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News

There’s got fo be something bad to say

by Hubert Beyer
Special to The Review

VICTORIA — “Support grow-
ing for Zalm review,” said the
front-page headline in Victoria’s
daily newspaper, notwithstanding
the obvious fact that the latest
mini-revolt against Bill Vander
Zalm’s leadership of the Social
Credit Party had been quelled
before it even had a chance to take
off.

A more correct headline would
have been: “Zalm puts down
revolt.”” But that, I suppose, didn’t
fit the more exciting and in media
circles more popular scenario of a
premier being drummed out of
office.

The story is a good example not
only of how a headline can distort
the actual content of a story, but
how it can create totally false
impressions.

The story itself didn’t say that
support for the review idea was
growing. The headline did. And
since a lot of people only read
headlines and perhaps the first
couple of paragraphs of a story,
you can see the danger of a
manipulative headline.

Whenever I see examples of
inventive journalists trying to limit
the damage a positive develop-
ment does to an otherwise beauti-
fully negative and controversial
story, I think of what an old
newspaperman told when I was
just starting out in the business.

If newspapers had been around
2,000 years ago, he said, some of
them would have gone to any

length to debunk the story of —

Christ walking on water. “Christ
can’t swim,” he said, might have

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been a banner headline in those
days.

A lot of my colleagues wouldn’t
be caught dead saying anything
positive about anybody. They see
their role as cynics, constantly on
the attack. And in doing so, they
often end up distorting the news.

What would have been wrong
with saying that Vander Zalm,
once again, quelled a revolt? You
don’t have to like or support the
man to report the truth.

True there were some Socreds
who advocated a leadership
review, but they didn’t get any-
where. The Times-Colonist story
quoted only one person in favor of
a review, Ken Tuininga, president
of the Socreds’ Port Coquitlam
constituency association.

The story quoted three people
who were opposed to it and yet, it
ran a headline saying that support
for a leadership review was grow-
ing.

In fairmess I should mention that
the word “growing”’ was in quota-
tion marks, indicating that some-
one, in this case Tuininga, said it.

I can understand that a lot of
media types wouldn’t mind a lead-
ership review. It would be a good
Story to cover, but to incorporate

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that wishful thinking into the news
delivery process is unprofessional
at best and downright dangerous at
Worst.

Of course, the media can only
distort a story if someone brings it
up in the first place. It wasn’t the
Times-Colonist headline writer
who said he wanted a leadership
Teview. That was Tuininga.

When all is said and done, a lot
of Socreds wouldn’t mind a differ-
ent leader at this point, but they
certainly would mind the messy
process of removing the incum-
bent.

Unless the Social Credit Party
has an overwhelming death wish,
it should quit heaping scorn on its
leader.

The future for the party looks
grim enough as it is. I wouldn’t bet
a plugged nickel on the Socreds’
re-election chances, with or with-
out Vander Zalm.

But one thing is certain. Any
further carping and whining about
Vander Zalm’s leadership will
make things worse. My advice to
Socreds is: get your act together.
Stop beating up on your leader,
and you'll take away the media’s
favorite toy — Vander Zalm bash-
ing.

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TheReview Wednesday, December 12, 1990 oi

=.

‘The future for the party looks grim
enough as if is. | wouldn’t bet a
plugged nickel on the Socreds’
re-election chances, with or
without Vander Zalm’

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