- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 160
MarkOttawa: Shot on. Fire for effect.
Response's To "Ruxted On The Media's Handling Of Cpl. Boneca's Death"
- Thread starter ruxted
- Start date
- Reaction score
- 146
- Points
- 710
cplcaldwell: My only roundl!
Mark
Ottawa
Mark
Ottawa
- Reaction score
- 9,145
- Points
- 1,260
mdh said:
Agree with you on this one MDH - there is a good discussion on another forum about how the Al Qa'ida media machine is outdoing us in the west. All our tactical victories will go for naught if we get the chair kicked out from under us by a superior press releases.
http://lightfighter.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/5131022531/m/5141078052
- Reaction score
- 2,526
- Points
- 1,260
As much as I've been disappointed in the coverage, I am starting to see more editorialists taking a more reasoned and honest approach (heaven forbid!):
From the Whitehorse Daily Star, 13 Jul 06
"Please respect my family's request for privacy during our time of grief." Look at the last line. Will we in the media do that? We, who fought so hard for the right to attend repatriation ceremonies of the remains of fallen soldiers?
Word yesterday was that media will be allowed to take pictures of the return of Boneca's coffin, presumably with the consent of his parents, but not interview them.
But that's at a military base where access is controlled. What
happens when Boneca's parents go home for their son's funeral, now
that they've been unwittingly thrown into a huge controversy?
Will we be true to our word then?
(....)
Will we in the media, wherever we stand on Afghanistan, examine
these issues in a way that respects our fallen soldiers and all who
serve?
I hope so. But I wouldn't count on it.
from the Orangeville Citizen, 13 Jul 06
http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2006/0713/Columns/035.html
"He hated it over there," according to DeCorte. "He was misled as to what was going to be there when he got there, and what he would be doing. He was very mad about that."
Boneca, of course, is not here to either confirm or deny this version of events, but it's a pity, given that he made the ultimate sacrifice, that this negative approach might come to characterize his service.
It's understandable that those who loved him are terribly upset. Who wouldn't be? But it's questionable journalistically to focus on such comments without at least having their veracity confirmed from elsewhere.
Let's hope it continues, but as the lady said, I doubt it...
From the Whitehorse Daily Star, 13 Jul 06
"Please respect my family's request for privacy during our time of grief." Look at the last line. Will we in the media do that? We, who fought so hard for the right to attend repatriation ceremonies of the remains of fallen soldiers?
Word yesterday was that media will be allowed to take pictures of the return of Boneca's coffin, presumably with the consent of his parents, but not interview them.
But that's at a military base where access is controlled. What
happens when Boneca's parents go home for their son's funeral, now
that they've been unwittingly thrown into a huge controversy?
Will we be true to our word then?
(....)
Will we in the media, wherever we stand on Afghanistan, examine
these issues in a way that respects our fallen soldiers and all who
serve?
I hope so. But I wouldn't count on it.
from the Orangeville Citizen, 13 Jul 06
http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2006/0713/Columns/035.html
"He hated it over there," according to DeCorte. "He was misled as to what was going to be there when he got there, and what he would be doing. He was very mad about that."
Boneca, of course, is not here to either confirm or deny this version of events, but it's a pity, given that he made the ultimate sacrifice, that this negative approach might come to characterize his service.
It's understandable that those who loved him are terribly upset. Who wouldn't be? But it's questionable journalistically to focus on such comments without at least having their veracity confirmed from elsewhere.
Let's hope it continues, but as the lady said, I doubt it...
- Reaction score
- 184
- Points
- 1,210
That's a good sign indeed. We can't (shouldn't) expect all the reports to take this view, but it's nice to see they're starting to gain some ground.
- Reaction score
- 829
- Points
- 1,060
I'd like to think, that maybe this site had some influence on these recent reflections.
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 160
Whiskey 601 : Great mountains, from little grains of sand, are built.
Discussion, discension and dialectic among friends: carries weight.
All: that's my fifteen minutes.
BZ
By these means. Out
Discussion, discension and dialectic among friends: carries weight.
All: that's my fifteen minutes.
BZ
By these means. Out
Michael Dorosh
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
CTV had an "Ask Us" segment on reservists tonight - I don't know if the statement that reservists have "seldom been employed" on operations until the 1990s is accurate but the piece stressed that 250 reservists are in the front line in Afghanistan and that they receive the same pre-deployment training as regulars.
