The DND-funded Conference of Defence Associations is still looking for nominations for its annual Ross Munro Media Award. As I noted earlier, a lot of journalists are not so sure they even want an award from a group so close to the government, and whose president recently let fly a bitter attack on journalists for […]
Archive | August, 2008
Tighter U.S. grip binds Canadians
I contributed to this report in today’s Toronto Star. – Steve ANALYSIS Aug 09, 2008 04:30 AM Tighter U.S. grip binds Canadians Thomas Walkom National Affairs Columnist More shakeups in the Afghan war. The New York Times reports that the U.S. has decided to merge American and NATO troops under one command. Technically, NATO would […]
New helicopters for Afghanistan no guarantee of soldiers' safety
I contributed to this CTV news report today on the government’s acquisition of helicopters for Afghanistan. When our report on Canadian casualties was released in 2006, many people felt that helicopters would save lives. But as I did then, today I pointed out that helicopters are vulnerable too, and many coalition troops have been killed […]
Defence lobby (still) at odds with Canadian public
This letter was published in the Ottawa Citizen on August 11, 2008. Senator Kenny’s report calling for massive increases to military spending is further evidence that committees and groups and that comprise the defence lobby are increasingly at odds with the Canadian public. A government survey this year confirmed that Canadians want the budget to […]
CDA says media give new depth to word ‘shallow'
THE HILL TIMES, MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 2008 13 CDA says media give new depth to word ‘shallow’ By STEVEN STAPLES CDA’s John Scott Cowan recently criticized the ‘narcissism of a portion of the media’ but Steven Staples says it’s a trend in the discourse of defence lobby groups to blame the media if public opinion […]