What they never ask

Media bias isn't only revealed by the kinds of questions party leaders are asked during an election campaign.

It's also revealed by the kinds of questions they are never asked, or that the media never even think to ask them.

In Wednesday's column, I talked about how the media covering Prime Minister Paul Martin tossed him a series of lob ball questions during his election kickoff, such as ''are you going to use negative campaign ads"?

In contrast, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was hit with such stink bombs as "do you love this country?"

Today let's examine why Martin hasn't been asked, at least as far as I can determine, why so many Canadians now believe the Liberals have a "hidden agenda."

First off, yes, you read that right. Despite Liberal spin doctors constantly insisting -- and the national media routinely and dutifully repeating -- that most Canadians fear Harper's "hidden agenda," it turns out they're ... well ... wrong.

As reported by The Strategic Counsel in a national poll released last Tuesday (the first morning of the campaign), more Canadians believe the Liberals have a "hidden agenda" (33%) than the Conservatives (25%).

In Ontario, there's been a 10-point drop in fears the Conservatives have a "hidden agenda" since May.

The Strategic Counsel, headed by pollster Allan Gregg, says this "may be the most dramatic change since the 2004 election -- the Conservatives don't look as scary to Ontario voters going into this election."

Even with the pollster's qualifiers that these results are driven "largely by partisan support" and that the Conservatives "have yet to demonstrate they are a government-in-waiting," you would think this finding would have gone off like a bombshell on day one of the campaign.

After all, it fits the definition of real "news." It is new information on a major issue (Stephen Harper's so-called "hidden agenda"), coming at a timely moment (the election kickoff) that flies in the face of conventional wisdom.

Or, to be more precise, conventional media wisdom supplied by Liberal spin doctors. Alas, that's probably why you haven't heard much about it, with the exception of the Globe, which, having commissioned the poll, featured this finding prominently on its Tuesday front page.

That said, one would have thought that such a startling finding by a credible pollster, featured prominently in a national newspaper on the first day of the campaign, might have prompted at least one question to Martin during his opening media scrum, in between all the lobs.

Alas, no one asked Martin about it then, or, as far as I can tell, since then. Even if it has been asked, it's clearly not a big deal for our national media.

And I'd argue that's because they know that if they raise this issue, they would then have to explain why they've been telling us for so long (along with the Liberals) that most Canadians fear the Conservatives have a "hidden agenda," when it now turns out even more of them think the Liberals have one.

Some pundits have suggested Canadians are getting used to Harper. But that's not the point. The point is that to be fair and consistent, they should explain why so many Canadians now find Martin to be "scary" and "angry" -- the same loaded terms they tagged Harper with in explaining why Canadians feared the Conservatives' "hidden agenda."

Perhaps now that Harper has re-raised the issue of same-sex marriage, voters will start to worry again about the Conservatives' "hidden agenda." If they do, count on our "objective" media to ask him lots of questions about that.

I realize you folks up there have a problem with your government's heavy hand being involved in the media ( It's bad enough down here, where about 90% of both the press and entertainment branches lean left ) but there are attempts being made to bypass those rotters:

http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=48898
How FreeDominion can help during this election.

Then there are the blogs ( be sure to check the sidebar links for more blogs )

http://angrygwn.mu.nu/
Angry in the Great White North

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/
Small Dead Animals

http://www.the-warroom.blogspot.com/
The War Room

3 posted on 12/04/2005 7:03:17 AM PST by backhoe (Just an old Keyboard Cowboy, ridin' the trakball into the Dawn of Information...)

4 posted on 12/04/2005 7:08:51 AM PST by RoadTest (A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. - Proverbs 25:11)

Thanks.
We're getting there.

We always seem to be about 5-10 years behind the States politically.

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