In launching his election campaign in 1986, BC NDP leader Bob Skelly fumbled his opening statement and asked to begin again. The cameras kept rolling, and the whole thing was shown on television that evening.
If there was any breach of journalism ethics in Halifax today, it was ATV anchor Steve Murphy's agreement to start the interview over again. Twice.
The test? Ask yourself what viewers would have seen had this been a live interview.
Surely, that's the degree of truth that Canadians have a right to expect from the mass media. And any journalist who doubts whether the video should have been shown to Canadian voters should ask himself whether he's gotten too close to some of the politicians he's been covering.
What we see on the video is not the result of a language problem, or a hearing problem. It's the result of an opposition leader who is still thinking like an opposition leader, and not like a prime minister. Or, to put a more noble gloss on Mr. Dion's flub, a man who has not learned, or is unwilling, to engage in the time-tested politician's evasion of answering the question you want to answer, not the one that's being asked.
