Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his cabinet and caucus are famous for their distrust of the media and their subsequent inaccessibility. He has that minority government thing going, and seems to be in a constant state of damage prevention.
Recent developments on the provincial front have members of our newsroom wishing for a similar attitude among provincial politicians, especially those in opposition. Saskatchewan politicians know exactly when the next election is, and it seems that knowledge has them in, "Gosh! There just a little over a year left! We'd better get cracking!"
Cracking translates into ringing the newsroom phone.
Not a week goes by that we don't receive a call from the NDP, offering us the opportunity to interview Opposition leader Dwain Lingenfelter on any number of topics ranging from health care to potash. This is a community newspaper. We try to be polite and open to anyone who calls. Our motto, after all, is "Everybody has a story." We have a hard time saying, "no."
We're polite, however, not naïve. If we were to receive a call accusing us of being a mouthpiece for the NDP, we'd likely hang our heads and admit to being used. Our staff has diligently attempted to have cabinet ministers on the government side of the house respond to Lingenfelter's critcisms, but with little or no success.
Recently we've detected a slight shift. Two calls have come in recently from the government side offering interviews with ministers connected to recently announced initiatives. Perhaps the Sask. Party media hacks are catching on to Lingenfelter's saturation campaign.
At least we can now take some solace in knowing we are being used by both sides. It's going to be a long year.
