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White House Bouncers & Manhattan Boardrooms: How Trump & Carney Stifle Press Access · Kvetch & Release

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Good morning, Gene. Dude, it has been a crazy 24
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: hours for political media. What's the single thread connecting Washington,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Ottawa and New York right now?
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: It really has been a crazy week, Gene, and I
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: know you're going to want to tear into each circus individually,
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: but first, you know, collectively, it's just been a wildly
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: depressing 48 hours of whiplash for Western media, especially for
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Canadian journalists. The single thread that connects it all is
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: the total dysfunction of the press gallery in the face
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: of hyper-centralized executive power On, unfortunately, both sides of the border,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: not just with Trump, but also here in Canada, modern
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: political leaders have figured out the ultimate cheat code. You
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: don't actually have to face an unscripted adversarial local press
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: corp that holds you accountable. You can just ignore them,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: or you can lock the front doors on local reporters,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: or you can fly 30,000 feet over their heads to
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: control the narrative on hand-picked platforms. I mean, it's not
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: a great story right now, and we're watching it here,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: and I'm sure that, you know, the news department on
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: your side of things is not happy about the state
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: of things either.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, in Washington, D.C., American reporters... were turned away
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: at the gate of the White House yesterday morning, despite
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: a federal court order. Meanwhile, Chinese state TV, with the
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: leader visiting Washington, sat on the south lawn of the
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: White House, and it got even crazier. The Chinese media
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: got into the Oval Office, while CNN couldn't even get
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: into the White House. How does something like that happen
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: in the White House, of all places?
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Well, this happens, Gene, because everyone is emboldened. Trump looks
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: fantastic to his base when he punches the fake news
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: media in the teeth, and the outlets look great to
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: their subscribers when they play the constitutional martyr. There is
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: zero incentive left for anyone to be nice and play ball,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: quite frankly. But the problem with that, of course, is
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: that the big players still don't care much about domestic
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Canadian politics for us here. So in the U.S., they
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: got the big fish Carney on a silver platter without
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: having to worry about any of his local baggage at
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: the New York Times while we are getting burned domestically.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: And Trump is able to, you know, hold his laser pointer,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: if you will, and point it where the media will
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: run to.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Well, I mentioned this yesterday. I was not very happy
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: about the fact that Mark Carney spent an hour in
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: midtown Manhattan giving an exclusive to the New York Times
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: about Canadian national security and U.S. invasion scenarios. We talked
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: about this a lot yesterday. Now, what I'm wondering, this
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: is why I have you on to give me a
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: good take on this, why drop a story like that
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: about Canadians and Canadian security in the New York Times
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: instead of the Globe and Mail, the Star, or one
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: of the many post-media newspapers?
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Well, listen, I mean, Mark Carney is a double bank
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: governor from the United Kingdom and from Canada, of course.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: And he is used to the world stage and he
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: can command a boardroom. And when he says something in
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: a boardroom like that, even a New York Times boardroom.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: There's not going to be any pushback on him whatsoever, whereas,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: you know, those pesky Canadian reporters are going to have
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: a lot more follow-up. So he sat down in midtown
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Manhattan for an hour with 10 American editors and dropped
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: this massive national policy news revealing that Ottawa actually modeled
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: extreme tail risk, whatever that means, U.S. invasion scenarios. and
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: saying that we're ditching Starlink from Elon Musk and we're
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: reviewing the F-35 fighter jet purchases. Maybe we just make
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: a decision sooner or later, please. But regardless, international legacy
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: papers will give the leaders the glassy Davos statesmen. polish
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: that they crave while canadian reporters back home are asking
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: those pesky uncomfortable questions about you know execution inflation local
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: accountability what does this all mean blah blah blah.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: No one wants those questions yeah well the globe and
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: mail obviously had to write their lead story based on
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: what the prime minister told an american newspaper kind of
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: sounds like the domestic media is getting just a little
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: frozen out here Yeah.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: It is, 100%. And how embarrassing, right, Jane? I mean,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: we deserve better. The globe deserves better. All of our
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: media deserves better. If a Canadian prime minister is literally
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: preparing for a U.S. invasion, why are we finding out
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: about this months after the fact through an American newspaper?
