In today's Winnipeg Free Press, Bart Kives begins his B1 editorial lamenting what he sees as a lack of policy debate in this year's Winnipeg civic election. He also criticizes how significantly various "distractions" seem to have characterized the campaign.
How, then, does Mr. Kives address this in his opinion piece that Margo Goodhand masquerades as news?
He proceeds to itemize and highlight, a la Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, all of the campaign's so called "distractions".
In doing so, he celebrates exactly that which he laments.
Few policies are more central to government than tax policy. Unfortunately, in Mr. Kives' laundry list of distractions, he fails to mention, even in passing, that incumbent Mayor Sam Katz is keeping secret, until after the election, his property tax policy. It's a complete joke that an incumbent Mayor can be allowed by media to keep his tax policy secret until after the election.
Today's media gravitate toward distractions like sharks to bloody fish. They seem blinded by it. And media's inability to transcend its lure is most unfortunate. In the end, Mr. Kives' opinion piece in today's Free Press does little more than perpetuate a condition whose symptoms appear endemic.