Civvies in the dark.

[Genetk44]

Hello,
I've been following various threads here for a number of weeks and it struck me today that the average civilian is not being kept aware of whats going on in our military by the news services. I'm a very well read civilian, I read 2 newspapers a day, watch local CTV and CBC news as well as the BBC and yet I only found out about the "loss" of our tanks here in this forum. Haven't seen a peep about it otherwise. Then it hit me like a thunderbolt....compared to the US,UK,France and many other countries we civilians here in Canada hear or see almost nothing about our military,its' people,equipment,etc. in the media...or anywhere else.
  When our forces go to Af,Croatia etc theres a teeny mention on the news but thats it!  I wonder what the people would think if they found out their Army didn't have any tanks? as an example. Seems to me that the Canadian people are being kept blind as to whats going on in the CF....maybe you guys need to start yelling and blowing your own horns a hell of a lot harder!!!!!!!!.... and by "you guys" I mean you who have to actually fight and die as opposed to the brass-hat desk jockeys in Ottawa.
Just my tax-paying civvie mouth ranting :rage:

 

[chrisf]

Not for a lack of media promotion on behalf of the forces, I can assure you of that.

 

[Inch]

The average Canadian is more interested in exercising their rights than defending them.   This isn't a knock on the non-military types, you're all members of this great site so you obviously have more interest in the military than average Joe and Jill Civvie. The military isn't for everyone and no one expects everyone to join up, but having your support is a big plus, it's just too bad the rest of Canada doesn't feel the same way.

Cheers

 

[Genetk44]

Inch...thats my point.....not enough support from the public...but why?....cuz they just don't know(among other reasons)...and why don't they know?....I think it's because 1)the media isn't reporting as well or as much as it should on the subject and 2) because the military isn't promoteing itself as much as it could.
Gene

 

[chrisf]

Believe me, the military is promoting itself... excessively... the media just isn't paying attention, because the Canadian public doesn't want to pay attention.

 

[meni0n]

And to quote Rudyard Kipling:

" Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
            Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' â Å“Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?â ?
            But it's â Å“Thin red line of 'eroesâ ? when the drums begin to roll,â ”
            The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
            O it's â Å“Thin red line of 'eroesâ ? when the drums begin to roll. "

 

[Inch]

I'm gonna tell you a little story that didn't show up in the papers or the media and if it did it was a short paragraph that was hidden away at the back of the paper.

There was a young teenager here in Halifax that had cancer, his one wish was to go for a Sea King ride. Our Sqn caught wind of this and started the ball rolling, it took almost a year due to the uncommanded loss of torque problems we had with the SKs last year and a few other things, but he finally got his ride about a month ago. The CO made him and his father honourary 423 Sqn members. He passed away on the weekend, the CO is going to the funeral as the Sqn rep and most of us that aren't doing any work that day will probably go too.

This story should have been on the front page of every news paper, it's totally at the opposite end of the scale from what the media forced down the public's throat with the Somalia incident.  

This isn't a rare occurrence of us fighting the good fight.  A lady came up to me in Sobey's the other day, I was in my flight suit and just stopped to get a few things on my way home.  She then proceeded to tell me how she's been writing to the troops overseas for the last few years and was writing to one of the Sea King crews in particular last year. Well family day came and she was invited out for a Sea King ride. She said she absolutely loved it, it was the least we could do for a great lady that took the time to care about people she didn't even know that were on the other side of the world.

If the media would give this stuff half the attention that all the bad stuff gets, I think you'd start to see a change in the way people feel about the military and maybe a little more support would be forthcoming.

Just my $0.02

Cheers

 

[Nat. Cap. Girl]

If the media would give this stuff half the attention that all the bad stuff gets...

Unfortunately, that's not how the media seems to work.  Too much bad, and not enough good.  I don't think that's going to change very quickly and/or any time soon.

Edit:
I just discovered Truth, Duty, Valour on OLN, and I thought it was pretty cool, and sheds a positive light on the military.  I'm just a civy, so I wanted to know your (you military folk) opinions of it?

 

[sgt_mandal]

Pardon me for sticking my head in but Cadets are just as represented in the media as the CF (not trying to make a connection), that is to say, not very.

 

[Infanteer]

Well, I think the Cadets have very little contribution to make to national security and foreign policy, so we can forgive the media for not putting them on the 6:00pm highlight reel.

