Friday, March 19, 2010

Mike Duffy: Expert in media bias

CTV "journalist" turned Conservative senator Mike Duffy isn't backing down from his criticism of journalism schools, which he attacked for daring to teach "critical thinking." After refusing media requests for a few days, he went on a radio program yesterday to accuse journalism schools of "brainwashing" students:

Senator Mike Duffy isn’t backing down on his criticisms of the University of King’s College and other Canadian journalism programs, saying he “dared to show a little spotlight on some of the bias in the media.”

Last weekend, Duffy delivered a speech to local Conservatives in Amherst criticizing journalism schools for teaching critical thinking and Noam Chomksy’s book Manufacturing Consent. He also said students aren’t being taught to be fair and balanced.

“They all get preached to with the same cookie cutter thing,” Duffy told Tom Young’s Afternoon News program on Rogers radio Thursday. “And when you talk to these kids in job interviews, you realize some of them have been brainwashed.”

Actually, if there's anyone who would be an expert on biased media, it's Mike Duffy. The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, arbiter of media ethics on the airwaves, certainly thinks so:
The arbiter of ethics on the airwaves ruled Wednesday that CTV violated industry codes when it included three false starts in a broadcast of an election interview with then Liberal leader Stéphane Dion.
...
The standards council also studied complaints lodged against CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live program. The show rebroadcast Dion's false starts and discussed it with a panel of politicians and later with journalists.

During the discussion, Liberal MP Geoff Regan suggested Dion might not have understood the question because of a hearing impairment, but then said it was not a subject worth discussing.

Duffy then repeatedly said that Regan was accusing the network of ridiculing a handicap.

The CBSC's national specialty services panel said Duffy "went too far."

"He was not fair, balanced or even-handed," the panel said, also agreeing the rebroadcasts of the restarts were in breach of industry code.
So Mike really knows what he's talking about here.

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9 comments:

JimBobby said...

Whooee! I reckon the Duffster misses his daily TV soapbox. I don't figger too many people are payin' much attention to what the Senator sez. He exposed himself as a long-time Con lackey and continues to confirm it whenever he gets an audience... which ain't nearly as often as when he was grindin' Harper's axe M-F in front of a bigass TV crowd.

From that pitcher you posted up, pore ol' Duff ain't lookin' much better than he did before he went to the Red Chamber Retirement Home.

RuralSandi said...

Duffy must know that those who decide to be journalists would have a naturally curious and investigative mind.

He doesn't think they could read material off campus that they are curious about?

Brainwashing is what Duffy wants to only the right wing thinking.

What's next - selecting books that shouldn't be read like Tom Sawyer or something?

He's making an absolute fool of himself.

The Mound of Sound said...

Jeff, I knew (and briefly worked with) Duffy in the early 70's before he turned into a hack. In his prime he was legendary and went from the CHUM group to CBC and right to the top of the heap. Then he went all to hell. Sad, really.

Ti-Guy said...

"Fair and balanced:" There's another innocuous expression (like 'family values') that the Right (with the help of a lazy/confused media) has managed to turn into something dark and menacing.

It's perniciousness can be illustrated by an example I was given over a decade ago: To be fair and balanced with regard to the Holocaust, one must necessarily interview nazis to get their point of view. More disturbingly, it's turned into an almost unconscious reflex with journalists these days. Find someone...anyone...with the opposing view and provide him/her with unearned media attention.

Unknown said...

Mike Duffy is a national disgrace of epic proportions.(pun intended)

Rural Sandi is right he`s making a fool of himself, but he`s also making a fool of our country.

He has the nerve to personally attack dedicated public servants like Peter Stoffer, even as his main contribution to public life is laughable partsian spam.

He says Nancy Green Raine is his `olympic hero`, and that Canada`s olympic triumph makes him think of `Conservative firsts`. Most Canadians would probably cite Crosby and patriotism, but not the Duffster.

Do the right thing, Jackass, and resign today.

silliopolous said...

Yeah! What he said!!

Boooo!!! Hissss for that ebil, Liberal Media (tm) which makes it impossible for Good Wholesome Conservative Values to rise to the top!

If it weren't for them, the DuffMeister and Ms Wallin would have had successfull careers instead of having to resort to menial partisan handout jobs like being a Senator!!

Donna said...

Rumour has it that this guy doesn't believe we American professors teach oiur students to think for themselves-- we just expose them to (gasp) LIB-rull ideas. Well, I have been a professor at the University of Massachusetts, and I can assure him that my journalism students did not just learn about Chomsky-- they even learned about conservatives, moderates, contrarians, etc. They learned, in other words, to be OBJECTIVE and fair. He ought to try it sometime.

RuralSandi said...

Is it just me? I think Duffy looks and talks like Roger Ailes of Fox News.

That's not a good thing

Ward of the State said...

Considering that for the last decade of his career Duffy's idea of story research was sitting in Hi's,and between bites of steak, clicking through gossip and trial balloon's sent to his blackberry, it's hard to take any notion he might have about journalism seriously.