A Fascinating Peek Into The Gears Of The McGregor and Maher Machine

SometimesDigressionsReallyDoMatter
ExpositionVille



I've been reading Ottawa Citizen reporter Glen McGregor's blog for awhile now (i.e. pre-Robocalls).

In fact, I really enjoyed it when he called himself 'Sushiboy' and ran the thing on an amateur platform like the rest of us.

Now he's got a proBlog and, while he doesn't post as meanderingly (read: interestingly) or as often, there is still good stuff there.

Today he offers insight on how complicated stories, one of which he wrote recently based on investigative digging he did together with Postmedia's Stephen Maher, are often misunderstood/misinterpreted by one's readers.

So he takes a Mulligan and tries again.

Here is McSushiboy's (b)lede:

"My Postmedia colleague Stephen Maher and I have written about 40 stories on robocalls and related issues since news of the Elections Canada investigation broke on February 23rd.

Each one deals with a complicated topic with lots of legal implications, so we try to explain each new development as clearly as we can, with as much precision as possible, while taking great caution to avoid conclusions that might wrongly implicate someone.

Sometimes, however, we don’t do such a great job and the point of the story gets lost in the details. Today’s instalment is one example.

After reading a lot of comment boards and Twitter chatter, I realized that many readers — and even some headline writers from our chain — are reaching incorrect conclusions based on the story.

I’ll take the blame for that, as I wrote an admittedly clumsy lede that would have been even more confusing if my editor, Andrew Potter, hadn’t demuxed it a bit. But still, some seem to think our story speaks to the guilt or innocence of workers from the campaign of Guelph Conservative Party candidate Marty Burke and/or the Conservative Party of Canada.

Let me give this another try…"

The gist of the thing?

Well, the fact that the bills from Rogers Communications that the M. Burke campaign supplied to the Elections Canada have account numbers that do not match those sent to the person or persons in charge of the IP address used by the so-called Pierre Poutine does say anything about 'involvement' or 'non-involvement' of anyone, regardless their political affiliation (or not).

Importantly, E-Canada has the subscriber information regarding the account linked to the IP address used by Poutine, while McGregor and Maher do not. Thus, the latter cannot, and have not, written anything definitive on the matter.

But that's just my interpretation.

Go read Mr. McGregor's entire/complete story of what he really wants people to know based on what he, himself, actually/for sure knows.

On a blog.



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It's an interesting way to go about things, eh....In fact, it's kind of like what H. Caulfield wanted....You know, when he mentioned that he'd like to be able to call up the author of something interesting to find out what he or she really thought about the thing...Personally, that's all I ever want from a reporter who knows stuff - to find out what they really think....In fact, if I was going to be really forthcoming here, I think that may be why I give a couple of the local pundits such a hard time on these here pixels - because sometimes I am convinced they are not telling us what they really think...Now I know, based on what little I know about how the journalism business actually works, that things can't go that way all the time (or even most of the time), but on things that really matter, when the reporter/pundit really does know what is really going on/went down....Well?

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