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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... early age a speed-reading ability and a love of literature, was educated at schools in Halifax. He later attended St. Mary's College, where he received a bachelor of arts, and then obtained a law degree from Dalhousie University. He was ...
... early March, but the temperature of around 40 degrees Fahrenheit made things rather muddy. This was nothing new for Ottawa, still a small but growing lumber town with a population of roughly 25,000. As he walked up Wellington Street ...
... early 1860s, to his role as the new Dominion's first leader in 1867, Macdonald had received the best political education anyone would want. And from the day in April 1844 when the Kingston Herald published his first real political ...
... early April 1873, when Liberal Lucius Seth Huntington first raised the charges that Macdonald had awarded the Pacific Railway contract for a bribe, breaking the scandal that would ultimately cause the Conservatives' fall, the Globe's ...
... early November but defended his position in a five-hour speech in Parliament. To the Globe this was “callous and repulsive.” In words that today would be cause for a libel suit, the newspaper portrayed Macdonald as “the Hector of ...
Contents
No League of Gentlemen 19141956 | 83 |
Illustrations | 104 |
The Unofficial Opposition 19571992 | 207 |
Notes | 365 |
Bibliography | 380 |
Index | 383 |