Thursday, December 18, 2008

alberta government quietly acknowledges that the globe and mail is, in fact, the globe and mail.

Following up from last week's post on the same topic, I was very interested to read this...
Earlier this month, a spokesperson for Premier Ed Stelmach was insistent that the newspaper is the Toronto Globe and Mail — a clear jab at a publication that’s often criticized for being Toronto-centric. Ironically, the government used the incorrect name on a new website aimed at correcting inaccurate media reports about the province. Says the For the Record site: “All media outlets make mistakes, on occasion. Unfortunately, not all media outlets have a policy or forum to correct their mistakes.”

The government was considerably less worried about its own glaring error. “It’s the Toronto Globe and Mail. Don’t kid yourself,” said Stelmach spokesperson Tom Olsen in an interview after the mistake was pointed out. “We don’t see that as an error. We see The Globe and Mail as the Toronto Globe and Mail.”


Olsen, a former columnist for the Calgary Herald, didn’t say whether or not “we don’t see that as an error” is a good corrections policy for media outlets to emulate.


But presto! As soon as Fast Forward ran a story about the obvious mistake on the anti-mistake website, the error quietly disappeared. The word “Toronto” is now gone, and the newspaper’s correct title remains. Absent from the page is any mention of the error.
(h/t Jeremy Klaszus)

4 comments:

  1. What utter nonsense and BS!

    The G&M is a Canadian newspaper, not a Toronto-centric one.

    In fact, there are separate Edmonton and Calgary edition of the newspaper, with most of the Toronto news removed and replaced by news from Alberta. Whenever I go online to see the full content, I am always surprised how much of the Eastern Canadian content is actually "bowdlerized" from the Alberta editions.

    Ed is a silly farmer who should have stuck with his pigs. This big world of politics -- and THINKING WITH ONE'S BRAIN -- is something he simply isn't cut out for.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bastard out of StettlerDecember 19, 2008 at 7:51 AM

    As long as there are cute interns to bang, Tom Olsen will be lurking around.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Werner, the comment was Tom Olsen's not Ed Stelmach's. And what the hell does being a farmer (pig or otherwise) have to do with anything? Being a successful farmer requires one to be knowledgeable about agriculture, finance, grain markets, etc. this is your second pig farmer comment in a week. some childhood trauma we should know about? If you don't have anything intelligent to add, then why don't you just shove a cork in it?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think there is a greater demand for pig farmers (farmers of all kinds really) and other small businesspeople than self-declared "pundits" like Herr Weiner (not a typo)

    You might be a one-man show Werner, but I'm going to go on a limb and say that Ed is probably not writing scripts for his communications people. What next, someone forgets to water the plants at the Leg and it is Ed's fault?

    Keep looking Werner. You've probably ran through all of the major parties in terms of advocating your support at one point, but maybe you'll deign to look at the Marijuana Party or the Marxist-Lenists.

    Daveberta's got his own misguided (IMO) axe to grind, but the difference(s) are 1 - some people actually read his stuff, and 2 - usually when he's not wearing his Alberta Liberal Party hat on his blog, he makes some good points.

    ReplyDelete