G&M: CBC's military obsession just feels creepy

[Danjanou]

I don't know why we're taking Doyle seriously...

Agreed.

Like I said earlier he’s the frickin TV critic. I’m sure all we’re doing here is further inflating his already obese ego. I can just see him on the festive non denominational PC cocktail party run by the TO left wing elites this week. “Those uniformed Neanderthals are calling names over on their web site, oh and yes I’ll have another glass of Chardonnay.”

He’s had his 15 minutes of fame, and then some; let him fade back into obscurity.



Unless of course someone actually gets invited to one of those Rosedale or Annex shin digs then feels free to hand him a Christmas Throat Punch.  >

 

[Infanteer]

I wonder if Mr Doyle would have considered the media coverage of the Second World War creepy and militaristic?  His allusion of countries with dictatorships is a red herring and in extremely poor taste - if he's trying to make some connection between Chile under Pinochet and Canada today, he better make more of a case than soldiers on the news....  :

 

[Edward Campbell]

This, from today’s (19 Dec 06) Ottawa Citizen (reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act) should tell even Gilles Duceppe and the Globe and Mail’s John Doyle why a combat operation is a necessary precursor to development and diplomacy and why we need soldiers in Afghanistan.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=368d29bb-a785-4669-9c7e-700155144307&k=15869

Taliban execute 26 male Afghans

Brian Hutchinson, CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, December 19, 2006

PANJWAII DISTRICT, Afghanistan - As many as 26 local Afghan men were executed by the Taliban yesterday and their headless bodies put on public display around a local village, in a morbid attempt to dissuade other civilians here from assisting NATO and Afghan national security forces operating in the area, coalition sources have told CanWest News Service.

Hopes have been shattered that the Taliban would "pack up" and leave their traditional stronghold in Panjwaii District, 30 kilometres west of Khandahar city, says a local Afghan source, adding that NATO officials have been informed of the mass execution.

But Canadian military officials in Kandahar seemed unaware of the event and could not comment early Tuesday morning.

The Afghan source told CanWest News Service that 26 men between the ages of 20 and 30 were executed by the Taliban yesterday at about 4 PM, local time.

Their heads were removed and their bodies were hanged from trees in and around Bazar Talukan, a small agrarian village approximately 10 kilometres from Route Summit, a road building project in Panjwaii District that represents a front line in the coalition's ongoing battle with the Taliban.

"The bodies are still hanging there," the source said on Tuesday morning. "The Taliban is controlling area and they won't let the civilians bury the dead and put them to rest. They put letters on the bodies that said if anybody tries to bury the bodies, the Taliban will kill them, too."

The letters also stated that the Taliban would behead and hang any local civilian who tries to assist coalition forces in their attempt to liberate the area, and will kill those who assist with the distribution of humanitarian aid.

Providing local villages and farmers with material assistance is the primary aim of Operation Baaz Tsuka, a major NATO-led military campaign that launched in Panjwaii District on Friday.

Four decapitated bodies were hanged in the centre of Bazar Talukan Monday, beside an Islamic shrine. Another four decapitated bodies were hanged beside a rest stop for travelers. The remaining 18 decapitated bodies are scattered about the area in various locations.

"The Taliban hanged their heads in separate locations," said the local Afghan source, who did not want to be identified, fearing possible retribution from the Taliban.

One of the murdered men was a coalition informant who went missing 10 days ago, he added.

"The Taliban arrested him," he said. "We were trying to call him but there was no answer. Then his brother was asking us, 'where's my brother?'

The reaction in Bazar Talukan has been exactly what one would expect, he added. "People are afraid of the Taliban. They don't like them, but they have to help them, or they will be killed. They must give them food, clothing, their homes, whatever the Taliban demand, or they will die like the others."

The Taliban are believed to be girding for battle with coalition forces, who continue maneuvers in Panjwaii District, close to where Monday's mass executions took place.

Yesterday, Canadian Brigadier-General Tim Grant told reporters that the coalition hoped the enemy would leave the area, once they measured the size and strength of Operation Baaz Tsuka.

Soldiers from Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, Denmark, and Estonia are involved in campaign.

But other Canadian officers said that wherever they go, the Taliban inevitably follow.

