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
Results 1-5 of 69
... House of Commons stairs, hearing what he wished to hear from the pack of journalists cowering below him, to figure out who had the upper hand. Still, it can go the other way. In January 1992 I was in Calgary, invited as an “ordinary ...
... House to prepare for what would probably be a long sitting. Griffin was an editor with the Conservative Halifax Herald, and for this session he was working as the newspaper's Ottawa correspondent, a job he enjoyed and was good at. The ...
... later with Toronto's Tory Mail in the early 1880s, he could rip the dreaded Grits to shreds. In 1878, after encountering Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie at a costume ball at Government House, he reported. Prologue xvii.
... House, he reported that “Mr. Mackenzie was present disguised as a gentleman.” He was more cutting a few years later when covering a large Liberal gathering in Toronto, noting that the Grit group in attendance was “a motley collection of ...
... House was in the midst of a serious debate on the economy. The Liberals were defending their proposed budget, which reflected the party's traditional stand on freer trade, while the Conservatives were finalizing their move towards a ...
Contents
No League of Gentlemen 19141956 | 83 |
Illustrations | 104 |
The Unofficial Opposition 19571992 | 207 |
Notes | 365 |
Bibliography | 380 |
Index | 383 |