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 210
I'm guessing the lack of Reservists actually deploying since the 1990's is indicated by the considerable number of Medals that seem to be on their chests......There's no question that statement is inaccurate.
Was that statement made by a reservist or CTV?
Was that statement made by a reservist or CTV?
Michael Dorosh
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
HollywoodHitman said:
It was by CTV - Ask Us is very brief, so I guess I can sort of understand the comment. Makes me giggle to think of "reservists" like Sir Arthur Currie or Bert Hoffmeister "not deploying on operations" but I guess they meant more recently. Funny, though, in just my regiment alone even in the late 1980s you would see medals for UNEF and UNFICYP - and while those were not for hotspots like the Airborne faced in Cyprus in 1974, I think they still count as "operations". And certainly reservists were integral in our Cold War commitment to Norway and the Federal Republic of Germany, even if a medal for that was late in coming. I realize NATO exercises are not "operations" by definition but those guys were trained to face the Red Army at a moment's notice. At any rate, I give them 99 percent accuracy for that one; perhaps there really is a trend that things are improving now that the press has had time to give sober second thought. Not that it excuses them from not doing so in the first place.
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 210
Understood Michael. The reason I asked is that once again it illustrates quite vividly that little research, if any at all was done by a media agency before releasing a half truth or completely inaccurate statement to the general public who hardly know better.
Cheers,
HH
Cheers,
HH
- Reaction score
- 2,526
- Points
- 1,260
Local media coverage of Cpl. Boneca coming home....
http://66.244.236.251/article_7674.php
Slain soldier arrives
By SARAH ELIZABETH BROWN
Jul 15, 2006, 00:08
Silent but for bagpipes and orders from the bearer party commander, a simple procession welcomed Cpl. Anthony Boneca home Friday morning.
Borne from Toronto on a WestJet flight, the casket carrying the 21-year-old soldier killed in action last Sunday in Kandahar, Afghanistan, arrived at Thunder Bay’s airport shortly before noon.
From right, parents Antonio and Shirley Boneca with girlfriend Megan DeCorte and her mom Laurie, hold hands for strength from one another as the casket of Cpl. Anthony Boneca approaches.
As the airport’s usual daily hustle and bustle went on around them, the civilian personnel unloading the plane stood silent as Boneca’s casket was led away on a low trolley across the tarmac by eight kilted soldiers.
Waiting outside the airfield’s chain link fence, family and friends stood along either side of a narrow, puddled road.
Four relatives carried single yellow roses.
Surrounded by members of their son’s reserve unit, the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, Antonio and Shirley Boneca stood on either side of an air force padre.
Megan DeCorte, Boneca’s 19-year-old girlfriend, stood on Shirley Boneca’s other side.
In a row, all four stood with hands clasped.
First in line to greet the fallen soldier’s casket was LSSR chief Lt.-Col. Brian Faulkner.
As the casket approached the gate, a kilted piper began playing Flowers in the Forest as eight Lake Superior reservists shouldered Boneca’s casket for the 30-metre walk to a waiting hearse.
Neatly tucked and pinned, the Canadian flag covering the casket has travelled with Boneca’s remains from Afghanistan.
Most of the pallbearers were about as young as the soldier whose body they carried.
Marching at the front of the four pallbearers on the casket’s left side, a young blond corporal’s face was still as stone as a single tear slipped down his unlined cheek.
Led by the Thunder Bay Garrison’s padre, Capt. Keri McLaughlin, the pallbearers lowered the casket into the hearse.
Relieved of their burden, they marched away, MacGillivray tartan swishing in time.
Chief warrant officer George Romick, the LSSR’s regimental sergeant major and a 30-year reservist, invited family to place flowers on Boneca’s casket before it proceeded to the funeral home.
Boneca will lie in state over the weekend, guarded by “Lake Sups” — pronounced “soups”— until the funeral Monday morning at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
© Copyright by Chronicle Journal.com
Sorry about pix quality - best one web page had to offer...
http://66.244.236.251/article_7674.php
Slain soldier arrives
By SARAH ELIZABETH BROWN
Jul 15, 2006, 00:08
Silent but for bagpipes and orders from the bearer party commander, a simple procession welcomed Cpl. Anthony Boneca home Friday morning.
Borne from Toronto on a WestJet flight, the casket carrying the 21-year-old soldier killed in action last Sunday in Kandahar, Afghanistan, arrived at Thunder Bay’s airport shortly before noon.
