Media blurs line between news and propaganda

So, we fell for it. Again. I’m talking about the media’s collective fawning over a photo of former U.S. president Barack Obama and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau taken at Liverpool House in Montreal’s Little Burgundy. It shows the two friends sitting across from one another at the table, jackets off, sleeves rolled up, engaged in conversation, enjoying a casual dinner.

The story behind the shot: Obama was in Montreal last week to deliver a sold-out keynote speech at the Palais des congrès. Word got out that he was headed to Notre-Dame Street afterward to catch a bite with Trudeau. Throngs of people made their way to the street hoping to catch a glimpse of the two men who shared a hug before heading inside to eat.

I hear they tried the restaurant’s lobster spaghetti, oysters, halibut with mushrooms, rib steak and asparagus. I’m told they washed it all down with Ontario chardonnay. I see that they sat at a table near the bar. I now know it is the prime minister’s favourite table in the joint.

I have no idea what they talked about.

The content of their conversation shouldn’t matter. Obama is no longer president of the United States. That job belongs to Donald Trump. Obama was in town for a private (and lucrative) speaking engagement hosted by the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal.

So what’s the problem? Well, later that night, the aforementioned photo was sent out onto social media from the prime minister’s official accounts. It was accompanied by the following text: “How do we get young leaders to take action in their communities? Thanks @BarackObama for your visit & insights tonight in my hometown.”

The public swooned and the media ate it up, as this media-savvy PMO knew it would. It made the pages of major news outlets around the country and the world. Canada’s national broadcaster, the CBC, even branded it the “Liverpool House Summit.”

Allow me to add my name to the growing chorus of people who are becoming uncomfortable with the way the media fawn over every photo the Liberal government releases.

If you really mean to have a private dinner, you don’t take two of the most photogenic, recognizable political figures on the planet to one of the hottest restaurants in town, after one of the hottest events in town, with a personal photographer in tow.

This is not the place to talk about Obama’s accomplishments and failures as president, but let me point out the obvious. By any metric, Obama stands in stark contrast to his successor. He conducts himself with grace and dignity. He’s a masterful, eloquent orator. Obama and Trudeau share a genuinely strong and relaxed relationship, a human representation of what you’d want the Canada-U.S. relationship to be. You know it and I know it. The PMO definitely knows it, which is why this public relations moment was orchestrated in the first place. Donald Trump is a boor and a bully who can barely string together a coherent sentence. Under his leadership, the U.S.-Canada relationship is strained.

But Trump is an erratic, insecure man obsessed with his public image. He demands loyalty and punishes those who do not comply. The Canadian government must not play his passive-aggressive games, but we still have to manage the relationship as best we can. Was circulating this photo in the best interest of Canada right now? Or was it in the service of the Liberal’s political brand? There is a big difference between political propaganda and news. When the media blur the lines between the two, it allows themselves to be manipulated, thereby undermining public trust in one of its primary roles in a democracy: Asking the difficult questions and holding government to account.