Objective Journalism?

This is pathetically bad journalism, if you can even call it that. Christina Blizzard does a major disserve to her profession and the concept of democracy in her piece in today’s Toronto Sun.

Let’s start with this statement - “It was the week when average voters finally connected with their electoral system.”

Christina, I just need a bit of clarification here...

1) Average voters, as defined by whom? (I thought that typically it was the same people who continually vote in municipal elections. They are predominantly homeowners and predominantly OVER the age of 40.)

2) Why were these “average voters” so disconnected from their electoral system? Have they been disenfranchised for the last 5 elections? Were they ineligible to vote last time? Tied up in their homes on election day by marauding liberals and prevented from attending the polling station? I mean, I am really disturbed by this so I am hoping you can answer this question for me.

3) “Gone are the days when people can say, “my vote was meaningless”". Pretty sure the 53% of people that didn’t vote for Rob Ford would say their vote was meaningless, wouldn't you agree?


If you want to understand why people no longer read newspapers, this is an absolutely stunning example. I won’t even get in to the lack of objectivity in the remainder of the article, though those of you who know Blizzard will know that her bias is as plain as the nose on your face. What I will say is, obviously ridiculous statements that have no basis in fact, like those mentioned above, are just one of the reasons people are walking away from mainstream media. Most people want to read intelligent, informed news that offers enlightened and thoughtful insight. They want to read journalists who start with a legitimate question or issue and end with a conclusion, not those who pen trite nonsense by starting with a conclusion and crafting a story that fits it.




Slick Grits need loyalty to local MPPs
Northumberland Today.com
Mon Nov 1 2010
Page: 4
Section: Editorial/Opinion
Byline: CHRISTINA BLIZZARD
Column: Queen's Park
This week marked a sea change across the province.
It was the week when average voters finally connected with their electoral system.
After years of fuming over waste and mismanagement, voters showed surgical precision in cutting out the offending councillors and mayors.
Gone are the days when people can say, "My vote was meaningless."
It was a week when the electorate threw strategic voting out the window and voted with their hearts.
It's a week that's been an eye-opener for provincial politicians in the lead-in to next year's vote.
While Premier Dalton McGuinty and his Liberals must be eyeing the polls nervously, the message it sent was not a left-right one, but a dissatisfaction with the status quo.
He's going into the next vote with the dual albatross of the HST and soaring hydro rates around his neck.
Every time voters go shopping, every time the hydro bill arrives in the mail, voters will blame him for the skyrocketing costs of everyday life.
The Liberals very much represent the status quo -- which may be a double-edged sword next October.
On the one hand, they will be the target of people who demand change.
On the other, never underestimate the power of a long-time MPP and his or her popularity in the riding. It was the central Liberal party that won the last two elections, with slick campaigns, clever strategy -- and an assist from the Tories through faith-based school funding.
Next year the tide will have turned. The Liberals will count on the individual strength of local MPPs in their ridings to hold on to their seats.
Tim Hudak and the Tories will be hoping to ride the wave of change that swept the province.
Their problem is that politics is a different animal at the provincial level.
While of course party politics exist at the local level, the lines are blurred.
Toronto's Rob Ford is a Conservative, but that wasn't what got him elected. People voted for him because he isn't the same-old, same-old politician who's let us down in the past.
He isn't part of the old guard Tory -- and that helped him.
Provincial politics is very much a party political game. And Hudak will be battling the legacy of Mike Harris.
Liberals are trying to paint him as Harris-lite.
In recent weeks, expensive Tory TV ads have appeared, featuring Hudak, his wife and daughter. It shows how hard the Tories are fighting to establish Hudak in a softer light -- a family man out there talking to families about the challenges they face during the economic downturn.
Then there's the NDP. Their choice of Andrea Horwath as leader was brilliant.
She has grown and improved immensely in the little more than a year since she took the party's helm.
Horwath was particularly effective in her attack on the government over the outrageous health ministry contracts to lobbyists.
She has baggage as well.
Just as Hudak needs to shuck the Harris label in some parts of this province, she, too needs to lull voters into forgetfulness about the Bob Rae years.
This week's lesson for the three leaders is that cynical voters are looking not just for change, but for a different way of doing politics.
Liberals will have a tough time convincing them they can do that. A youthful Tory leader or a young woman leading the NDP may be more convincing.
christina.blizzard@sunmedia.ca