The Media and the Military in Canada
| Author | Denis Stairs |
| Date | 01 September 1998 |
| Published date | 01 September 1998 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209805300310 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DENIS STAIRS
The
media
and
the
military
in
Canada
Reflections
on
a
time
of
troubles
THE
MEDIA
AND
THE
MILITARY
IN
CANADA
ARE
AT
LOGGERHEADS.
No
consumer
of
Canadian
newspapers
or
television
in
recent
months
could
reasonably
conclude
otherwise.
However
much
the
two
adversaries
may
seek
to
submerge
their
anger
with
one
another
in
the
prudent
code
of
civility
that
commonly
governs
Canadian public
discourse,
it
is
hard
for
them
to
conceal
the
fact
that
such
mutual
trust
as
they
might
once
have
enjoyed
has
largely
broken
down.
This
may
not
be
true
for
all
of
them,
but
it
is
certainly
true
for
many.
Few
in
private
take the
trouble
to
deny
it,
and
some
find
emotional
release
by
proclaiming their
sense
of
injus-
tice
in
the
grim tones
of
the
righteously
indignant.
The
tension
between
the
two parties,
it
must
be
said,
lies
partly
(and
unavoidably)
in
the
roles
that
each
of
them
plays.
Cemented
in
the
structure
of
their
relationship,
in
the end
there
is
no escaping
it.
As
James
Eayrs
observed nearly
thirty
years
ago,
'The
reporter
is
expected
to
tell
it
like
it
is.
The
information
officer
is
expected
to
tell
it
like
his
government
wants
it
heard."
From
that
basic
reality,
a
conflict
of
pur-
pose
inevitably
ensues.
McCulloch
Professor
in
Political
Science
and
a
member
of
the
Centre
for
Foreign
Policy
Studies,
Dalhousie
University.
This
article
is
adapted
from
a
keynote
address
to a conference
on
"Informa-
tion
Warfare:
Media-Military
Relations
in
Canada,'Norman
Paterson
School
of
International
Affairs, Carleton
Universin)
Ottawa,
29May
1997
i
James
Eayrs,
Diplomacy and
its
Discontents
(Toronto:
University
of
Toronto
Press
1971),
29.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Summer
1998
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