From right, parents Antonio and Shirley Boneca with girlfriend Megan DeCorte and her mom Laurie, hold hands for strength from one another as the casket of Cpl. Anthony Boneca approaches.
As the airport’s usual daily hustle and bustle went on around them, the civilian personnel unloading the plane stood silent as Boneca’s casket was led away on a low trolley across the tarmac by eight kilted soldiers.
Waiting outside the airfield’s chain link fence, family and friends stood along either side of a narrow, puddled road.
Four relatives carried single yellow roses.
Surrounded by members of their son’s reserve unit, the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, Antonio and Shirley Boneca stood on either side of an air force padre.
Megan DeCorte, Boneca’s 19-year-old girlfriend, stood on Shirley Boneca’s other side.
In a row, all four stood with hands clasped.
First in line to greet the fallen soldier’s casket was LSSR chief Lt.-Col. Brian Faulkner.
As the casket approached the gate, a kilted piper began playing Flowers in the Forest as eight Lake Superior reservists shouldered Boneca’s casket for the 30-metre walk to a waiting hearse.
Neatly tucked and pinned, the Canadian flag covering the casket has travelled with Boneca’s remains from Afghanistan.
Most of the pallbearers were about as young as the soldier whose body they carried.
Marching at the front of the four pallbearers on the casket’s left side, a young blond corporal’s face was still as stone as a single tear slipped down his unlined cheek.
Led by the Thunder Bay Garrison’s padre, Capt. Keri McLaughlin, the pallbearers lowered the casket into the hearse.
Relieved of their burden, they marched away, MacGillivray tartan swishing in time.
Chief warrant officer George Romick, the LSSR’s regimental sergeant major and a 30-year reservist, invited family to place flowers on Boneca’s casket before it proceeded to the funeral home.
Boneca will lie in state over the weekend, guarded by “Lake Sups” — pronounced “soups”— until the funeral Monday morning at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
© Copyright by Chronicle Journal.com
Sorry about pix quality - best one web page had to offer...
- Reaction score
- 146
- Points
- 710
Another great piece by the Globe's Christie Blatchford (full text not online):
An epitaph unworthy of this soldier
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20060715.COBLATCH15%2FTPStory%2FNational%2Fcolumnists&ord=5606384&brand=theglobeandmail&redirect_reason=2&denial_reasons=none&force_login=false
Excerpt:
'It was a couple of my readers -- former reserve infantryman Tim Richter and serving reserve infantryman Sergeant Matt Kirkpatrick -- who really nailed it. Both were writing about the death of Corporal Tony Boneca, the 21-year-old reserve infanteer who was killed, on a lovely morning a week ago tomorrow, in a vicious battle against the Taliban.
Mr. Richter's note landed first. He was regretting the tawdry spectacle, at home, which arose out of the young soldier's death and centred upon comments he'd made to his girlfriend and which, as seems inevitable now in the instant information age, found their way into the media.
"Surely he wouldn't want to be remembered for his private confidences to his girlfriend?" Mr. Richter wrote, and then said sorrowfully, "We have been so reckless in writing his epitaph."
Yes, we have.
But then we in Canada -- press and public both -- have been so reckless for so long in our treatment of our military that our collective carelessness with this young soldier's memory is hardly surprising.
As Sgt. Kirkpatrick -- who has twice served overseas, including one stint in Afghanistan, and who is preparing for another tour here in about a year -- put it in an e-mail, "I feel for Cpl. Boneca's family, but the media reaction to his death is a loss for all Canadians. A soldier dying in service to Canada is only a tragedy if we waste his gift."
Sgt. Kirkpatrick is, as are so many soldiers, what my National Post colleague Matthew Fisher described the other day as "ferociously articulate."..'
As many posts on this thread have demonstrated.
Norman Spector chose this piece as THE COLUMN I’M GLAD I DIDN’T WRITE on his website. Enough said.
http://www.members.shaw.ca/nspector4/TWO.htm
Mark
Ottawa
An epitaph unworthy of this soldier
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v4/sub/MarketingPage?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FLAC.20060715.COBLATCH15%2FTPStory%2FNational%2Fcolumnists&ord=5606384&brand=theglobeandmail&redirect_reason=2&denial_reasons=none&force_login=false
Excerpt:
'It was a couple of my readers -- former reserve infantryman Tim Richter and serving reserve infantryman Sergeant Matt Kirkpatrick -- who really nailed it. Both were writing about the death of Corporal Tony Boneca, the 21-year-old reserve infanteer who was killed, on a lovely morning a week ago tomorrow, in a vicious battle against the Taliban.
