started off rocky, but once it got going it was really interesting. Dean Del Mastro did a great job. This certainly showed the human side of the MP’s job. It almost seemed like we were watching an episode of rough cuts. Sure hope the technology can be worked out to make it run more smoothly as this is a brilliant idea.
-Viewer in Oakville

Well, I am pleased some people saw the webcast show last night, and that the reviews of the content were positive. I certainly want to thank those MP colleagues of mine who contributed to the piece, giving viewers some behind-the-scenes views of how elected people do their jobs, along with opinions on issues like gun control and why MPs act like idiots in the House of Commons.

The idea behind MPtv is to use this new and powerful technology to help bring Parliament to the people. More depth than the MSM. More wisdom than just headlines. And a look at the job your own MP might be doing, when he or she is far away from the riding and wandering around that bizarre world we call the Hill.

Last night the new MP from Peterborough talked about being lonely and moving from hotel room to hotel room at the end of his 14-hour days. The country’s foremost authority on guns, a veteran MP from Saskatchewan, told us what comes next as the feds dismantle the gun registry and at the same time try to get tough on crime. And the speaker of the House of Commons talked about the perqs and privileges that make his life a fairytale experience in a surreal place.

So, I am proud of the stories we told. But I am not proud of the way we told them.

Delivery of the show sucked, for reasons not yet completely understood. We did not get to air at the appointed time. We did not provide alternative programming for viewers who were patiently waiting. We started our newsmagazine 90 minutes late, and the encoder crashed in the middle of things, which meant everybody watching had to reboot.

None of this is acceptable, and it will not happen again. MPtv will be pushing ahead with an agenda of regular programming that will be compelling, different, interactive and – starting next week – dependable enough to time trains by. You will see and hear things in this space that are completely unique. You will visit places only an MP’s eyes have seen, and you will share in the wonder, frustration, elation and emotion that fills the days of everyone we send to represent the people.

If you logged on to watch tonight and hit a patch of dead air, I apologize. We almost pulled it off. We were close to being brilliant. Yeah, I know. That and two bucks gets a large one at Starbucks.

– Thanks to Bob Speirs, in Vernon BC

Many people have asked me what I think about the spitting match between the PM and the media types in Ottawa. This is because I am one of the few people in the country who is an MP and who also has made his wretched way as a journalist. It could also be because, as one visitor kindly put it, “you’ve never met a microphone you didn’t like.”

Actually, I have. Wendy Mesley’s, to be precise. I clashed with the bejeweled one a few times 15 years ago when I was a Progressive Conservative MP. Then, years after, the lady spent a month or so doing an investigative documentary piece for CBC on one of my businesses. As fate would have it, my television production company – which made shows for CTV, Global and other networks – was in competition with the CBC. How weird is that?

Anyway, she put her mic down my throat and pulled out my small intestine with it in a piece that struck me as a classic hack job. And hey, I wasn’t even a politician at the time. The journalists involved tried to destroy my business to get a story. The story fizzled, but I was left with the consequences. So, tell me about fairness.

The point is, like Stephen Harper, I too have been dissed by media. Almost every public figure in Canada has. It comes with the turf. In return for being made a household name, you are also made a target. You just hope that stories you want people to know are told, and ones you are not proud of are not. In that, media relations mirrors the rest of life. It’s not too complicated.

Right now the Ottawa media is ticked at PMSH because his media handlers are being aggressive and controlling. The PMO seems to have a culture of media bashing, probably learned the hard way in years of opposition and on the campaign trail. Ironically, of course, Stephen Harper and the Conservatives (like every set of elected politicians) owe a lot to the media for telling voters about them and influencing how they were viewed as candidates.

As far as I can tell, a lot of this is childish. And ten out of ten Canadians couldn’t care less if a press conference is held on the third floor of Centre Block or the second floor, or if Sandra Buckler has a hit list of questioners or if Keith Boag’s knickers are in a knot. The press gallery will not win this one, given what I have seen of the prime minister’s determination index. His trip this week to London and Vancouver, where he did enough media interviews to last a normal lifetime, proves he has the will, and the means to get his message out regardless of what the dudes on the Hill think.

Still, being anti-media is pointless at best and death-wishy at worst. Media outlets may have political biases, but few reporters, editors, producers or hosts do. Most, in fact, have struck me as amazingly respectful and non-partisan. Like politicians, they have jobs. Get over it.

But each elected person must find their own level of media exposure. If you want coverage, you can get it. But the more famous you become, the faster and harder you will fall once you screw up, and become far more interesting to the same people who launched your star. For a prime minister, the stakes are enormous. For the first Conservative prime minister in 13 years, they are staggering. In a town where perception becomes reality in a heartbeat, the Big Guy cannot falter, cannot fudge, cannot waver, cannot misspeak, cannot be too hasty or reticent, nor appear pandering or aloof.

So, how’s Harper doing? The polls tell a story of triumph. The Parliamentary agenda mirrors that. The population seems satisfied. The opposition is humbled. The Tories are in ascendancy. What’s not to applaud?

And yet, the media war must end. Every successful leader and party needs the conduit to the people that today only the MSM can provide. Healing the rift will take far less effort than the heavies in the PMO suspect.

It’s like the Whip and me. All you need is love.