'Public Service' — easier said than done part 2
The phrase “inside baseball” means different things to different people. When applied to journalists who cover a beat such as Parliament Hill or City Hall, the phrase refers to so-called news items that matter to no one other than the folks working and writing in the fishbowl in question.
I touched on the issue last week (see prior post “‘Public Service’ — easier said than done” September 9-08), but there was more evidence again today that the news barometers at the Globe and Mail’s City Hall bureau may need some recalibration. According to this morning’s edition, the DTM cares deeply about who the Chair of the Toronto Port Authority will be under the rotating model I proposed a few weeks ago.
What didn’t seem to be newsworthy to the DTM, however, is that the TPA turned a profit for the first eight months of fiscal 2008 — the first profit in the entities’ history. Considering the torrential downpour of quotes from Toronto Mayor David Miller and Councillor Adam Vaughan about the TPA’s history of financial losses, you’d think this would warrant a column inch or two. And if space is at a premium, then you could always cut the inside baseball reference to the Chair (which was also press released last week for those who really care) and run the real news item:
“TPA turns a profit for the first time this decade”
As far as the Globe is concerned, it didn’t happen. Not worth running with apparently. But, an inside baseball faux drama? The DTM eats that stuff up.
This public service stuff is easier said than done.
MRM
(disclosure – this blog, as always, reflects a personal view and in no way represents the views of the TPA, its Board/Staff or the federal government)
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