jje1000
Senior Member
A huge part of the problem is how complacent the media is in this town (with the exception of the newspapers [not the Sun]). The TV and radio news networks will report practically anything Ford says as an unchallenged fact. An example is how the media loves to play soundbites of Ford raving about how he's saved Toronto billions of dollars. After they play the soundbite, do they challenge the mayor at all and point out how that couldn't be further from the truth? Of course they don't. They move on to the next story. Now to the average Joe, who just came home from a long day of work and is watching the news, Ford saving Toronto billions of dollars is an undeniable fact. And I can't blame an average guy for coming to that conclusion. We can't expect everyone to go online to search the details of the municipal budget to see that Ford is completely lying when he says he's saved us billions of dollars. That's the responsibility of the news media, and it's something that they've completely failed at.
This is literally what I said earlier:
Literally at this point, anything that Ford says has been printed out in mainstream media loud and clear, with the truth quietly stated in the actual article. It's literally that people see what Ford says first, and the truth afterwards. And we know that this doesn't work, as CowboyLogic pointed out that people don't have the time/are mostly too lazy to go over the news. To change people's minds these days, you will literally need to state the truth right beside Ford's statements, simply and loudly (KISS). And the main area to battle him on is in finance and budgets, not Pride or bike lanes- you need to think like Ford's voters in order to change their minds. Defeating Ford is going to be a hard task if people don't step up to the plate, or simply give up and go elsewhere.
The fact that newspapers were so timid in challenging Ford allows his lies and half-truths to take root and spread. I'm constantly puzzled especially by the Globe, which seems almost reluctant to abandon Ford. And the result is Ford Nation.
Really:
Ford says something => newsapapers, tv & radio report it without disuputing his claims (aka simply reporting that Ford says he can save a billion dollars, Toronto has a lower operating budget, etc.) => people believe there is a grain of truth + Disillusionment with current political system) = Some people are absorbed by Ford's Sun-spun persona and become part of Ford Nation.
These people are really clinging onto the belief that Ford isn't part of the "system". Aka the conservative-manufactured "cartel" of unions, developers, special interest groups money wasters, corrupt politicians, etc.