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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... Young: Prime Time Canada 1 952—1 96 7 © 1990 by Paul Rutherford; Diqenbaker: Leadership Gained 1956-1962 © 1975 by Peter Stursberg; and Diefenbaker: Leadership Lost 1962—1967© 1976 by Peter Stursberg. Excerpts are used by permission of ...
... young dominion's future, sometimes to the point of exhaustion for members and scribes alike. Griffin drank his ice water, finished his roast beef, and glanced around at the other lunch-time diners at the Russell House, Ottawa's finest ...
... young Martin, a capable student who demonstrated at an 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 ...
... young novice reporter, John 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 ...
... Young, the seventy-nine-year-old chief justice of Nova Scotia. The offender in this case was the Liberal minister of militia, Alfred Jones from Halifax, whose feud with Young involved an incident that had occurred in 1869. This debate ...
Contents
No League of Gentlemen 19141956 | 83 |
Illustrations | 104 |
The Unofficial Opposition 19571992 | 207 |
Notes | 365 |
Bibliography | 380 |
Index | 383 |