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: I mean, we should be picking up our own newspapers
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: and finding this out while it is— well, maybe not exactly
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: while it's happening— But I don't expect to find out
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: about it months later from an American foreign outlet. It's unconscionable. And,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, the Globe asked the PMO for comment on
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: the story, and they were handed a quick no comment.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Because there's nothing more to add to it, of course, right?
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: So foreign journalists are getting an hour of meticulous detail
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: in Manhattan, and our paper of record gets a no
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: comment back home. This is embarrassing.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, it sounds to me like Mark Carney
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: is taking a page right out of Katy Perry's boyfriend's
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: playbook here, using elite global media to build a brand
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: over the head of domestic reporters and media.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, Gene. I mean, Trudeau did it well. We
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: saw that like right off the bat with him. And
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: Carney has evolved it to his level, banker style. For
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: a decade, Justin Trudeau treated international media like Rolling Stone, Vogue,
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: The Daily Show as his personal vanity project. and he
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: built a global progressive image over the heads of Ottawa scrums.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: And Mark Carney took that exact same flyover strategy and
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: gave it a central banker polish. Why do chaotic pressers
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: in the foyer of the House of Commons when you
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: can sit in a carpeted boardroom with 10 American editors,
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: look like the smartest guy in the room, be the
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: smartest guy in the room, and leave Canadian reporters back
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: home to cover the pre-recorded video drops that you have?
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: It's a really smart PR strategy. It's just, you know,
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: terrible for democracy.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, it's interesting. Mark Carney doesn't like scrums.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: And if a female journalist asks him a question, he
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: treats them terribly. And it's not just me saying that.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: I've asked several friends of mine who are journalists, including one.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: I can't say her name, but let's just say she
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: hosted the biggest nighttime newscast right across Canada. And they
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: all agree with me. He doesn't like female journalists and
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: he doesn't like unscripted scrums. You know, in fact, he
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: released that produced video a couple of weeks ago and
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: everybody said, oh, what a video. Well, no, he did
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: that because you don't have to have reporters when you
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: do a video. So he does talk to the global press.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: They give him softball questions. And this interview with The
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: New York Times, does that not prove my point?
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: I think it absolutely does prove the point, Gene, because
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: every reporter wants the Mark Carney interview. That's something for
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: their career, which means necessarily that they're going to be
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: wearing a special kind of gloves. It hands his critics
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: their exact arguments. on a silver platter. In Canada, domestic
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: journalists get pre-recorded the video drops, the canceled pressers, an
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: empty question period. He's not really on Canadian soil that often,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: all while American editors are getting this one-hour unscripted sit-down
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: interview that they get to use for their purposes. And
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: he didn't drop a softball profile. He dropped core national
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: defense policy to a foreign outlet before Canadians. It's terrible.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Before the domestic audience. It completely proves the critic's point.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: It looks like a prime minister who prefers a global
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: applause over domestic accountability.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Well, where did he start his campaign to become prime minister?
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: On The Daily Show.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: On The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Hey, listen, I'm
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: out of town. I always say I'm out of town.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: I'm out of time. At the end of the day,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: when politicians sort of handpick their platforms and bypass local press,
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: who actually loses?
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Well, you should go out of town, Gene. Go get
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: a vacation. The public gets deprived, though, of real accountability.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Domestic journalism is frozen out, and leaders end up living
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: inside an insulated, self-serving bubble of curated exposure. Canadians shouldn't
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: have to buy a subscription to an American newspaper to
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: find out how our own government plans to defend its
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: own sovereignty. When politicians replace unscripted local scrutiny with hand-picked
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: global platforms, democracy is the ultimate casualty. We all deserve better.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: All right. Great take this morning, Mr. Litke. Have a
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: fantastic weekend. We'll have another take with you on Monday morning.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: Looking forward to it, you too. Get out of town.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Get out of town. John Litke, Litke's Got a Take.