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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... July 18, 1873, sealed Macdonald's fate. Throughout the ordeal the Globe took the moral high ground. “Shall the highest servants of the nation, the chosen advisors of the Crown be suffered to maintain their position by selling the public ...
... July 1872 election and after, he wrote Patteson every other day with new leads to take and new attacks to pursue. His devious strategy was unparalleled. In September, when Edward Wood, a former member of Sandfield Macdonald's Ontario ...
... July. “I have had to draw on my own wits, instead of on information supplied by the Government. One day I have ventured on one line of defense, to have it upset the next by the production of evidence not thought to be in existence.”9 ...
... July, offered 10,000 shares at $25 each; it stated that the firm would not be incorporated until $200,000 worth were subscribed, and promised investors a “handsome return” for their trouble.27 The phrase had a nice ring, but in reality ...
... July the Conservatives, led by the inept Mackenzie Bowell (“a tiny figure with a jagged grey beard and hooded eyes set in a parchment face,” as journalist Gordon Donaldson described him), announced plans to introduce remedial ...
Contents
No League of Gentlemen 19141956 | 83 |
Illustrations | 104 |
The Unofficial Opposition 19571992 | 207 |
Notes | 365 |
Bibliography | 380 |
Index | 383 |