THE Conservative party break the tradition and will not authorize the plans and buses on board the media to cover Stone election campaign.
In an email on Tuesday, the director of the national campaign, Jenni Byrne, said that travel costs have “considerably increased”, as well as the capacity for digital access and distant to public events.
Byrne has also said that in recent years, the media have chosen to label the staff of local offices to cover events rather than pilot Ottawa journalists across the country throughout the campaign.
Byrne said his team wanted to emphasize that the campaign will guarantee “solid, fair and fair media access”.
For decades, federal electoral campaigns for the main political parties have provided seats on the tours of leaders, media organizations paying the party for travel and other costs, so that journalists can access events, ask questions to keep the leaders to report and observe the campaigns closely.
Byrne says that measures have been taken to ensure that Canadian media will be able to “share all public events, participate in field events and ask questions at a distance and in person”.
Byrne said that these steps include the provision of offices of two to three days on event locations, to provide complete conference services for media availability and to provide “a dedicated resource based at the Ottawa campaign office” to help coordinate travel and technological logistics.
Byrne said there will be a “fair balance” to all press conferences between local and national media.
In addition to a public livestream, Byrne said that events will also make available a professional quality flow.
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Christopher Waddell, professor emeritus at the Carleton University of Journalism School, said that it was “no total surprise” that a party has chosen not to leave the media on his plane.
He said that this decision “has been coming for some time” because the size of the entourage of the media after the leader was smaller.
Waddell said the situation creates an “interesting opportunity” for the media to spend less time following managers and more time talking to voters. He said journalists can arrive at an early event and stay later to get public reactions.
“It creates an opportunity to do different types of journalism, which could be more interesting for the public,” said Waddell.
Waddell, however, said that the decision could mean higher costs for the media and that it gives conservatives more control over the coverage. He said that the party could choose not to provide the media with a complete program and that the party could choose media organizations able to ask questions.
Waddell added that if the Conservatives say they will give media for two to three days on event locations, this could change according to the way the campaign takes place.
Jeffrey Dvorkin, principal researcher at the Massey College of the University of Toronto, said that the conservative decision is firmly against the tradition of the way political parties allow media organizations to be available daily.
“This is an indication that conservatives simply do not want this kind of control, this kind of journalistic presence,” said Dvorkin, adding that it is important for journalists to be able to ask questions in person.
“I think it’s really a step back in the way journalism and politics are carried out in this country.”
Dvorkin said the decision will make more difficult for traditional press organizations to have access. He said that the idea that the parliamentary press has equal access to politicians as bloggers is “bad service to electoral policy” and democracy.
“It is a very bad sign for Canadian electoral policy,” said Dvorkin.
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