. Shockingly, the media almost has the power to completely destroy the public’s trust in government. Vietnam and Watergate are two good examples. A good Canadian example is how the media exploited former Solicitor-General Andy Scott when he was in quite a bit of trouble last fall. As such, the media is an incredible force in politics. Also, it seems that the media can some exploit individuals, distort the news, and judge individuals as guilty without fair analysis. The recent "APEC Summit Affair" demonstrates this to a tea. For the purpose of this essay, two forms of the media are used: The newspaper (Evening-Times Globe), and television (CBC). The banner headline of the October eighth issue of the Evening-Times Globe read, in large bold letters: "He lied. Let him sue." Whereas a subhead line in the October seventh issue reads: "Talk Not Cheap: Solicitor General Andy Scott’s chat with a Saint John man has him fighting for his political life." When the CBC reported on the incident, reporters were, at times far from objective, using buzzwords like "The Forces of Darkness". And clips of question period in the House of Commons was all over the news, most of which were scenes of opposition members "grilling" the federal government, Andy Scott, and the Prime Minister. Thus, The PMO sent a long and detailed letter to the CBC. "We have learned that CBC News, through lead journalist Terry Milewski, may from the beginning have had a specific and one-sided agenda on this issue." (PMO Press Office, 1998). George Bain describes the power of Canadian journalists well. "Canadian journalists have always tended to pooh-pooh their influence on public opinion in matters of politics, not out of modesty, heaven forbid, but so as not to have too much invested in case something or someone whom they incautiously endorsed earlier turns out not quite as expected." (Bain, 1994). In short the media will never be the "bad guy". They are a kind of "indes...
