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Contributors
Cliff Kincaid- Contributor
Cliff Kincaid, serves as editor of the Accuracy
in Media (AIM)
Report. A veteran journalist and media critic, Cliff has
appeared on the Fox News programs Hannity & Colmes and
The O'Reilly Factor, where he debated O'Reilly on global
warming, the death penalty,
and the homosexual agenda. He was a guest co-host on CNN's Crossfire
(filling in for Pat Buchanan) in the 1980s, where he confronted
the then-Libyan Ambassador to the U.N. with evidence of Libyan
involvement in international terrorism. Through his America's
Survival, Inc., organization (www.usasurvival.org), he has been
an advocate on behalf of the families of victims of terrorism
and has published reports and held conferences critical of the
United Nations. His articles have appeared in the Washington
Post, Washington Times, Chronicles, Human Events, Insight, and
other publications. He served on the staff of Human Events for
several years and was an editorial writer and newsletter editor
for former National Security Council staffer Oliver North at
his Freedom Alliance educational foundation. He has written or
co-authored nine books on media and cultural affairs and foreign
policy issues. Cliff is married and has three sons.[go to
Kincaid index]
 Captain
Gives No Quarter
U.S. Blog Blows Open Canadian Corruption Scandal…
[Cliff Kincaid] 5/23/05
In one of
the most dramatic stories to date of blogger influence, an
American
blogger listed the details of inflammatory testimony
in a Canadian government corruption case—testimony that
was under a publication ban enacted by the judge. Soon the blogger’s
website was inundated with hundreds of thousands of hits from
Canadians hungry for information, but shut out of the story by
the ban. It was a unique case of a lone blogger disseminating
information the media were unable to publish.
Ed Morrissey,
the writer of Captain’s Quarters blog,
started reporting on the testimony on April 2 in an entry titled “Canada's
Corruption Scandal Breaks Wide Open.” The political scandal
involved allegations of bribery, kickbacks and illegal campaign
financing to the tune of tens of millions of dollars which found
their way into liberal party coffers. Canada’s Prime Minister
Paul Martin appointed the Gomery
Commission to
investigate the charges and determine whether to bring charges
against government officials. (Morrissey recommended the blog Small
Dead Animals for “excellent
background” on the case.)
Most of the
testimony in the case had been public, but Judge Gomery instituted
a
publication ban on the testimony of three
key witnesses. Blogger Morrissey managed to get a contact at
the trial, which was later reported to be a Canadian journalist.
Wrote Morrissey: “The potential damage of their testimony
has so unnerved the Liberal Party that they have reportedly started
working towards a snap election so that they will not have to
face the voters once the facts surface from the record.”
He added. “If
the Gomery Commission can corroborate Brault, [one of the witnesses
whose testimony was under the ban] then
the reek of corruption goes through all levels of the Liberal
party and may explain their ability to out-campaign the Conservatives.
After all, they've siphoned off hundreds of millions of government
dollars to promote their own party and to guarantee their monopoly
on power. They hijacked the Canadian tax base to fund their own
campaigns and hide the financial trail.”
Canadian
journalists at first were in a quandary as to how to report
on Morrissey’s revelations. They themselves had
been at the trial and indicated while incomplete, Morrissey’s
information was accurate, and they knew Canadians were dying
to know more. CBC Television chose to report Morrissey’s
web address, so that interested Canadians could get the information
without the CBC violating the ban. Soon Captain’s Quarters
crashed, under the stampede of hundreds of thousands of Canadians
kept in the dark about the testimony.
Bob Cox,
night editor of the Toronto newspaper, The Globe and Mail told
media, “There was a great desire amongst Canadians
for the information. As a Canadian journalist, I can tell you
it’s frustrating,” Cox said. "Every Canadian
with a computer can sit down and read it, but we can't publish
it. We’re kind of envious that he [Morrissey] can do this.”
Linda Seebach
writing in the Nashua Telegraph noted that “There’s
been hardly any coverage of what the Canadians call “AdScam” in
the U.S. press, although something that could cause the Canadian
government to fall ought to be of interest to that country’s
southern neighbor.” And on Morrissey she comments, “Are
bloggers journalists?
Sure, when
they do journalism, and Ed Morrissey, “Captain
Ed” at the Web log called Captain’s Quarters, sure
was doing journalism when he blew open a Canadian corruption
scandal that was under a judicial publication ban in Canada.”
While insightful
journalists have previously suggested no one yet can judge
the future path
and potential influence of citizen
journalism and blogging, here is a truly unique incident whereby
a blogger was able to inform the public when all of Canadian
media was under a publication ban. In this instance, the flexibility
and quick moves of a one-man operation trumped what all major
media were able to do in Canada. It’s reminiscent of cases
where ham radio operators have disseminated crucial information
during natural disasters and political crises—information
unavailable by other means. tRO
copyright
2005 Accuracy in Media
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