Scrum Wars: The Prime Ministers and the MediaThe image of the scrum -- a beleaguered politican surrounded by jockeying reporters -- is central to our perception of Ottawa. The modern scrum began with the arrival of television, but even in Sir John A. Macdonald's day, a century earlier, reporters in the parliamentary press gallery had waited outside the prime minister's office, pen in hand, hoping for a quote for the next edition. The scrum represents the test of wills, the contest of wits, and the battle for control that have characterized the relationship between Canadian prime ministers and journalists for more than 125 years. Scrum Wars chronicles this relationship. It is an anecdotal as well as analytical account, showing how earlier prime ministers like Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier were able to exercise control over what was written about their administrators, while more recent leaders like John Diefenbaker, Joe Clark, John Turner, and Brian Mulroney often found themselves at the mercy of intense media scrutiny and comment. |
From inside the book
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... Dafoe, the esteemed editor of the Winnipeg Free Press for more than forty years, after listing the many li1nitations of journalism argued that the journalist, nevertheless, “must go forward with a sort of reckless courage; and unless he ...
... Dafoe, who in 1884 at the age of eighteen had been sent to Ottawa by the Montreal Star. “At the bottom [of this pit] the members swarmed,” recalled Dafoe years later when he was the editor of the Winnipeg Free Press. “It was enclosed by ...
... Dafoe and John Willison, two of the most prominent Liberal journalists of their day but in the 1880s young gallery reporters, recalled that Laurier always got the best books first. Laurier did not have many close friends, but he had ...
... Dafoe accurately judged him in his 1922 book Laurier: A Study in Canadian Politics. No leader stays in power in Canada for fifteen years without blending compromise and charm with manipulation and deviousness. While Laurier's great ...
... Dafoe that both Laurier and the Globe's management had pressured him to come out in favour of remedial legislation. He was “ordered” to Ottawa, where he had a “most unhappy time” and where he was supplied with an article allowing the ...
Contents
No League of Gentlemen 19141956 | 83 |
Illustrations | 104 |
The Unofficial Opposition 19571992 | 207 |
Notes | 365 |
Bibliography | 380 |
Index | 383 |