Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Telegraph Journal + Liberals = Propaganda Machine?

People within the Liberal government are quietly talking about the growing closeness between the Telegraph Journal and Shawn Graham’s inner circle.

It is no secret that the Telegraph Journal has been Shawn Graham’s biggest promoter since last summer. Many people, including some journalists, publicly stated during the last election campaign that the “provincial paper” seemed to give extra favourable coverage to Shawn Graham and the Liberals.

Considerable concern was being voiced today that the editorial that ran in Monday’s Telegraph Journal calling for the abolition of the Taxpayer Protection Act so that the Liberals can raise taxes, closely followed by Victor Boudreau’s announcement later on that day that he may raise taxes are a little too coincidental. Some people are even linking it to the internal transfer of Carl Davies from the Telegraph Journal to the Office of Government Members.

This type of coincidence is starting to raise questions in the government about how this close relationship could backfire. If people continue to see the TJ boosting the Liberals when most other media outlets are raising questions about their tactics, people will start to dismiss the TJ as merely a Liberal propaganda machine.