Voters don't like Harper's secretive media strategy: poll

Good. Glad to know that Canadians still have clear eyes.

Of those who have heard of the PMO-Parliamentary Press Gallery dispute, 67% blame it on the PMO

The Hill Times - Although the Prime Minister's ongoing war with the Parliamentary Press Gallery is mostly unknown among the public, voters are concerned about media access on the Hill and the issue could damage the government's image among key swing voters if the issue were to become widely known, a new poll for The Hill Times shows.

The poll, by Innovative Research Group, found that only 24% of respondents are aware of the war for media access between the PMO and the Parliamentary Press Gallery, but among those who are familiar with the dispute–including swing voters and Tory supporters–they side with the media, not the PMO.

"This is an inside the beltway issue, which is good for the Prime Minister," Greg Lyle, managing director at Innovative Research, said in an interview. "But the fact is that the Prime Minister is losing the fight among those who are paying attention."

The poll results show that the Prime Minister's strategy of avoiding the national media is not going to come back to him politically–so long as the issue remains under the radars of most Canadians. However, they also show that, contrary to what Conservatives have said, the public is concerned about media access to the federal government in Ottawa.

"It's not that they're particularly fond of the media, but they think they have an important role, even if they don't do a perfect job at it, and that the Prime Minister should find a way to accommodate them," Lyle said.

Lyle pointed out that among swing voters, or the "non-aligned" electorate, 53% of those who heard of the dispute said they view the government as "more secretive than previous governments" and only 5% said the government is "more open." Those who had not heard of the dispute responded more favourably, with 24% saying they view the government as more secretive and 15% saying the government is more open than previous governments.

Overall, 46% of the 1,067 people polled said that the Conservative government is "more secretive" than previous governments, 34% said the government is about the same, and 15% said the Tories are "more open."

Of all respondents who had heard of the dispute–a sample of 272 people nationally–67% said they place the blame on the PMO, 18% blame the press gallery, and 15% said they don't know.

The dispute between the PMO and press gallery is now long standing. After the Conservative government won power in January 2006, the Prime Minister's Office cancelled post-Cabinet meeting scrums with journalists, stopped taking questions at photo-ops and restricted cameras from accessing the third floor of Centre Block when Cabinet meetings are taking place. Cabinet meetings now go on unannounced on the Hill and it is easier for ministers to avoid the national press.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) does not use the National Press Theatre, where the press gallery controls the news conferences and the order of questioners. Instead, he has avoided the national media on Hill, where news conferences have become unusual if not rare events. At news conferences outside of Ottawa, the PMO controls the agenda and selects who asks the questions. National reporters say they are baffled by a PMO that appears to have contempt for the Parliamentary Press Gallery and whose controlling media strategy does not make sense.

"Those people who are aware can see that something's not right," Richard 'the Badger' Brennan, the press gallery president, said in an interview last week. "I've argued this in the past. Everybody's reluctant to write stories about this stalemate, because they all thought it looked like whining. I can understand that, but it isn't whining. All we're trying to do is inform the public, period. We're not whining. This is the way conditions are."

The Prime Minister has referred to the national media as acting like an official opposition and having a liberal bias. However, contrary to that view, the poll also found that the public does not view the media, generally, as having a bias. Rather, 55% of respondents said Conservative or Liberal biases depend on the media outlet, and 18% said "there is no consistent bias" in the media. Only 13% said the news media favour the Liberals and only eight% said the Conservatives.

"We live in a bubble up in Ottawa and outside that not too many people are paying attention," Brennan said. "But I say that with some reservation because I think more and more people are paying attention. Ordinary folks who I know, who have no interest in federal politics, have mentioned to me, 'What is this all about with the press gallery and the Prime Minister?' They may not know much about it, but they know there's something not right."

In addition, 36% of respondents agreed with the statement that "the members of the national media are too full of themselves and are over-reacting in this dispute," with which 23% disagreed.

At the same time, 66% of respondents agreed with the statement that "the media are the public's eyes on the government, and therefore the Prime Minister should be more responsive to the needs of the media," with which 16% disagreed. Similarly, 57% of all respondents agreed with the statement that the PM's "fight with the national media leaves me questioning whether he is really committed to openness in government," with which 18% disagreed.

"The public does see the media as their eyes on the Prime Minister and they do expect the Prime Minister to be open to them. So, overall, this looks like an uphill struggle for him," Lyle said.

Innovative Research surveyed 1,067 members of a national polling panel between May 31 and June 4. The sample sizes for swing voters and Conservatives supporters were 97 and 240 respectively, so that although these samples are significantly smaller than the national sample of 1,067, a clear pattern emerges, showing that those who have heard of the dispute side with the media and view the government as more secretive.

For instance, Lyle noted that only about 25% of Tory supporters are paying attention to the issue, "but among those who are aware, this is not good." Among Tory supporters who have not heard of the dispute, only 11% said the Conservative government is more secretive than past governments. However, that number increases to 27% among Tory supporters who heard of the dispute. "It goes from being a strength to treading water in their own base," Lyle said.

Although voters want the media to have access to the PM, at the same time they do not trust the media. The poll found that significant portion–67% of respondents–said they trust only "some of what" they see in the news media, and 26% said they trust most of what they see. 6% said they trust none of what they see.

Peter Donolo, former communications director to prime minister Jean Chrétien and now an adviser at the Strategic Counsel in Toronto, said that any problems for Harper as a result of his media strategy are less likely to come from the opinions of voters than they are from the reporting of the national media.

"My view was always that the fight wasn't harmful to him because Canadians would take the side of the media. It's more that it poisons the messengers," Donolo said, adding that the recent media pile-on over the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan seemed like a press gallery looking to make amends.

"While it may be kind of under the radar screens of most Canadians, a vast majority of Canadians, it doesn't mean that it doesn't have an effect. What's happening is that the media, they find ways to pay you back. Where they might have given the government some slack or the benefit of the doubt, they didn't."

The Prime Minister's Press Office did not respond to a request for comment on the poll.