dforthandbview
Senior Member
Reporting facts about Fords can get tricky
By Jackson Proskow
I work in the business of facts.
Unlike the supermarket tabloids, reporters live or die by their reputation. You won’t get far by getting things wrong, or worse, making them up. Sorry, Wolfboy.
The problem is, those basic tenets of journalism put the media in an awkward state of conflict with Rob Ford and his brother Doug, who so often play fast and loose with the truth. (This, by the way, is fact.)
Almost daily we have to figure out how to report on two politicians who, when asked to account for their behaviour or claims, often resort to personal attacks on reporters instead of answering the questions.
I experienced it first hand when Doug Ford used the brothers’ weekly radio show to accuse me of “ambushing†him for an interview, the day The Globe and Mail reported allegations he was a hash dealer in high school.
In reality, while I did show up unannounced at the family business, there was no chase, and everything that followed was done with Doug’s consent. I found Doug sitting in his car outside. I spoke to him politely, and he invited me to come in for a 15 minute sit-down interview. During the interview he responded to questions about his own past with drugs by accusing me of doing drugs. The facts would tell you there was no ambush here, and also no answers.
The Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale has had it so much worse. Accused of being a pedophile by the mayor, accused of peering over the mayor’s fence, accused of hiding in the bushes and taking pictures of the family home. Dale has said repeatedly that this is all categorically untrue. Police investigated and agree. Yet Rob and Doug continue to spread their version of events as gospel. There can be no reason for this, other than to damage the reputation of a reporter who was simply investigating and reporting the facts.
As the mayor has said of his own investigation by police â€If I’ve done something illegal, I’ve told the police to arrest me.†Curiously he does not expect Daniel Dale, who was investigated and cleared of any wrongdoing by police, to be held to the same standard. Why would he?
The unfortunate reality is that facts only matter if they are believed. There are still people who don’t believe the mayor ever smoked crack (which, is a fact that he himself has admitted to). Faced with the truth, bluster is a powerful tool at which the Fords are incredibly adept at using.
The sad thing is, this unfairly creates the perception of a war between the Fords and the press. From the outside it looks like us versus them.
I can assure you that it simply not true. It has never been personal.
Faced with the fact that my job puts me at odds with the Fords, I will continue to hold the brothers to the same standard as any other elected official. No more, no less. We worry about the facts. If that means calling out a lie, or a distortion of the facts we will, because, that’s what any reporter would do. Even if sometimes the facts are messy.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1023387/reporting-facts-about-fords-can-get-tricky/
By Jackson Proskow
I work in the business of facts.
Unlike the supermarket tabloids, reporters live or die by their reputation. You won’t get far by getting things wrong, or worse, making them up. Sorry, Wolfboy.
The problem is, those basic tenets of journalism put the media in an awkward state of conflict with Rob Ford and his brother Doug, who so often play fast and loose with the truth. (This, by the way, is fact.)
Almost daily we have to figure out how to report on two politicians who, when asked to account for their behaviour or claims, often resort to personal attacks on reporters instead of answering the questions.
I experienced it first hand when Doug Ford used the brothers’ weekly radio show to accuse me of “ambushing†him for an interview, the day The Globe and Mail reported allegations he was a hash dealer in high school.
In reality, while I did show up unannounced at the family business, there was no chase, and everything that followed was done with Doug’s consent. I found Doug sitting in his car outside. I spoke to him politely, and he invited me to come in for a 15 minute sit-down interview. During the interview he responded to questions about his own past with drugs by accusing me of doing drugs. The facts would tell you there was no ambush here, and also no answers.
The Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale has had it so much worse. Accused of being a pedophile by the mayor, accused of peering over the mayor’s fence, accused of hiding in the bushes and taking pictures of the family home. Dale has said repeatedly that this is all categorically untrue. Police investigated and agree. Yet Rob and Doug continue to spread their version of events as gospel. There can be no reason for this, other than to damage the reputation of a reporter who was simply investigating and reporting the facts.
As the mayor has said of his own investigation by police â€If I’ve done something illegal, I’ve told the police to arrest me.†Curiously he does not expect Daniel Dale, who was investigated and cleared of any wrongdoing by police, to be held to the same standard. Why would he?
The unfortunate reality is that facts only matter if they are believed. There are still people who don’t believe the mayor ever smoked crack (which, is a fact that he himself has admitted to). Faced with the truth, bluster is a powerful tool at which the Fords are incredibly adept at using.
The sad thing is, this unfairly creates the perception of a war between the Fords and the press. From the outside it looks like us versus them.
I can assure you that it simply not true. It has never been personal.
Faced with the fact that my job puts me at odds with the Fords, I will continue to hold the brothers to the same standard as any other elected official. No more, no less. We worry about the facts. If that means calling out a lie, or a distortion of the facts we will, because, that’s what any reporter would do. Even if sometimes the facts are messy.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1023387/reporting-facts-about-fords-can-get-tricky/
