The Black Rod

  There is an editor in chief of daily news for CBC News. He is Brodie Fenlon, and he has a blog. Lately he has been whining about the lack of trust from the public in mainstream news outlets. Recently he lamented about the findings of the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer, an annual study of opinion regarding trust in business, government, media and NGOs. The Edelman report found that 49 percent of Canadians agreed "that journalists and reporters are purposely trying to mislead people by saying things they know are false or gross exaggerations." And 52 percent agreed that "most news organizations are more concerned with supporting an ideology or political position that with informing the public." WHYYYYYYYYYYY????  he blubbered. Well, Mr. Fenlon, meet Carol Sanders. On Tuesday Sanders was responsible for  the most shameful example of "new journalism" you could ask for . She generated a story smearing the Freedom Mandate protestors at the Legislature without re...

If you blinked you missed it. Starring Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett and screen veteran Robert Redford, the movie titled "Truth" came and went and nobody noticed. Despite opening in more than 1100 theatres, this certified stinkeroo, which cost $9.6 million to make, has grossed barely $2.5 million. So why mention it? Because its the celluloid apologia for Rathergate, the infamous scandal where CBS tried to influence the 2004 American presidential election by smearing George Bush with a phony story on 60 Minutes (Wednesday edition) hosted by Dan Rather.   When the documents used by Rather to attack George Bush proved to be fraudulent, show producer Mary Mapes was fired and Dan Rather's career was over.   The only thing left behind was the mantra adopted by bad reporters everywhere: the evidence is false, but the story is true. The real heroes of Rathergate were the bloggers and internet commenters who rose up together to take the false story apart, line b...

Let's sum up the reaction to the Winnipeg Firehalls audit: *  Calls for a police investigation. The Taxpayers Federation has suggested the Winnipeg police or RCMP be involved.  The union that represents Winnipeg police added its voice to the idea, but says the RCMP should do it to avoid any hint of political interference. *  Outside lawyers being brought in to take a second look at whether the audit indicates any illegal activity beyond the unethical preferential treatment that was uncovered. “I think that there (are) lingering questions that need to be answered,” said Coun. Scott Fielding, the chairman of the city's standing policy committee on protection and community services. *  Renewed calls for the creation of an Ethics Commissioner for Winnipeg *  Calls from other councillors -- and thousands of Winnipeggers -- for Mayor Sam Katz to quit *  A plea from one city councillor, at least, for the province to intervene. A...

Snap! Did unrepentant provocateur Gordon Warren just spring a trap on Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz and his pal Sandy Shindleman? Damned if he didn't. And did he bait the trap with unsuspecting reporters and bloggers (yes, like us)? It seems (sob) like he did. The Mayor and his supporters must have been chortling at the news Wednesday that Shindleman and his brother Robert have launched a lawsuit against Warren for defamation. But the suit is just a smokescreen to disguise Shindleman's true goal---to crush blogger and pamphleteer Gordon Warren into the dust for the Jewish community of Winnipeg. Warren first earned their ire six months ago by circulating posters attacking alleged corruption at City Hall manifested by "untendered contracts and shady land deals" which benefited or involved 13 of Mayor Katz's associates, whom he listed. That had them running in circles like a yapping pack of chihuahuas howling about anti-semitism. But there was o...

Infuriating tales of board mismanagement and government malfeasance that cost taxpayers more than $70 million peppered a recent update on the jinxed Canadian Museum for Human Rights by Heritage Minister James Moore. Only a tiny audience of 16 showed up to hear Moore at the Winnipeg Free Press News Cafe, and it's hard to say how many could separate the eye-opening inside stories from the pure falsehoods being peddled to justify the federal government's blank cheque to save the failed project from insolvency. One person who certainly needs to listen to the interview with Moore http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Heritage-Minister-James-Moore-dropping-into-News-Cafe-Wednesday--169332836.html is Canada's auditor general who should be curious about questionable, if not fraudulent, government spending on the CMHR. Moore started by floating the idea that there were two main reasons why the budget for the museum has ballooned from $265 m...