Friday, December 18, 2009
Top Ten Most Irritating Columnists of 2009
As Promised!THE TOP TEN MOST IRRITATING POLITICAL WRITERS OF 2009
10. Stevie Cameron
The Author of "On the Take" and "Blue Trust," this should have been her year. With Brian Mulroney testifying about his dealings with German arms dealer Karlheinz Schreiber before Parliament and a commission of inquiry, one would expect to hear from his greatest detractor. Stevie's blog, however, was silent between April 4th 2008 and August 26th 2009, never commenting on the testimony of the former Prime Minister.
It is reasonable to conclude that Ms. Cameron was silent for fear of defamation litigation, but in this great political show, one of the most important players was absent.
9. Ian Robinson :
This minor columnist from the tabloid Sun's Calgary paper took sexism to a new level this year by saying that woman's political bent is given by her shoes. It sparked outrage, as it should have.
Biased journalism sells better than unbiased journalism, but in an attempt to be sensational this aspiring Glenn Beck went too far. His column "Right-wing women rock: Looking at the shoes tells a lot about a female's political persuasion" would be deserving of more criticism only if the author was noteworthy.
8. Anyone who wrote about Michael Jackson, Miley Cyrus, or Tiger Woods:
Political columnists of the world! Come on! Keep your eye on the ball. I realize you think you're being funny, but your pop culture references give your sagacious proclamations the shelf life of lettuce.
7. Jane Taber:
"Like, OK, so here's the deal. I've, like, got these totally awesome loafers that go wicked with my hot pink shirt. It's, like, so hot. Like, for real. "
This is not the stuff of political commentary. Not only do my friends in the OLO dress better than you do, Jane, but they have the class not to comment on your appearance.
You, Ms. Taber, with your personal comments about fashion, have forfeited your right to ever complain about the level of political discourse in this country.
6. John Ivison:
When you predict the [sic] Apocapse of the Liberal Party every week, but it never comes, my eyes start to glaze over, and I yawn over your column.
5. Angelo Persichilli :
Someone I usually like, Persichilli let us down this year by reporting two or three Liberal MP's drinking in a downtown Ottawa hotel as news. There was no revolt, as he suggested, and he got no sources for the record. This was the worst attempt at sensationalism I've seen since the last time I read Steve Janke's blog.
4. Susan Delacourt:
Another columnist I regularly enjoy, she is the author of "Juggernaut," one of my favourite books on Prime Minister Martin. This year, however, she wrongly predicted a group defection of Liberal MP's to the Conservative Party.
Yeah we're still waiting on that...
3. Kady O'Malley:
She's just so talented, well connected, and hard working. I am irritated that more writers don't show her gumption. In her commentary is that rare and elusive Ottawa thing, actual reporting. Unlike those who merely spout off polling numbers and waxing about what they mean for the person who is losing, O'Malley can regularly be found in committee, or conducting an interview.
Kady even goes so far as to contact individuals for comment when they are the subject of her work. This is a little known journalistic convention called "following up." It takes work, rather than the presumed brilliance of an egghead "pundit," who can interpret polls and current events with their crystal ball rather than with facts.
So she irritates me. She irritates me because there's only one Kady, and not twelve.
2. Christie Blatchford:
When Ms. Blatchford wrote that Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin had only been outside the wire in Afghanistan a few times, she was calling him a coward. She did it in an attempt to discredit him after he testified before a Commons committee, in an attempt to refute the possibility that the Canadian government knew in 2006 that it had handed prisoners to the Afghan government who were subsequently tortured.
I don't know what war Ms. Blatchford was blooded in, but it upsets me to see the honourable service of a man in a war zone questioned by someone only looking to sell newspapers.
1. Colby Cosh:
This year's most offensive rage inspiring column on the topic of austerity makes him 2009's worst journalistic offender. Railing against young people everywhere, he wrote "Why is it the young, most egregiously, who romanticize poverty, cultural backwardness and unspoiled nature?"
After I read this column, twice, I wrote about 1 000 words in a blog post so angry in its tone I decided it unfit to publish. Cosh's ageist prejudice drove me into wild anger. One wonders if he were writing about women, seniors, or an ethnic minority if his vapid generalizations would be tolerated.
According to Cosh, because of my age I am an unknowing hippy who "probably had new Nikes every six months." Also I "regard sound money, good jobs, and the benefits of the consumer society as unstated axioms, (I) have no sense that these things must perpetually be fought for."
Perhaps Cosh was borrowing the voice of Red from "That 70's Show" to denounce an entire generation in an attempt to be funny. In the future, I think, students of journalism will look at columns like this in the context of historically accepted prejudices. Once upon a time in Canada, they railed against the youth in the same way they used to rail against women's' suffrage and ethnic minority rights.
6. John Ivison:
When you predict the [sic] Apocapse of the Liberal Party every week, but it never comes, my eyes start to glaze over, and I yawn over your column.
5. Angelo Persichilli :
Someone I usually like, Persichilli let us down this year by reporting two or three Liberal MP's drinking in a downtown Ottawa hotel as news. There was no revolt, as he suggested, and he got no sources for the record. This was the worst attempt at sensationalism I've seen since the last time I read Steve Janke's blog.
4. Susan Delacourt:
Another columnist I regularly enjoy, she is the author of "Juggernaut," one of my favourite books on Prime Minister Martin. This year, however, she wrongly predicted a group defection of Liberal MP's to the Conservative Party.
Yeah we're still waiting on that...
3. Kady O'Malley:
She's just so talented, well connected, and hard working. I am irritated that more writers don't show her gumption. In her commentary is that rare and elusive Ottawa thing, actual reporting. Unlike those who merely spout off polling numbers and waxing about what they mean for the person who is losing, O'Malley can regularly be found in committee, or conducting an interview.
Kady even goes so far as to contact individuals for comment when they are the subject of her work. This is a little known journalistic convention called "following up." It takes work, rather than the presumed brilliance of an egghead "pundit," who can interpret polls and current events with their crystal ball rather than with facts.
So she irritates me. She irritates me because there's only one Kady, and not twelve.
2. Christie Blatchford:
When Ms. Blatchford wrote that Canadian diplomat Richard Colvin had only been outside the wire in Afghanistan a few times, she was calling him a coward. She did it in an attempt to discredit him after he testified before a Commons committee, in an attempt to refute the possibility that the Canadian government knew in 2006 that it had handed prisoners to the Afghan government who were subsequently tortured.
I don't know what war Ms. Blatchford was blooded in, but it upsets me to see the honourable service of a man in a war zone questioned by someone only looking to sell newspapers.
1. Colby Cosh:
This year's most offensive rage inspiring column on the topic of austerity makes him 2009's worst journalistic offender. Railing against young people everywhere, he wrote "Why is it the young, most egregiously, who romanticize poverty, cultural backwardness and unspoiled nature?"
After I read this column, twice, I wrote about 1 000 words in a blog post so angry in its tone I decided it unfit to publish. Cosh's ageist prejudice drove me into wild anger. One wonders if he were writing about women, seniors, or an ethnic minority if his vapid generalizations would be tolerated.
According to Cosh, because of my age I am an unknowing hippy who "probably had new Nikes every six months." Also I "regard sound money, good jobs, and the benefits of the consumer society as unstated axioms, (I) have no sense that these things must perpetually be fought for."
Perhaps Cosh was borrowing the voice of Red from "That 70's Show" to denounce an entire generation in an attempt to be funny. In the future, I think, students of journalism will look at columns like this in the context of historically accepted prejudices. Once upon a time in Canada, they railed against the youth in the same way they used to rail against women's' suffrage and ethnic minority rights.
WFDS
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