Mr. Richter's note landed first. He was regretting the tawdry spectacle, at home, which arose out of the young soldier's death and centred upon comments he'd made to his girlfriend and which, as seems inevitable now in the instant information age, found their way into the media.
"Surely he wouldn't want to be remembered for his private confidences to his girlfriend?" Mr. Richter wrote, and then said sorrowfully, "We have been so reckless in writing his epitaph."
Yes, we have.
But then we in Canada -- press and public both -- have been so reckless for so long in our treatment of our military that our collective carelessness with this young soldier's memory is hardly surprising.
As Sgt. Kirkpatrick -- who has twice served overseas, including one stint in Afghanistan, and who is preparing for another tour here in about a year -- put it in an e-mail, "I feel for Cpl. Boneca's family, but the media reaction to his death is a loss for all Canadians. A soldier dying in service to Canada is only a tragedy if we waste his gift."
Sgt. Kirkpatrick is, as are so many soldiers, what my National Post colleague Matthew Fisher described the other day as "ferociously articulate."..'
As many posts on this thread have demonstrated.
Norman Spector chose this piece as THE COLUMN I’M GLAD I DIDN’T WRITE on his website. Enough said.
http://www.members.shaw.ca/nspector4/TWO.htm
Mark
Ottawa
- Reaction score
- 2,526
- Points
- 1,260
Interesting line from this piece, from one of the Reservists quoted:
"I also asked them, in my will, to never speak publicly against the mission, as I felt it would stain any contribution I may have had."
"I also asked them, in my will, to never speak publicly against the mission, as I felt it would stain any contribution I may have had."
- Reaction score
- 2,526
- Points
- 1,260
Well, this is a pretty public way to find out how Canadian Press got some of Tony's e-mails....
http://ianbblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/rip-anthony-joseph-boneca.html
Also, I've heard from people in the know that some reporters would call the parents' house, saying they were friends of the family, then identify themselves as media when a family member was put on the line.
Nice....
http://ianbblog.blogspot.com/2006/07/rip-anthony-joseph-boneca.html
Also, I've heard from people in the know that some reporters would call the parents' house, saying they were friends of the family, then identify themselves as media when a family member was put on the line.
Nice....
- Reaction score
- 25
- Points
- 430
Just reading some of the crap that this 'best friend', "Ian Benninghaus of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada" with a tagline of "Live 365 from the mistake by the lake", is posting and the profanity. For a guy who says he is six years older than Tony, he sure isn't too mature. http://ianbblog.blogspot.com/ doesn't leave much doubt where this guy's agenda lies. I wonder about his tattoo also......looks a little bit like a stylized swastika. Oh! Well! Another raving lunatic on the internet.
Michael Dorosh
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
George Wallace said:
This "best friend" seems to be capitalizing on his friend's death to get hits on his lame website, doesn't he.
- Reaction score
- 2,526
- Points
- 1,260
Michael - indeed
I'm surprised the Canadian Press reporter was so obvious re: posting where they're from. It'll be interesting to see how long this post stays up.
Yet another area to cover in the "Media Non-disclosure Annex" of one's will....
I'm surprised the Canadian Press reporter was so obvious re: posting where they're from. It'll be interesting to see how long this post stays up.
Yet another area to cover in the "Media Non-disclosure Annex" of one's will....
- Reaction score
- 2,526
- Points
- 1,260
Again, it appears SOME get the point - highlights are mine.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/oluwatoyin071506.htm
Who speaks for our dead soldiers?
By Anthony Oluwatoyin
Saturday, July 15, 2006
We have a new low in Canadian journalism. Our dead soldiers in the Afghan Mission are being churned into a most unsavoury feed for the mad cow of anti-liberation sentiment.
A story put out by the Canadian Press (CP), and reprinted across the country, puts the lie and laugh to that organization’s self-promotion as "Canada’s multimedia news agency … the source for unbiased, timely reporting." In fact, the very timing of the story and its follow-up is as much an issue as the unspeakable skew of the story itself.
In Vancouver’s Province, July 11, the story started out life under the title of "No sympathy for dead soldier." Then followed comments from Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor in response to alleged comments about disillusion, attributed to our latest casualty in the liberation of Afghanistan, Cpl. Boneca, as allegedly relayed by alleged relatives.
