Sure there are absurd and hateful exceptions and it's been the more left leaning Toronto Star that has really pursued the G20 police riots. But the National Post recently complimented the Star's coverage and said they had changed their minds about the behavior of the police at the G20 and it's been the Ottawa Citizen, which no one will ever mistake for a left of center paper, that really spear-headed the Stacy Bonds case.
Even the Sun chain has broken out of the slavish blue line worship and thrown some elbows at the police. Sure Christie Blatchford in the Globe and Mail can't bring herself to ever criticize police for anything but not busting more heads than they are, but who really cares any more?
Maybe the fact that a lot of journalists saw first hand what was happening on the streets during the G20 themselves is part of it, maybe they're finally actually applying the libertarian world view to something other than fiscal conservatism for a change.
I criticize the media in Canada for being out of step with the largely left of center consensus of the Canadian people, being slavishly supportive and unquestioning about the basic assumptions of neo-liberalism and actively suppressing opposing points of view. When they start actually dong something right, attention should be paid and positive reinforcement promoted.
I'm interested, has anybody else has been struck by the same thing?
3 comments:
I had a bit of hope at the time when Joe Warmington of the Sun called for an independent inquiry.
But the real test will be -- will the media keep it up? Continue to hold feet to fire? Until there is an inquiry at the very least, followed, one hopes, by a bunch of charges and disciplinary actions.
In reading the December issue of The Walrus, I came across an article dealing with the G20 violence. The writer includes an interview with activist Jaggi Singh. While I disagreed with much of what he said, the following struck a chord:
“In Toronto, with over 1,000 arrests, mostly arbitrary, many idealists were swept up in the police repression, or observed it close at hand. This was meant to scare those idealists into pulling away from radical politics. Some folks are definitely traumatized and scared. But many, definitely, have become radicalized, too.”
I wonder if some journalists are among those who have become radicalized, in which case we can hope for continuing coverage and demands for accountability.
Not so sure I'd characterize The Star as "left," but what the fuck. Rosie DiManno, who's usually almost as much of a cop booster as Blatchford, has been kicking the shit out of Blair. Might as well take it while we can get it.
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