Election Day Five: First Day of Overt Pro-Conservative Media Bias

Several items in the news today would rankle a neutral observer hoping for an objective presentation of Canadian election news.

One must be careful not to jump the gun in proclaiming a pro-Conservative bias, as there is a traditional, somewhat justified, prime ministerial benefit-of-the-doubt bestowed upon the country's leader in office and always has been.

But the time has come to call foul. Among several issues presented unfairly in the media today: the so-called "coalition" argument. There is little doubt that most Canadians with any interest at all in the election have seen Stephen Harper's "coalition" ploy completely debunked. Gilles Duceppe pulled out the letter signed by Harper himself where he agreed to an alliance with the Bloc and the NDP just a few years ago in a secret plan to bring down Paul Martin's Liberal government. The pictures of Stephen Harper "in bed" with the "socialists and separatists" were all over the internet and TV. i.e. - the coalition "scare" created by Harper is a non-issue and has been acknowledged as such in most media.

So why does the "coalition" keep coming up on Day 5, but now presented without the corresponding counter-arguments?

For some reason, the media just keeps merrily playing these coalition-scare sound bites, whether from Harper, pollsters, persons-on-the-street, or media commentators, without regard for the fact that objective reasonable people have dismissed the message as flawed and false, based on the evidence shown. Most significantly, they play Harper's take on the coalition subject without balancing it with the super-convincing counterpoints that exist.

Which may explain why Lloyd Robertson looked like he was having trouble convincing himself of the objectivity of certain parts of his script this evening.