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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... 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 is to fail, he must, out of his ...
... Winnipeg MP Dorothy Dobbie. Alas, my much-anticipated interview with Brian Mulroney did not take place, but it was not for lack of trying on Mrs. Dobbie's part. The unending constitutional saga unfortunately got in the way. I benefited ...
... Winnipeg Free Press. “It was enclosed by walls that rose sheer and unbroken, save for narrow entrances, for perhaps 20 feet, from the top of these walls the public galleries sloped upward and back to the outer walls. Gothic windows in ...
... Winnipeg supporters in their ultimately unsuccessful efforts to start a Conservative paper that would challenge the supremacy of the Liberal-leaning Free Press. Further west in Regina, he put out a call for capital to finance the ...
... Winnipeg in 1882 to edit the Times, the city's struggling Conservative Party organ, and later worked for the independent Sun. A call from Riordon and Bunting brought him back to the civilization of Toronto in October 1884. The brewing ...
Contents
No League of Gentlemen 19141956 | 83 |
Illustrations | 104 |
The Unofficial Opposition 19571992 | 207 |
Notes | 365 |
Bibliography | 380 |
Index | 383 |