Like his orange cousin, Doug Ford has gone to war with the media. Antonia Zerbisias writes:
The war between Doug Ford's government and the news media escalated this week when the Ontario premier and his finance minister Vic Fedeli took off for New York City on Monday, ostensibly to sell U.S. corporations on the idea that the province is "open for business."
While there, Ford popped up on the Fox Business Network, the right arm of the decidedly right-wing Fox (infotainment) News Channel on which, if something is in the public interest, it's dubbed "socialism."
The trouble was, the only media outlet which was informed of the trip was Ford's own news channel -- Ontario News Now. When media organizations complained, Ivana Yelich -- Ford's press aide tweeted:
"Despite putting out numerous advisories and news releases on Premier @fordnation meeting with some of the biggest companies in America, I received one media request for information regarding his trip. And they wonder why @OntarioNewsNow exists."
The journalists who cover Queen's Park begged to differ:
The Toronto Star's Robert Benzie:
"1. The media were given no notice about the premier's trip until the night before he and the treasurer jetted to New York.
2. The Star asked about his trade mission yesterday and today.
3. Ontario News Now does video press releases not journalism."
CTV's Colin D'Mello took it further, cornering Ford in Toronto, pressing him on Ontario News Now's exclusive access and who pays for it.
"That's part of our budget," Ford mumbled, adding he makes "no apologies" for "getting the message out."
Yet another pronouncement from the Tower of Integrity.
Image: Allan Harding MacKay
6 comments:
I don't know if you have ever seen Ontario News Now, Owen, (it does take a strong stomach indeed), but anyone who is fooled into thinking it is real news as opposed to propaganda is surely part of that much-vaunted entity known as Ford Nation. It is surely the target audience, as anyone not completely besotted with Dear Leader's nonsense would quickly see what a sham and scam (at taxpayers' expense) it is.
I've seen clips, Lorne. How someone could confuse this claptrap with journalism is beyond me. But my experience has been that Ford Nation is immune from facts.
.. Doug Ford is 'beneath comment' .. evangelical drivel..
He may be beneath comment, sal. But, unfortunately, he believes he's beyond accountability.
After reading your post, I decided to have a look. It must something with my eyes, but I swear every time I look at the title bar ‘ontarionewsnow.ca’, what I see is ontario new snow.ca. Read a little bit and it’s true, it is a “snow job”. Mac
There's nothing wrong with your eyes, Mac. It's a snow job.
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