So the National Post and Montreal Gazette threw me a gem today. The Post reprinted an editorial that appeared in the Montreal Gazette yesterday criticizng papers for reporting on their own National Newspaper Awards victories. The editorial read: “We’ve won our share of these awards but not this year. Perhaps being shut out makes it easier for us to say this, but shouldn’t all newspapers treat this annual competition more like a news story and less like a corporate press release?”
Yes, yes they should. Which is why I’m baffled that two days before the Gazette printed that editorial, they ran a story called “Best in writing, design honoured at Gala, Five CanWest journalists win National Newspaper Awards,” then cited their own newspaper in the criticism of newspapers praising themselves. The same story appeared in the Post yesterday.
To clarify, both the Gazette and Post ran editorials criticizing papers for reporting on their own victories after reporting on their own victories. Just in case you missed that.
Haiti
The Globe’s Jeffrey Simpson came as close as anyone to providing a good explanation of just how fucked up Haiti is. He doesn’t go into Canada’s role in the overthrow of the democractically-elected president, but at least says that it may be up to Canada to take a lead in revamping the UN mission there. I’ve already gone on at length about Haiti here, so I won’t repeat it. I’m just glad somebody seems to be waking up to the story.
Fun link
My friend Steve from the Monday Morning Riseup on CKCU FM sent me this link you may be interested in. Apparently Amnesty International, who we can all agree is a fairly respected human rights group, called on foreign governments (read: Canadian government) to detain senior U.S. administration officials as war criminals. Nobody picked up the story that I can find. Watch the press conference here.
Okay, I have to go write the MediaScout now, so the rest of my musings can be found there. It should be a good one, so please check it out. Cheers!
Actually, it’s probably the editorial board (who operate independently from the rest of the paper) giving a giant FUCK YOU to their Canwest masters (who would order the publication of NNA stories).