Anti-democratic, Orwellian and hypocritical are some of the descriptors that suit Prime Minister Harper’s latest move to try to control his message to the Canadian people. In a plan apparently called the “Shoe Store Project”, so named for the location of a former shoe shop that will soon be the new place where Harper plans to move his press briefings.  It was all secret until yesterday.  Moving the press theatre is no big deal in itself but the motivations for doing so would make Communist China proud:
“The new briefing centre would supplant the 47-year-old National Press Theatre, a venue where government news conferences are moderated by the executive members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery Association, a group of newspapers, broadcasters and other media outlets who report on Parliament Hill.”
“According to documents, the new centre could give the government control over which journalists attend news conferences. The government would also have the ability to do its own filming at the events, and could provide the footage to journalists, instead of letting them film the events themselves…”
As the article notes, the briefings at the National Press Theatre were moderated by senior members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. Anyone care to guess who will be carrying out that task in the new government controlled venue? Yep, Harper’s political staff. So much for freedom of the press.
Governments have always sought control over their message, and long had their favorite media outlets, journalists, and more recently bloggers, who get to deliver (or leak as the case may be) that message…. this is a new development that cannot be explained on that level though, and the answer is, IMO, simple.
Harper, like all people who suffer from control issues, is afraid.
The shoe box Harper is building will ensure a level of control sufficient that he does not have to worry overly much about the reporter or media outlet who is, or may be, unsympathetic towards the party being able to ask uncomfortable, or unscripted, questions…. or if they do manage to slip one in, ensure that they end up sitting unacknowledged at the back of the room to serve as a reminder to others who may try and get uppity.
The benefit of that to him personally in dealing with his fears, and the benefit to the party in having serious control over who gets the party message first, and how that message is conveyed to the Canadian people, are obvious.
— and while all the other parties are now decrying the move does anyone really think that the next government (regardless of its’ stripe) will put the lid on Harpers new shoe box?