"This is the military," O’Connor said. "You don't vote in and vote out of operations. You're in it."
That’s the "No sympathy" part, I guess. The Province, anyway, is saying that our Defence Minister has no heart for our heroic dead.
Well. If this be treason, brothers in print, make the most of it. Or, as that marvelous Lady of the Books would say: "Words escape me."
In fact, Cpl. Boneca’s father, no less, echoed our Defence Minister in defence of his late son. Antonio Boneca said his son, Anthony, "loved being in the army" and was aware of the situation he was facing. "In all my conversations with my son, there was never any mention of him not being well enough or fit enough to carry out his military duties."
And here’s where the ugly truth comes out. Boneca's father said while his son talked of the difficulties of the Afghan Mission, "to cope with the weather, the sand, and the situation the young children endured," the fact is that our latest hero told his father that "he was proud to make a difference in their lives and said he wished these children could live like we do in Canada."
There. That’s what the Bush-bashing ignorati cannot stand. They keep getting head-butted by young men from the front lines who keep sending word of explicit commitment. These young men cannot be dismissed or disregarded. These are the boys who took on the full nobility of sacrifice. They keep reminding us exactly why. How inconvenient for agenda-journalists!
In the U.S. there is now almost no mention of the pride Cindy Sheehan’s son took in his work, posthumously getting the Purple Heart. The media focus is all about his mother’s complete co-optation by anti-American self-mortification.
With every Canadian casualty, the serpent-windings of the loon-left ensnarl relative after relative in search of an unbroken narrative of dissent, disillusion and despair.
So first we hear from Boneca’s relatives insisting the young man was finished with the mission. Only later, the day after, for the most part, was there "balance," with reports to the contrary from his father.
Exactly when did the CP know of the full story? Was the full story released to participating news outlets all in a piece, or was the negative portion given uncontested first mention, to maximize demoralizing effects? Or, did different outlets monkey about with the reports, in an effort to undermine the war effort without appearing to raise issues about the ultimate "source," the CP?
Our CBC was at its twisted best. They had Boneca’s "Uncle Bill" supposedly conceding of the young man, "I don’t know what he saw, don’t know what he did…" but actually, inexorably, concluding: "Get the troops out, get them back home"! At which point, dead soldier, alleged relative and agenda-journalist merged into an indecipherable whole.
When the Communist Broadcast of Canada, the CBC, put on "Uncle Bill," did they at the same time already have the contrarian account of Boneca’s father? Did the CBC suppress the latter in pursuit of their anti-Canadian agenda?
The media, normally entrusted with our right to know, is itself under a pall here. So who will investigate the investigators?
Barely two months ago, the same shenanigans were in full nuance of articulation and presentation in the instance of Canada’s first female combat soldier killed on the front lines, Nichola Goddard. Her full-toothed embrace of the risks of duty had to compete with skillful gaps drilled deep into the cleansing details of a partial or total ban on media coverage of repatriation of fallen soldiers, memorials and funeral services.
Dr. Goddard, Nichola’s father, took the bait, turning the funeral of a hero into partisan jibes at Prime Minister Harper’s coverage policies. Nichola’s husband, fellow soldier, Jason Beam, had already restored equilibrium though. Following Nichola’s death, he said: "We shouldn't tuck our tails behind our legs and run …. We've kind of got our foot in the door now to start making a difference. I think we need to follow through and carry on with the mission."
Amen. Who speaks for our soldiers? Who speaks for our dead soldiers? They do. Shakespeare got it exactly wrong. There is a goodness and truth that cannot be buried with bones.
The media needs to be banned from gross attempts to exploit grieving relatives into solace and comfort for the enemy.
I said treason — by any other name.
Anthony Oluwatoyin, a columnist for The Afro News, writes on politics, race and religion. He can be reached at oluwatoyin63@yahoo.ca
---
I'm dropping a line to Mr. Oluwatoyin to thank him.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/oluwatoyin071506.htm
Who speaks for our dead soldiers?
By Anthony Oluwatoyin
Saturday, July 15, 2006
We have a new low in Canadian journalism. Our dead soldiers in the Afghan Mission are being churned into a most unsavoury feed for the mad cow of anti-liberation sentiment.
