It’s funny being a journalist in 2019. My inbox recently started to flood with releases by both the Liberals and Conservatives. Smart. We not only own a large local audience, but are have great pools of viewers in Cities like Ottawa, Toronto, and even Montreal.
The internet is content driven and we provide content that apparently people from a lot of areas enjoy reading.
Recently the Liberals sent out a missive announcing a new ad campaign. Oddly enough they haven’t purchased any ads on this newspaper. Then again, they don’t even have a candidate in this riding either.
Do they think sending such a release to a sizable media outlet they aren’t advertising in is going to help their cause? I mean, this election is up for grabs and very riding should count and while it’s leaning Blue, it’s not a shoe in, unless they roll out a lump like Heather Megill.
A local Conservative supporter who runs a car dealership (Hi Troy Hickman of Cornwall Toyota) once said that if I bought a party membership he’d buy an ad. I called him up and said that some of the latest from Mr. Scheer’s people was entertaining enough to run and would he like to buy a sponsorship ad or make a viewer donation? He stated that he wasn’t “That strong a Conservative.”
In this day of facebook and google ads political parties and political machines forget that editor’s count. While social media ads are really easy to buy, and generally more expensive than supporting local and regional media, it makes it easier for the lazier politicos to deal with the nasty voters.
This election is going to be a short run. For many voters they don’t know enough about the real issues and real candidates and that’s a real red flag for any Democracy.
One has to ponder why this has been staged this way? What are voters, mushrooms?
In this riding not a single local candidate is responding to this newspapers queries. We have no issue with other riding’s, but sadly the weak sauce that are those running in SD&G don’t understand what being a politician is? Eric Duncan for example hid shrieking in a storage room while running a campaign when I showed up once for no real reason than I guess being afraid to answer related legitimate questions?
It’s not like after ten years in journalism this writer has a history of doing anything remotely odd at any presser. No history of violence. No disturbances. No outbursts. No initiation of anything other than professional journalism. Yet, I’ve been told just mention of my name sends Cornwall Mayor and two time failed Federal candidate (3rd time’s the charm!) Bernadette Clement into a tizzy.
But many get it. Some, like Eric Duncan, and Bernie simply are too soft for politics and can’t take the heat. They can’t answer questions. They don’t have the cojones of a Doug Ford who gave the CBC interviews knowing he was walking into enemy territory. Clement’s strategy her two runs for MP was to hide from Lauzon. Maybe that’s why there’s been no local announcement of a 3rd attempt by the alleged closeted candidate?
Smart politicians know that the bigger the audience, and this newspaper has a big audience, the more important it is to reach it; especially during an election.
So what am I looking for personally? Well I don’t think there’s any party leader I honestly could remotely support this time around. It’s a horrid election, but we still have to vote.
Mr. Trudeau seems to have something for everyone in his magic bag except middle aged Caucasian journalists sadly. Mr. Scheer has even less, but then again he’s offering less promises for everyone else.
The NDP have done their best to implode and become a joke. And when a local weirdo seemingly libertarian populist candidate snubs this newspaper they get crossed off the list pretty darn quick.
So I’ll wait. I’ll watch. I’ll probably cover things from a National view rather than a local one, and I’m hoping I won’t have to spoil another ballot.
True story. During the last two Ontario leadership races Christine Elliot snubbed this newspaper not once, but twice. She lost both times even though our local riding association supported her. (but then what does our local Conservative riding association know with people like Tammy Hart and Glen Grant near its leadership?)
Caroline Mulroney pulled the same stunt last election. Where is she now?
Premier Doug Ford granted a rare interview to yours truly. Guess who I supported? Guess who won? Then again, I picked Patrick Brown to win the previous race, and he won as well.
Don’t you just love watching politicians shoot themselves and implode?
When you’re an elected official you not only have to represent some whom you may not like, sometimes you have to talk to them and be interviewed by them.
It doesn’t mean you have to tolerate bad manners or lack of professionality, but if a journalist attends a presser and is polite, and you play diddly games because something they wrote gave you a boo boo, like Bernie Clement, well, politics probably shouldn’t be your profession.
And while you’re still reading, if you want more coverage during this election we’d like to add some writers. Please send your donation via e interac to info@cornwallfreenews.com
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