The Harper government initially said its ban on the media covering homecoming ceremonies was out of respect for the wishes of the families, but that was quickly proven a lie when the families said they wanted the media there. And, judging from a CP story today, the soldiers want the media there too.
Harper banished the media to the other side of a fence outside the base beside a highway outside CFB Trenton during the arrival ceremonies. To help the media out though, and to show their displeasure with the situation, the base personnel moved equipment out of the way so the cameras could have a clear shot at the ceremony.
If it wasn’t obvious before, it would seem to be painfully obvious now that this whole mess by Harper and his defence lobby minister O’Connor has been about nothing but politics from day one. Conservatives. Playing politics with our solders. In our cities. I did not make this up.
I look forward to watching the Conservatives try to spin this one. Recommended spin/attempts at obfuscation for my Conservative friends:
- Must be a slow news day.
- Clearly the media is out to get Harper again, whay with reporting actual facts and all, and like, the truth.
- I don’t care what evidence there is, I feel in my gut we're right and they're wrong.
- When are the Liberanos going to pay back some sum we made up to rectify some imagined scandal, while we ignore evidence of wrongdoing in our own party?
- Hey, look over there! (While they’re looking, run away.)
Canadian Press
OTTAWA — Senior military officials opposed the Conservative government's controversial ban on media coverage of homecoming ceremonies for soldiers killed in Afghanistan, documents obtained under the Access to Information Act suggest.
A Department of National Defence official snapped photographs outside a repatriation ceremony in April to illustrate how the government's policy was causing security concerns.
(more)
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4 comments:
""A Department of National Defence official snapped photographs outside a repatriation ceremony in April to illustrate how the government's policy was causing security concerns.""
SECURITY CONCERNS, you only copied the parts that MSM made suppositions about.
But you do spin well!
""But reporters who attended the event did not require public documents AS EVIDENCE that military officials were peeved at the government order.""
hmmm really strong evidence, wouldn't you say?
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060702/media_ban_opposed_060702/20060702?hub=Canada
you only copied the parts that MSM made suppositions about.
But you do spin well!
But you spin better...or you try to comrade. But I just copied the headline and the first two paragraphs of the story, I didn't selectivly take quotations out of context to bolster my case...or, spin, if you prefer.
For exaple, you paste one line and imply it indicates the reporters were the security concerns...I'll leave it to the imagination what kind of risk you're implying they were. But, if you'd included this quote that added context, you'd have shown what the nature of DND's concern was:
“This may cause safety issues and generate even more frustration, particularly in winter,” Lt.-Col. Richard Lavoie, a departmental public-affairs director, wrote in an e-mail in which he forwarded the photos to several colleagues.
They were afraid reporters would get hit by a car or cause an accident on the highway, or, in the winter, catch a cold.
hmmm really strong evidence, wouldn't you say?
I'm glad we agree.
LOL you're right, and the part you copied implied the military was peeved at Harper, but it was security/safely concerns.
In other words, the article sucks,but it is fun to spin!
PMSH would not play politics with our soldiers. Ever. There was definitely a mis-communication or misstep here. It was handled poorly. I will give you that.
Let's see a bit more of the story then, Wilson, to get the real context...
"Military officials found other ways to express their displeasure: they cleared equipment from the airport tarmac so the news media outside the base could have an unobstructed view of the ceremony."
Whether or not there was an official protest by the DND - which after all, takes it orders from the government - with "EVIDENCE", is neither here nor there. The evidence was in the clearing of equipment that was obscuring the media's view.
The men who did the clearing could never have gotten away with it, if their superior officers hadn't turned a blind eye.
I'm no rocket scientist, but even I would have expected the media to show up like that... And knowing the area well, they would undoubtedly have had to gather along that highway.
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