A story put out by the Canadian Press (CP), and reprinted across the country, puts the lie and laugh to that organization’s self-promotion as "Canada’s multimedia news agency … the source for unbiased, timely reporting." In fact, the very timing of the story and its follow-up is as much an issue as the unspeakable skew of the story itself.
In Vancouver’s Province, July 11, the story started out life under the title of "No sympathy for dead soldier." Then followed comments from Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor in response to alleged comments about disillusion, attributed to our latest casualty in the liberation of Afghanistan, Cpl. Boneca, as allegedly relayed by alleged relatives.
"This is the military," O’Connor said. "You don't vote in and vote out of operations. You're in it."
That’s the "No sympathy" part, I guess. The Province, anyway, is saying that our Defence Minister has no heart for our heroic dead.
Well. If this be treason, brothers in print, make the most of it. Or, as that marvelous Lady of the Books would say: "Words escape me."
In fact, Cpl. Boneca’s father, no less, echoed our Defence Minister in defence of his late son. Antonio Boneca said his son, Anthony, "loved being in the army" and was aware of the situation he was facing. "In all my conversations with my son, there was never any mention of him not being well enough or fit enough to carry out his military duties."
And here’s where the ugly truth comes out. Boneca's father said while his son talked of the difficulties of the Afghan Mission, "to cope with the weather, the sand, and the situation the young children endured," the fact is that our latest hero told his father that "he was proud to make a difference in their lives and said he wished these children could live like we do in Canada."
There. That’s what the Bush-bashing ignorati cannot stand. They keep getting head-butted by young men from the front lines who keep sending word of explicit commitment. These young men cannot be dismissed or disregarded. These are the boys who took on the full nobility of sacrifice. They keep reminding us exactly why. How inconvenient for agenda-journalists!
In the U.S. there is now almost no mention of the pride Cindy Sheehan’s son took in his work, posthumously getting the Purple Heart. The media focus is all about his mother’s complete co-optation by anti-American self-mortification.
With every Canadian casualty, the serpent-windings of the loon-left ensnarl relative after relative in search of an unbroken narrative of dissent, disillusion and despair.
So first we hear from Boneca’s relatives insisting the young man was finished with the mission. Only later, the day after, for the most part, was there "balance," with reports to the contrary from his father.
Exactly when did the CP know of the full story? Was the full story released to participating news outlets all in a piece, or was the negative portion given uncontested first mention, to maximize demoralizing effects? Or, did different outlets monkey about with the reports, in an effort to undermine the war effort without appearing to raise issues about the ultimate "source," the CP?
Our CBC was at its twisted best. They had Boneca’s "Uncle Bill" supposedly conceding of the young man, "I don’t know what he saw, don’t know what he did…" but actually, inexorably, concluding: "Get the troops out, get them back home"! At which point, dead soldier, alleged relative and agenda-journalist merged into an indecipherable whole.
When the Communist Broadcast of Canada, the CBC, put on "Uncle Bill," did they at the same time already have the contrarian account of Boneca’s father? Did the CBC suppress the latter in pursuit of their anti-Canadian agenda?
The media, normally entrusted with our right to know, is itself under a pall here. So who will investigate the investigators?
Barely two months ago, the same shenanigans were in full nuance of articulation and presentation in the instance of Canada’s first female combat soldier killed on the front lines, Nichola Goddard. Her full-toothed embrace of the risks of duty had to compete with skillful gaps drilled deep into the cleansing details of a partial or total ban on media coverage of repatriation of fallen soldiers, memorials and funeral services.
Dr. Goddard, Nichola’s father, took the bait, turning the funeral of a hero into partisan jibes at Prime Minister Harper’s coverage policies. Nichola’s husband, fellow soldier, Jason Beam, had already restored equilibrium though. Following Nichola’s death, he said: "We shouldn't tuck our tails behind our legs and run …. We've kind of got our foot in the door now to start making a difference. I think we need to follow through and carry on with the mission."
Amen. Who speaks for our soldiers? Who speaks for our dead soldiers? They do. Shakespeare got it exactly wrong. There is a goodness and truth that cannot be buried with bones.
The media needs to be banned from gross attempts to exploit grieving relatives into solace and comfort for the enemy.
I said treason — by any other name.
Anthony Oluwatoyin, a columnist for The Afro News, writes on politics, race and religion. He can be reached at oluwatoyin63@yahoo.ca
---
I'm dropping a line to Mr. Oluwatoyin to thank him.
