The Citizen, 1987-04-22, Page 4PAGE 4. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1987.
Opinion
Just a taste
of pack journalism
Those in attendance at the luncheon in Seaforth last week
where Premier David Peterson spoke got a chance to get a small
taste of what “pack journalism” is all about.
The Premier trails a stream of print and electronic media
representatives wherever he goes, some from the major Toronto
papers and radio and television stations and some from regional
dailies and television stations.
In this case, once the speeches were over, about a half
dozen reporters descended on Huron-Middlesex M.P.P. Jack
Riddell asking him for his opinion on when an election should be
held. Mr. Riddell is not one to pull off the kind of
obstructification that politicians are famous for and under
questioning he soon broke down and said bluntly that he was in
favour of a June election and that he thought about half the
Liberal caucus felt the same way.
Armed with this tidbit, the big-city reporters tore off after
the Premier, asking him for his reaction to what Mr. Riddell had
just said. With Mr. Riddell saying he was in favour of a June
election they hoped they would put the premier on the spot
about his own plans. Mr. Peterson, however, has learned the
techniques of past-masters like Bill Davis and he wasn’t being
backed into a comer.
While all this was happening, the members of the local
weekly press present could only stand back carefully and hope
not to be run over by their big-city counterparts.
Members of the public present at the meeting luncheon
must have wondered if they were at the same meeting when they
picked up their Friday London Free Press and saw the front
page banner headline dealing with Mr. Riddell’s feelings about
the election. None of what was in the story was in the speeches,
not even hints of it. The media reporters really created the news
not just covered it.
What happened in Seaforth was pretty tame stuff to what
happens in the hallways of the Legislature or Parliament where
dozens of reporters compete to get the story. It does, however,
give those present a first hand hint that in news, what you see
when you are there, ist not always what you get when you turn
on the television or look at the newspaper.
There is some justification in the approach of the reporters.
Events like the Premier’s visit to Huron county are really well
stage-managed “photo opportunities”, a chance to the poli
tician to be seen in a favourable light instead of the harsh light
often given in Question Period. Reporters worry that they are
being maneuvred into being public relations men for the
politician if they simply report what the politician says.
Still, there’s an ethical worry here. Do the reporters by
their actions, set the news agenda instead of just reporting it. If
we see news being manipulated by the reporters first-hand in a
case like this, how much faith do we lose in what we read or see
on the news.
There is a constant struggle between politicians and the
media to keep one from manipulating the other. Those of us who
aren’t directly involved can only hope that most of the time we
get the true picture.
Spreading
immigration around
A recent recommendation by the Ethnocultural Council
that immigration in Canada should be increased to offset a
declining natural growth rate has caused Canadians to take a
new look at immigration.
The Council recommends that by 1990 we should be
having 250,000 immigrants a year coming into the country,
compared to this year’s target of 115-120,000. Others worry
about a possible backlash against immigrations when times are
already tough.
The trouble with immigration in recent years is not so much
the numbers but the concentration of immigrants. The gigantic
post-war immigration of people fleeing the disruption of Post
war Europe saw the impact of immigration spread all across the
country. Here in Huron county we especially benefitted from
the influx of Dutch people who revitalized the farming industry.
In recent years, however, immigration of Italians, Greeks,
Pakistanis and East Indians and Chinese, has concentrated in
the larger cities, and often even in small areas of the cities
changing completely within a fevz short years, the whole feeling
of neighbourhoods and often causing tensions among people not
ready for rapid change.
The side effect also is that problems down the line are being
created because the structure of rural and urban communities is
becoming so radically different It’s too bad the government
can’t find some way of spreading the benefits and problems of
immigration around.
Bushlot Spring: Wake Robin and Dogtooth Violet
By Ray Canon
You may be excused for asking
who Mefistofele is since it is not a
name which I have been constantly
flashing by you in this column. To
be honest I really had no intention
of writing about him until very
recently; I was driving along one
day and as is my custom was
listening to CBC stereo, that gem
of programming. Much to my
surprise the announcer was talking
about the presentation of the opera
“Mefistofele” by Boito and that
set my mind to work. This article is
the outcome.
Those of you (well, the two of
you) who follow my column
faithfully will know that about once
a year, when the mood strikes me. I
let loose with some entertaining
tidbits about opera, ballet and the
like. Last year, if my memory
serves me correctly, 1 was trying to
encourage more people to go to see
an opera or at least to listen to one
of them since they are more
exciting that you might expect.
Many of them would qualify as
soap operas put to music, some
would have made the current
scandal sheets while most of them
have a great deal of memorable
music.
While I have yet to see the
formation of an opera guild in any
of the thriving communities which
takethiscolumn, Idon’tgive up
easily. With the intention of
providing further support for the
spread of opera appreciation in
Ontario, let me provide you with
yet a few more background notes
which I hope whet your appetite.
I recall telling you all about one
of the best known of operas - La
Traviata - by Verdi in which a lady
of middling virtue manages to have
a gentleman fall in love with her.
After a plot which is, in my opinion,
a 19th century version of Knott’s
Landing, the lady manages to solve
the problem of what to do about it
by coming down with that most
popular of fatal diseases, con
sumption, better known as T.B.
While she is in the process of
dying, she manages to sing an aria
in which she tells all and sundry
that she is wasting away to a mere
nothing. Shortly after this astute
observation, she dies.
You think that is all to the story?
Have I got news for you! It seems
that when Verdi first presented the
opera, he had one of his favour
ite sopranos sing the part of the
woman, Violetta. She may or may
not have been the best soprano at
the time; she was far and away the
most corpulent. When the first
performance of La Traviata was
drawing to a close with Verdi in the
audience, his favourite soprano
came to the “wasting away" aria.
It was obvious to the entire
audiencethat Violetta Fullback
was anything but wasted away and
the hoots of derision which greeted
this statement caused consterna
tion in the ranks of the orchestra,
the singer and, lest we forget,
Verdi himself. He was so furious
that he refused to stage “La
Traviata” again for quite a few
years; when he finally did, his
choice of a soprano was consider
ably thinner.
Fine, you may say, but what of
Mefistofele. You may have heard
of Verdi but 1 hazard a guess that
you have never heard of Boito. 1
can’t blame you since, outside of
theoneopera, he didn’t write much
worth mentioning. Opera buffs
may know who Mefistofele, not to
mention followers of that greatest
of German writers, Goethe, but,
just in case you don’t, he was the
right hand man of the devil. When
Faust sold his soul to the devil, it
was Mefistofele who came along to
check up on Faust, just in case he
Continued on page 5
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