Conference of Defence Associations president's remarks an "ignorant and vitriolic attack," says David Akin

David Akin, Canwest/Global’s National Affairs Correspondent, responded on Friday to the Conference of Defence Association’s attacks against the media for not sufficiently explaining (i.e. selling) the Afghan war to the public.

Akin called CDA Institute president John Scott Cowan’s recent speech, “one of the most ignorant and vitriolic attacks on my profession.”

Akin was blogging about the DND’s foot-dragging in responding to journalists’ inquiries, and noted that the CDA shouldn’t blame the media when the military itself takes months to answer simple questions about Afghanistan.

Still, if some associated with the military want to blame the media [John Scott Cowan, who holds a doctorate in something or other and is the current president of a defence lobby group funded by Department of National Defence, comes to mind for one of the most ignorant and vitriolic attacks on my profession, many of whom are, in fact, risking life and limb in the world’s hot spots precisely to gain a better understanding of what our military men and women are facing every day…. but don’t get me started] when incomplete stories appear in the press, perhaps they ought to ask military officials first what they’re doing about it.

Tags: Conference of Defence Associations, david Akin, Defence lobby