In 'N Out BurgerGate: Which Media Members Weren't Invited?

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HarperVille


OK.

We all know who was invited to yesterday's private press poodle party.

But, more to the point, aren't we really more interested in who wasn't?

Invited, I mean.

Because, clearly, those would be the folks HarperCons figure are NOT the water carriers/poodles.

Here's how the Canadian Press originally had it:

The Canadian Press, the CBC, Maclean's, the Globe and Mail and the Halifax Chronicle Herald were among those who were not invited to the party's briefing at a downtown hotel.


Which is pretty much what you might expect.

Except that Kady O'Malley, she who so was NOT invited herself, but who clearly enjoyed the chance to scrum Mike Duffy regardless, also had this little extra tidbit:

"I can confirm that macleans.ca was most emphatically not welcome on the voyage. However, being unable to take a hint, we wound up hanging out in the hallway outside the backup briefing room - hastily arranged after word of the first meeting was leaked - with various other uninvited media guests: CBC, Canadian Press, and the Halifax Chronicle Herald and CanWest News,......."


Say what?

CanWest wasn't invited to the party the Capistrano sparrows after all?

Hmmmmmm.......How come?

Well, Ms. O'Malley doesn't come right out and say it, but she does say this:

".....and CanWest News, which had, in fact, originally been on the list, but was abruptly disinvited when the Conservatives realized who had been sent to cover the story."

So, who was sent that was found to be so unacceptable by the HarperCons?

Well, Ms. O'Malley doesn't explicitly say that either, but later in an update to her post she does say this:

UPDATE: The consistently awesome David Akin, now of CanWest, managed to get his hands on the warrant, even though he wasn't on the invite list, and it sounds as though the details may be well worth the wait.


Interesting that, don't you think.

Because if CanWest was, indeed, shut out because they've hired a digger to replace a poodle, doesn't that say something pretty important about what Mr. Stephen Harper really thinks of one of the central tenets of a true liberal democracy?

Sheesh.

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We've had our own encounter with Mr. Akin too, back when he was still working for BellGlobeGTVTSNCHUMMedia. And after everything was said and done we didn't even have to scuttle down a fire escape to make our getaway.
One last thing - while I still read Ms. O'Malley's blog everyday, Mr. Akin's is gaining on hers, fast. And, best of all, he still allows comments. This, though, well......it smells like tag-teaming and that is a very, very, very good thing indeed.
PhotoSource: Tom Hannon of the CP (not acceptable) via the Globe and Mail (also unacceptable).

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