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| Toronto Sun |
In the past month, mayor Rob Ford, 44, has been exposed of buying and using crack cocaine. Ford has also been accused of sexual harassment, using racial slurs, and drinking excessively.
Ford is to remain in office due to Toronto's government system. Unless Ford is convicted of criminal crimes, he will continue to be the mayor of Toronto, much to the chagrin of many citizens and government officials.
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| Sean Mallen/Global News |
Many are frustrated with the mayor's conduct. Citizens have expressed their discontent by drawing graffiti on a wall near the city hall. According to Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, Ford is "the worst spokesperson for the city of Toronto right now."
Ford admitted to smoking crack during his time as mayor earlier this month. Despite his scandal, he still has hopes of becoming prime minister.
Media has been especially critical of Ford's scandals. It is undeniable he is unfit to be mayor of any city, however, has media gone too far? It has been speculated that he is an alcoholic and has drug addiction. Personally, I feel embarrassed and bad for the mayor, he obviously has many issues, and I hope he finds professional help as soon as possible.
As we have learned in the past few weeks, media has a big impact in politics. It can help, and hurt, incumbents and candidates. In this case, do you think media has objectively presented facts, or merely attacked Ford? And do you think that media is justified in what they're doing?
Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24990650
7 comments:
Having lived in Toronto for a couple years, I will say that Ford reflects poorly on the people of the city. My friends over there told me that it has been pretty embarrassing to say the least.
I encourage you to read some of the Toronto Star’s coverage. Today, it published an editorial slamming Ford for his conduct. The Star’s opinions are clearly evident in the news article as well.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2013/11/18/toronto_mayor_rob_ford_deserved_to_be_stripped_of_power_editorial.html
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/11/18/rob_ford_fumes_as_all_but_councils_enablers_flee_dimanno.html
Indeed, the Star article fittingly concludes with a quote from Ford’s brother: “Enough, Rob.” And I would certainly agree with this.
But from the perspective of a Toronto citizen, I’d say that the media coverage has only hurt the city’s image. But I will say that the issue as a whole has been over covered, to the point that I get mobile CNN updates about Ford’s conduct. Sure, CNN’s coverage isn't outrageously disparaging, but it’s a conscious decision of the networks to choose to run such stories as the headliners. Scandals sell.
I agree with Brandon, scandals are cash cows. The media's coverage of Ford's personal issues is excessive, and I think that coverage has gone far beyond a point of serving substantial, relevant information to consumers. At this point the media really are just milking the cow. That's not to say that Ford's personal issues aren't relevant to his political career, but the media is really slamming a guy who's being more honest than most politicians. But even though I feel bad for Ford, I can't blame the media for jumping on this story: it's not every day that a politician admits to smoking crack.
This is expected by the media. As we've learned in class, the media loves to hop on personal scandals of politicians. However I agree, the media's coverage of the issue is very excessive. Because of the unnecessary amount, it seems more than just merely informing the public about Ford's character--it's closer to an attack.
At the same time, I wonder if the excessive coverage has a huge effect on the public's view of the mayor. I think most people will find unfavorable views of the mayor, regardless of how the media covers the story. Overall, I think Ford himself should take most of the blame for his reputation, and how the media covered it. Like Quinn said, it's expected that the media went crazy about a mayor smoking crack. But as Brandon has said, it probably brings more than just a bad reputation to the mayor; even embarrassment to the whole city.
Thank you to Brandon for sharing those two articles from the Sun. In the editorial, I found this portion to be especially telling: “This is why television crews from around the world are covering Toronto council. They’re here to see a circus and Ford, clown-at-large, never fails to oblige. At no other level of government – in any democracy – could so discredited a public figure remain in office.” I agree with the previous comments—newspapers know that scandal sells. However, I am wondering if the coverage is fueled more by Ford’s acts or the absurdity of it all. I am not familiar with Canadian laws, but I am confused as to why someone so irresponsible would be allowed to stay in power. Regardless, this media attention is not disparaging his attempts to get in the faces of people everywhere. If he thinks he has enough support to win the election for prime minister, he is delusional.
I agree with the others above, it does seem like the media is practically just trying to get everything that they can to make Ford look bad. I think by now the public has come to understand how unfit he is to be mayor, there is no reason to bring it up again and again. While I do somewhat feel bad for him, he dug his own grave by doing everything he did. Its also obvious that the people of Toronto are unhappy with him, so I dont understand why he thinks he'll be able to become prime minister. I think in cases like these where a person has a sort of negative connotation, the media will have a bias to keep releasing articles that will highlight how the person, like Ford, has made bad decisions. Its like a giant snowball where, unless he does something amazing to make up for himself, the media will just keep adding on and exposing negative things.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought the media was going overboard. I like the point Annika brought up, that media is almost making fun of the mayor. The whole political situation is so absurd to the point it's becoming entertaining.
I agree that Ford created a self-fulfilled prophecy. If he truly wanted to become Prime Minister, he would've never dealt with cocaine. At this point, I agree with Brandon Dere, that Ford's reputation will continue to decline. In a sense, I feel his current actions discredits everything he has done in the past.
Here's some food for thought: Fords popularity actually went UP after the story broke that he smoked crack.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24824648
He apparently climbed 5 percentage points. No publicity is bad publicity? You would think getting caught smoking crack would have disproven that...
That said, Ford is still working his hardest to lower that approval rating. Between barreling over reporters, going on violence-fantasizing rants, and mentioning his eating preferences to a group of reporters, I can't see his approval ratings doing overly-well in the near/long-term future.
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