Ford evades real scrutiny by hiring his own reporter
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it appears Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford has vastly upgraded his opinion of reporters and the news media.
In his former incarnation as Toronto city councillor, Ford called reporters trying to hold his mayor brother, Rob, to account “sucky little kids” who “lie through their teeth.” But look! Here he is, about to set out on the June 7 campaign trail, and how has he chosen to frame himself as a transparent candidate willing to be held to account?
In TV news-style videos on Facebook that have a PC apparatchik pretend to be a reporter while Ford pretends to present himself for media scrutiny.
Whatever one makes of the Ford Nation Live sham, it does say something about the merit of real journalism.
Ford is a candidate who has broken with tradition and declined to have a media bus accompany him while he campaigns. He ducks reporters at most every turn. He has offered Ontarians next to nothing by way of a platform.
So how does he seek to camouflage that evasiveness?
By using the frame of traditional news coverage — without, of course, the fact-checking and accountability — to establish credibility. This exercise is the very definition of fake news. Fake news is not, as many think, mere errors in reporting. Journalism is practised by human beings. By definition, there will be errors. The moreso because it is a craft practised in modern times with shrinking staffs feeding ever more platforms at ever faster pace.
But journalism has codes of conduct, standards and mechanisms of accountability.
Its first obligation is to the truth. Its first loyalty is to citizens. It is a discipline of verification. Its errors are admitted and corrected as soon as possible.
Fake news is the intentional production and publication, for self-serving, misleading or malevolent ends, of material that is untrue or untested.
Whether he knew it or not, Ford chose an auspicious time to embark on this charade.
Last Thursday, journalists marked World News Day, celebrating the power of journalism to change lives, communities, business and government.
The day also commemorated those journalists who have in recent years been killed during or for the practice of their craft.
For all Doug Ford’s insults, journalists around the world have put their lives on the line while he declines to even take questions — other, perhaps, than the softballs served up by an employee.
Ford’s ad campaign attempts to win for himself the credibility that comes to a candidate willing to be questioned on the details, intent, purpose and potential consequences of his or her plans.
That credibility properly accrues from a willingness to have character, competence and ability to think and perform under pressure tested.
To be sure, political campaigns have been ever more staged and controlled in recent generations — with genuine public exposure limited and words tightly scripted to cast the candidate in an almost supernatural light.
The official PC campaign ads say, for instance, that “Doug Ford is here for the people of Ontario — to clean up the hydro mess, to bring jobs back, to end hallway health care, to put money back in your pocket, and to restore accountability in government.”
It would be a service to the people of Ontario he purports to respect if reporters could spend some time asking Ford to explain how that string of impressive promises might actually be achieved.
Voters deserve the opportunity to kick the tires on any vehicle they’re being offered. Instead, Ford appears interested only in having his tires pumped by fawning underlings.
In short, these Facebook videos amount to Ford placing around his neck the gold medal for winning a race he declines to actually run.
The only consolation is his implicit recognition of the value and virtue of real reporters on the job.
To paraphrase Sally Fields, he may not like us, but he respects us. He really respects us. (This editorial was published May 6 in the Toronto Star and distributed by The Canadian Press.)