A perfect example of why the cuts to CBC were far short of where they need to be. In what no one could say is not a partisan attack against the PM, CBC gives Canadians a glimpse of paid top-dollar journalism for tabloid worthy news headlines.
In fact, the CBC itself outs itself only two paragraphs after the first, which includes this gem:
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Labour Day-weekend trip to Manhattan last fall, which included coveted tickets to a New York Yankees game and a Broadway show, cost Canadian taxpayers at least $45,000, documents reveal."
And if anyone took the time to read the entire story, they come to this:
"A spokesperson for the prime minister told CBC News that Harper covered the cost of both the flight and accommodations for himself, his daughter and two guests on the flight. He also covered the costs of tickets to the game for himself and his guests.
"Prime Minister Harper makes it a practice of reimbursing the government for personal travel," spokesperson Julie Vaux wrote in an email. "As the prime minister is prohibited from flying commercial for security reasons, he also compensates the government for the cost of an equivalent commercial flight. In this case, he compensated for the flight for himself, his daughter, and guests at the cost of a commercial fare for each."
It's time once again for everyone to start sending complaints to the CBC ombudsman, as well as James Moore, telling him this type of trash journalism should not be paid for by the Canadian taxpayer.
9 comments:
Thank you! One need only look at the pass given the medias darlings.
Jack and Oliva Layton runiing over 3000 dollars a day for expenses?
7 days a week 365 days a year.
Crickets......... from the CBC.
The CBC is one sick organazation.
Cheers Bubba
Harper's a great PM. Unfortunately he sticks with his people far too long. He could have avoided most of the fallout from the Guergis situation if he had dumped her right after the Charlottetown meltdown.
James Moore is another disaster waiting to happen. Just a matter of time until Harper is kicking his own ass for not getting rid of Moore sooner.
CBC it appears writes the headlines for the lefty, illiterate CBC commenter's, where all 500 of them can't read past a headline.
The text and rare facts are buried for the truth seekers something the CBC makes us work for.
For me, when I saw this miserable headline, I didn't even bother giving the CBC a hit. Why? Well because, the Prime Minister has CONSISTENTLY paid his own way and I knew that if the CBC said otherwise, the tax payers of Canada would be paying a law suit to the PM.
The CBC being the darling of Minister Moore is pathetic and confusing.It's one thing to stay neutral but it's quite another to leave the impression that they have his support. He falls clearly in category 2.
That really was the most misleading headline I've ever seen. What it does is undermine CBC's credibility even Moore.
"What it does is undermine CBC's credibility even Moore."
Typo or pun? Either way I like it :0)
Just my opinion ... but I find demands to dismantle the CBC totally unrealistic and the growing antipathy against Minister Moore unsettling. It confirms the idea that conservatives tend to eventually devour their own, to the detriment of the conservative cause. Discrediting Minister Moore may eventually discredit the PM. Is that what conservatives want to achieve?
Let's face it, the CBC will never be sold off or privatized -- at least in our lifetime -- regardless of which party is in power. I can understand conservatives' frustration with its left-leaning ideology and misleading headlines and reports. I can understand conservatives' demands its funding be reduced, like any other government funded institution. But calling for the CBC to lose all its funding is unrealistic, IMO.
A minister cannot demand the CBC, or any other news organization for that matter, cease and desist from publishing unflattering "reports" about the current government.
See, I have a hard time understanding people, conservatives among them, who champion freedom of expression but who then want to limit that expression whenever it doesn't reflect their own POV.
Let's face it: it's not the media's role to be a sunny promoter of the government. The media will always seek to sensationalize, to overstate, even to mislead or misinterpret. A government and its ministers can react by correcting the record or it can choose to ignore the daily stream of half-truths, truthiness, untruths, and bald-faced lies propagated by different media. We partisan -- there's nothing wrong with being partisan! -- bloggers can help to correct the record by presenting factual evidence to counter those inaccuracies.
But for a government to cut off funding because it does not like what is being written/broadcast smacks of government censorship, which is alien to our values ... isn't it?
Gabby, I agree in freedom of the press, but also think they need to live up to their won code of conduct. This article intenuinally tries to mislead readers, making them think the taxpayer paid for the baseball and concert tickets.
In fact it contradicts itself only paragraphs later. When looking through news aggreagators, one only sees that first paragraph, giving the impression the PM abused office for personal pleasure.
And I've never seen the CBC mention the fact the PM is the first to insitute the practice of paying these costs out of pocket, as well as the cost of what a normal airfare would cost.
Paul, thanks for your input.
I understand your complaint about the media misleading the public. I fully agree with you on that point. That is why I spend/waste so many hours researching even trivial statements I catch in media reports. At times it seems like a thankless and futile battle.
But I've noticed a growing antipathy among conservative commenters towards Minister Moore based on the fact his department continues to fund the CBC. Realistically, that funding will continue ad vitam aeternam, so getting angry at the Heritage Minister because of that fact is counterproductive, IMO. That was the main point of my rambling comment.
What all of you fail to realize is that Harper (and all other MP's and government officials) only have to pay back the commercial fare prices. What does that mean? That the taxpayers are left on the hook for the $30,000 plus private jet costs, while Harper writes a cheque for $800 after his Secretary spends a week finding the lowest fair!
Post a Comment