"They are not going away without fighting and killing," the local Afghan source told CanWest News Service.

bhutchinson@nationalpost.com

© CanWest News Service​

It’s going to be a long, hard fight to make Afghanistan safe enough for the Afghan people to decide, for themselves and in their own way, how they shall govern themselves.  Maybe <shudder> they will decide, in the fullness of time and without being terrorized, that they need and want a conservative, even medieval Islamic theocracy.  We, Canadians, will be disappointed but if they make that decision freely then we will have done our primary defence job and part of the development job, too.  We will, however, have failed in our other primary, diplomacy, task because we will have failed to convince the Afghans that joining the modern, connected world is in their best interests – that will also represent a partial development (education, etc) failure.

But, perhaps, John Doyle and the latté sippers in Yorkville think it’s just picturesque that the Afghans practice traditional methods of political discourse.  This is the sort of thing which Stéphane Dion’s honourable withdrawal would make permanent.

 

[observor 69]

Globe & Mail

Why the world loves Canadian TV

By JOHN DOYLE 

Tuesday, December 19, 2006 – Page R3

First, my thanks to the many hundreds of readers who wrote in response to last Wednesday's column about The National's coverage of the military, Peter Mansbridge's rebuttal on Thursday, Christie Blatchford's column on Saturday and yesterday's column in response to Mansbridge.

It's clear that everyone, including members of the military and the media, see the issue of media coverage of the military and the mission in Afghanistan through their own prism. While the issue is serious, we can all lighten up too. It has been a fascinating few days of free-flowing opinion and while some people might like to turn the issue into a battle that's part of U.S.-style cultural warfare -- with insults and threats flying -- we are not living in George W. Bush's America. We carry on with our odd way of arguing, passionate and eccentric in our methods and views. I respectfully disagree with Christie Blatchford, who defended the CBC's coverage while admitting, admirably, that she had not been able to see the program I wrote about. And I don't carry a grudge against Pastor Mansbridge, who is often a fine advocate for public broadcasting and takes criticism and joking with aplomb.

 

[George Wallace]

What an idiot.  What does living or not living in George W. Bush's America have to do with the tripe that he wrote?  I can not for the life of me figure out what he means by making a statement about turning the issue into a battle that's part of U.S.-style cultural warfare.  I guess it is just another day for him to go on an Anti-America, Anti-George W. Bush Rant and get paid his little pittance of a wage from the giant G&M.  That man is so full of crap.

 

[Kirkhill]

Pluses George....

 

[Infanteer]

They should get some photos of those headless civilians and send them to Jack Layton with an invitation to come to Quetta for some round-table discussions with the Taliban....

 

[rcrgruntsgirl]

Reading this article made me sick. I was in the audience when they filmed the National at CFB Petawawa and I was very impressed with the articles. They are showing what is going on at home which shouldn't be a problem. Canadians need to know how the families at home are doing. Just like this week they are looking at the families left behind when a soldier has given the ultimate sacrifice. My husband was wounded 14 Oct 06 in the ambush that killed Sgt Tedford and Pte Williamson. This is real life, not just something on the t.v not affecting us back here. It's hit home for me already once, 8 memorials in 4 months, friends wounded and killed. It's hard on the soldiers over seas but the home front is also going thru the same tour, not knowing what is going to happen. You don't want to think about it, but the thought goes thru my head everyday, what if it's my husband killed? How would I handle it? Maybe I'm just rambling off, it is late and I don't sleep much. But even though I hate the news and there focus on the bad stuff, it's nice to see a change in the things they are reporting on, showing what goes on here and after you lose the one you love. As much as Canadians don't think it has to do with them here, they need to get real.

 

[Roy Harding]

... . My husband was wounded 14 Oct 06 in the ambush that killed Sgt Tedford and Pte Williamson. ... Maybe I'm just rambling off, it is late and I don't sleep much. ...

You "ramble off" all you want, girl.

Good luck and Merry Christmas to you and yours.



Roy Harding

 

[Colin Parkinson]

When in doubt and nothing intelligent to say, pull out a Bush & US rant.  :

 

[Edward Campbell]

I just noticed the ‘lead’ stories in the hard news section where Blatchford works and the Arts domain wherein we find John Doyle.

News:

• Harper calls Hamas 'genocidal' – “Peace won't be achieved through dialogue with groups that aim to kill, PM declares”

• Gates says he talked to Iraqi officials about more help – “The new defence chief is visiting Iraq with a high-level entourage in his first week in office to assess ways to calm growing violence in the country. President George W. Bush is considering sending thousands more U.S. troops, and is expected to unveil his new policy next month.”