 

[Bert]

I think more media exposure of the military, what the military does, and what the members do could be
alot better represented.  At some level, someone has to identify it and get govenment and the media
together and focus on it.

CBC, CTV, Global, and APTN all have limited budgets and can focus only on certain aspects of
the broadcast media.  Sending media crews on OPs, ships, and remote sites costs money and
time.  Stories need a focus.   The networks and television program producers in Canada know too
well about Federal budget cuts.

The media units of the military produce a number of segments like Christmas greetings,
interviews, and assists programs like TDV.  But not much else.

If the Feds got together with producers, the networks, and television fund organizations, more
media exposure of the military could happen.  

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

He passed away on the weekend, the CO is going to the funeral as the Sqn rep and most of us that aren't doing any work that day will probably go too.

Ah crap!

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Quote from Infanteer,
Well, I think the Cadets have very little contribution to make to national security and foreign policy, so we can forgive the media for not putting them on the 6:00pm highlight reel.

I don't think thats the point here, Infanteer. Here we have groups of kids who want to do good and want to emulate the CF and they also recieve zero in the way of media coverage.  Now if this same group of kids decided they wished to convert to Hara Krisna or meet once a week to openly devil worship complete with "satan" uniforms, this would be news,budget be damned.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

But in the context of Gene's original post, cadets while a valuable youth organization does very little for the CF except provide some interest. If a cadet organization recieves media attention it does very little to benefit the CF as its such a different entity.

 

[Infanteer]

I think the issue is that Canadians have little idea of the role the military plays in the national security of Canada and the furthering of our interests; the media plays a big role in this on how they choose to represent the military to the Canadian public.

End result, we get the "peacekeeper myth" and its cousin the "citizen soldier" myth that leads to horrible misconceptions on what we do; Politicians all to eager to play to the misconceptions of the public leads to policies such as eliminating tanks and avoiding attack choppers because they "are too aggressive".

How the cadets factor into this equation, I am unsure.  If an debate is needed about Cadet exposure in Canadian society, or youth groups exposure in general, then perhaps a relevent thread can be opened up in the Cadet forum.

 

[Scratch_043]

I think more media exposure of the military, what the military does, and what the members do could be
alot better represented.  At some level, someone has to identify it and get govenment and the media
together and focus on it.

CBC, CTV, Global, and APTN all have limited budgets and can focus only on certain aspects of
the broadcast media.  Sending media crews on OPs, ships, and remote sites costs money and
time.  Stories need a focus.  The networks and television program producers in Canada know too
well about Federal budget cuts.

The media units of the military produce a number of segments like Christmas greetings,
interviews, and assists programs like TDV.  But not much else.

If the Feds got together with producers, the networks, and television fund organizations, more
media exposure of the military could happen. 

but then there is the problem that the Liberal Federal Government is not willing to provide the funds necessarily to enhance the reputation of the military, because then they would have to provide the funding to better equip the military because it is the will of the people of Canada.

 

[karl28]

Not all civi  are in the dark . There are those who care about the military . I am a civi myself but  I come from a military family and all my best friends are in the military and  i consider myself as a big supporter of the CF .              I wish the CF would get better coverage on the 6 O'clock news but as stated by other members in this post the media only cares about the bad stories .     What I think the military should do is be more active in the schools get the kids interested in what they do . IT may be a small step but being more in the public eye could only help the military .


Cheers
Karl

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

QUOTE,
but then there is the problem that the Liberal Federal Government is not willing to provide the funds necessarily to enhance the reputation of the military, because then they would have to provide the funding to better equip the military because it is the will of the people of Canada

Very true, the Govt. is NOT going to go out of their way to promote something that they have spent many years dismantling.

That money can be better used greasing liberal-friendly ad agencies, etc. :rage:

 

[Scratch_043]

ugh, don't get me started...

 

[George Wallace]

Very true, the Govt. is NOT going to go out of their way to promote something that they have spent many years dismantling.

That money can be better used greasing liberal-friendly ad agencies, etc. :rage:

Oh!  Thank God you never said "Health Care"!

There are the small bits of good press appearing here and there, most of it is local news and home grown broadcasting, but like everyone has already pointed out, not much Nationally.  

Do our PAFFOs get any credit for the giant steps they have made?  No.  They still have a long way to go, and are still fairly well ignored by Mainstream News organizations.  

We have a long way to go to inform a 'disinterested' public.

GW