The Right’s War on Media Comes to BC

It’s not just John Rustad’s candidates that voters should scrutinize. The people around him are at least as important.

Like Anthony Koch, the campaign spokesperson for the BC Conservatives whose recent experience was in a similar role for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Last week, Tyee legislative bureau chief Andrew MacLeod sent a question to the BC Conservatives’ communications team. Premier David Eby had said that morning that Rustad had “committed to ban books on climate science from our classrooms.”

MacLeod asked the NDP to provide evidence for the claim.

And asked the Conservative team for a response.

“Is that correct?” he wrote in an email. “I’ve asked Eby’s office for a source on it and will see what they say. If there is one, it wasn’t immediately at their fingertips.”

“Any comment or an interview with Mr. Rustad would be welcome,” MacLeod added.

That’s what journalists do.

Traditionally, party communications staff provide some sort of answer, even if less than complete.

Not the BC Conservatives.

Instead, Koch went on X and posted a screenshot of MacLeod’s question.

“Look at this top quality ‘journalism’ from the folks over at the totally not left-wing rag Tyee. What would we do without them?”

No answer to a simple and legitimate question, just insults on a social media platform known for increasingly unfounded and bitter attacks.

MacLeod, who has covered the legislature for almost 20 years and has known John Rustad for most of that time, was doing his job. He was not accepting Eby’s claim without checking it and he wanted to hear what the Conservatives had to say. It’s what reporters who are committed to fairness and accuracy do.

Journalists should accept harsh public criticism. Readers can judge our work.

But Koch wasn’t really attacking MacLeod or The Tyee. He was attacking the basic role of journalists in asking questions and providing information to the public. While politicians and parties don’t necessarily like that kind of accountability, they have traditionally accepted it as part of our democratic process — even from reporters and outlets they may perceive as unfriendly.

Until now, when political operatives have decided their strategy is to demonize the media.

Donald Trump championed the tactic. Any story that set out facts he disagreed with was “fake news.” Media outlets and reporters were dishonest and “nasty.” Journalists were “enemies of the people.”

This isn’t just the usual Trump petulance. It is a tactic designed to undermine accountability and sweep away the importance of facts in favour of emotional appeals — often to voters’ worst instincts.

Longtime journalist and professor Jay Rosen explored the approach in 2016.

“A political style that mocks the idea of a common world of facts — and gets traction with that view — is an attack on the very possibility of honest journalism,” he wrote.

That served Trump’s purpose. And it apparently serves Poilievre, Koch’s former client. Poilievre uses attacks on the media to fundraise — “We need your support to broadcast Pierre's common sense message over and around the Liberal-funded biased media,” said a December pitch for money.

And to undermine journalism and curry favour with his base, in Trump’s fashion.

The attack on MacLeod for asking a question shows how phoney these tactics are.

I’ve been MacLeod’s editor at The Tyee for about eight years. I have no idea which party, if any, he would vote for. Readers who have scanned the hundreds of stories he’s reported couldn’t reasonably claim any partisan bias.

The day before the online attack, MacLeod reported on a study that found the NDP government was falling short in delivering two critical rental support programs. A week earlier he used freedom of information documents to report the NDP government had made recycling policy changes that pushed up the cost of milk for consumers by $22.9 million a year.

MacLeod is a reporter. He finds information that matters and shares it.

Of course, as a hired political gun based in Montreal, not B.C., it’s likely Koch knew nothing about that when he attacked The Tyee and MacLeod’s integrity.

Which is a symptom of another problem. Campaigns are increasingly staffed by people who don’t know the issues, candidates or people. And their careers — their chances to get the next contract — depend on winning. It makes for a cutthroat approach to politics.

So far, Koch been successful. A year ago the National Post included him as one of 12 conservatives to watch on “Canada’s rising right.” It pegged him for a key role in Poilievre’s coming federal campaign, despite — or because of — acts like tweeting that “the average MP is a moron with the political instincts of a goat.” (Conservative candidates should wonder if Koch thinks the same of them.)

Back here in B.C., Koch quickly took the tweet attacking MacLeod down. Rustad didn’t respond to a voice message left on his cellphone. (He was having a busy week as the Conservatives negotiated with BC United.)

And neither said sorry. Which provided an interesting contrast. In 2022, then premier John Horgan berated MacLeod in a press conference over a question related to the NDP’s leadership campaign. Horgan did apologize, genuinely, publicly and repeatedly.

The effort to make things right spoke to Horgan’s character and had nothing to do with where he sat on the political spectrum.

The Conservatives’ instinct to attack, and failure to apologize, also speaks to character — and the new and dangerous form of politics they are practising.