• Canada ranks No. 1 for economic strength – “BMO annual index compares G7 countries”


Arts:

• Extreme Makeover: The comics edition - “Yowza! Take a look at the new Betty and Veronica. They may be sexier, but their storylines will stick to 'the Archie Comics code of decency' “

• Rosie tells Trump to ‘sit and spin' - “War of words erupts between The Donald and Rosie O'Donnell”

• John Doyle – “The TV racket never sleeps … Even as we slouch into the holiday season, all grumpy about the gift shopping and giving, or relieved that the damn office actually closes down for a few days, television keeps going. Deals are made, backs are stabbed, pilot episodes are cast and breakdowns occur. Little wonder the rehab facilities go 24/7 all year long … The past few days have been busy ones in the U.S. TV racket. Don't think that because there hasn't been a new episode of Desperate Housewives or because Grey's Anatomy is in repeats that all of L.A. is on vacation.”

Now, will someone please tell me why anyone with the brains the gods gave to green peppers cares what John Doyle ’thinks' about anything?  For gawd’s sakes, the man frets about TV sitcoms – in public.

Shame on me for adding to the undeserved attention we are paying to this, this … Oh, bloody hell!  What’s the right word?



Edit: typo - ’thinks'

 

[GAP]

What’s the right word?

IDIOT

 

[2-3-Bravo]

Not the most educated article that this guy has wrote... here's what I passed on to him...

It's the soldier not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press.
It's the soldier not the poet who has given us the freedom of speech.
It's the soldier not the campus organizer who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It's the soldier not the lawyer who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It's the soldier who salutes the flag,
who serves under the flag
and whose coffin is draped by the flag
who allows the protester to burn the flag.

 

[ladybugmabj]

he probably won't understand that!

 

[a_majoor]

Not everyone finds the CBC to have such a benign reputation:

http://darkbluetorytwo.blogspot.com/2006/12/its-typical-of-cbc-peter.html
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Worthington_Peter/2006/12/21/2913140.html

It's typical of the CBC, Peter.

Sun columnist Peter Worthington has taken the time to expose the CBC's coverage of the war in Afghanistan as the sham that it truly is.

I would really like to know how many people actually take them seriously anymore. Apparently, it's quite a few.

[...]"Despite Peter's boast of 24/7 coverage in Kandahar today, CBC excels in covering the dead -- body bags coming home, coffins being loaded on and off aircraft, funerals, the pain and fears of military families. The CBC is a charter member of "the death watch crowd," obsessed with the fallen. Little on roads, bridges, schools being built. Best of all, when Americans inadvertently kill Canadian soldiers.

Forty-four dead soldiers over three years is extrapolated in the public's mind to the World War II ratio of casualties. Why? Not to honour the military, but to create concern about the military's mission, and the futility of soldiers.

When Canadian soldiers were in Somalia, CBC coverage was minimal until a prisoner was tortured to death.

Courts martial and inquiries dominated CBC coverage until a regiment was disbanded.
The CBC was nowhere to be seen, except for photo visits, when Canadians were in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo. Peter talks of 67 years of CBC coverage of conflicts. When I was a soldier in the Korean war, the only journalist visible was Canadian Press' Bill Boss.

CBC? Forget it.

Objectively, the CBC's coverage of Canada's military is one of the great shams and shames of our country.

What CBC documentaries exist of Canadian soldiers on foreign missions? None."[...]

Yup. More of the same "unbiased" reporting from the CBC.

 

[bilton090]

  John Doyle lives in T.V land, that's the real world,all fuzzy and warm !. The rest of us live in the other world, were it's not nice ! they don't
kiss and make up on the next show !  :crybaby:

          Maybe John should get his nose out of the coke, and have some shut-the-f###-up coffee !
                   
                                                         

 

[observor 69]

PRINT EDITION

TV criticism? It's a national disgrace



By JOHN DOYLE 

Thursday, January 4, 2007 – Page R3



Yesterday, a letter arrived for me in the mail. It was addressed to "John Doyle, Scrotum of The Globe and Mail."

Inside, the scrawl that purported to be from a member of our armed forces took issue with some comments about CBC's coverage of the military and called me names. I seriously doubt if it was from a member of the military. They have more pith and vinegar in the insults.

Also yesterday, this section of The Globe published a fascinating piece by Hal Niedzviecki about bloggers who comment on culture. As Niedzviecki noted, much of what appears online, under the guise of comment about culture is childishly nasty, snide and, sometimes, absurdly ill-informed.

