This post has been updated.
Too often Canadian news outlets rely on wire services for their stories. Worst is when they rely on American wire services, like the Associated Press. AP provides an American perspective in their news and these stories often lack context when reproduced in the Canadian press.
For example, check out this story in the Globe and Mail (posted on their website at 6:48 EST).
Here’s the lede:
KABUL -Afghanistan’s parliament has approved a motion calling for the government to prosecute the U.S. soldiers responsible for a deadly road crash that sparked the worst riots in Kabul in years, officials said Wednesday.
If you read the story, you can see that the AP story does little to provide a Canadian perspective. Are the Canadian soldiers (who do not have to treat prisoners of war in Afghanistan in accordance with the Geneva Conventions) in Afghanistan subject to local laws? If we were at war, this might be a different story, but according to Gordon O’Connor, we’re not.
Now, it sounds like I may just be complaining. But this story has not yet made it into the Globe and Mail. They have all day to contact reporters/sources in Afghanistan to give this story a Canadian perspective.
Let’s see if they do it.
Update: The story did not appear in the Print Edition of the Globe and Mail today, but the paper did run an update online. It’s today’s AP update. Can someone tell the Globe to start reading this blog? I mean, seriously.