The arrival of that letter and Niedzviecki's article on the same day prompt me to consider the state of media and culture criticism in Canada today, especially as it relates to television. It being the start of a new year, it's appropriate to assess how the most important medium of our time is treated in this country. Frankly, TV and other media criticism is in an appalling state and it's a national disgrace.

This newspaper takes analysis and criticism of culture very seriously. It is part of The Globe and Mail's heritage and value as the newspaper of record. Few other newspapers or magazines offer serious journalism about the arts and entertainment areas, and television gets particularly poor treatment. The Toronto Sun recently laid off Bill Brioux, one this country's best, most cogent and shrewd writers about the TV racket. Like the CanWest chain of papers, the Sun chain appears to be retreating from consequential coverage of arts and entertainment.

Soon, the vast majority of Canadian newspapers will be awash in more drivel about Britney Spears and her underwear and generic wire-service articles about U.S. network and cable TV shows, written by people who are understandably clueless about Canadian TV and audiences. Canadian Press, thank goodness, exists, and in TV writer Lee-Anne Goodman has a first-rate reporter and observer of Canadian TV. Mind you, if you live in many Canadian cities, your local paper is more inclined to print some gee-whiz nonsense about some alleged Hollywood celebrity. Occasionally, the TV show being covered isn't even airing in Canada.

And don't tell me that consequential coverage takes place online. With the notable exception of screenwriter Denis McGrath's Dead Things on Sticks site and Diane Kristine's TV Eh? blog, most of what's written about Canadian TV online is garbage. McGrath's site is thoughtful, learned and provocative about creating Canadian TV, and Kristine's blog brings together news and notes that would otherwise be lost.

In the past few years, when I'm interviewed by journalism students, I'm frequently asked about the growth of online TV criticism. The students tend to think it's all very important because the Internet allows everyone to be a critic. This is nonsense.

Most of what appears as online commentary in Canada is written by the same dozen people, and they seem to be a miserable, bitter and twisted bunch. Often hiding behind anonymity, they spew venom and insults and spread inaccurate rumours and tattle. Sometimes they have the nerve to proclaim themselves to be "commentators" and assert their superiority to what they call the mainstream media, blithely ignoring the fact that newspapers and magazines publish work by people who actually put their names to what they wrote.

During the lockout of CBC staff in 2005, there was a sudden flowering of online commentary about the lockout and the CBC. Some of it made for fascinating reading, particularly on the CBC's future and its role in Canada. Many of those blogs disappeared when the lockout ended. Most of those that remained descended into the usual anonymously written, infantile nonsense. What passes for humour is often hilariously badly written hatred of real journalists.

In fact, what distinguishes online commentary about TV in Canada is the stew of envy and resentment in which most of the writers seem to exist. If I came across my name and saw myself described as "Scrotum of The Globe and Mail," I'd be impressed by the improvement in the articulation of insults.

Niedzviecki took the view that bloggers should remember that they are writing about real people and what they write has consequences, because the online commentary is actually read by the targets of vitriol. Me, I ignore most of it. If somebody cares to challenge what I write, they can write a letter to the editor, for publication.

Of course, it would be far better if there was more online media and TV criticism worth reading. There isn't, and as a country and a culture, we are poorer for the absence.

jdoyle@globeandmail.com




 

 

[Colin Parkinson]

But of course he is above been bitter and twisted or heaven forbid irrelevant. Sounds like he is feeling threatened by the existence of bloggers and feels that only a "properly trained journalist" can commnet of the drivel pumped out by the TV stations. The fact is that I would not ask a Norwegian parrot to suffer the indignity of having to Sh*t on his column. I suppose in his mind: "I whine, therefore I am."

:

 

[North Star]

Note he did not respond to valid criticism of his article such as that by Peter Mansbridge.

Peter Worthington for the Order of Canada?

 

[HDE]

John appears to go on the premise that the rest of us are in awe of his intellectual horsepower and take what he says as gospel.  The reality, I think, is that most of us read what he writes, balance it against what we know or have read elsewhere and decide how valid his comments are.  One of the great things about the internet is that, if used carefully, it becomes dead simple to factcheck what commentators are saying.  Then there's the "newspaper of record",  " properly trained journalists" fluff.  I'd say he's living in the past when there weren't many alternatives to the G and M, CBC, etc and their people carried more weight.