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Concerns about media access to Harper brushed off with “sad clown”

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Stephen Harper‘s camp is taking some flack after a top Conservative staffer brushed off concerns about media access.

A parliamentary reporter who wrote about the difficulties of asking questions on the campaign trail says he was not only snubbed by the Conservative’s chief election spokesman but sent a picture of a sad clown.

There has been a lot of grumbling from the media about the tight handling of Harper’s campaign appearances. Questions are limited and often vetted before being approved and Justin Ling with VICE News says he did not want to do that story.

But after trying to pose a question about Turkey and ISIS and bumping up against Harper’s head handler Kory Tenycke, Ling is appalled at how things played out.

“I’ve obviously had problems with how the Conservatives have dealt with media relations for some time when the Prime Minister was just the Prime Minister and not running for reelection. It was already hard enough to get a chance to question Harper or even be allowed into his events,” Ling tells NEWS 1130.

“I suppose some of us expected it to get better during the campaign, so when the Conservative Party announced they would allow five questions per event, four would go to national reporters and one to a local reporter, I was pretty happy.” he says.

But Ling says the party has put such strict limits on who can ask questions, he considers the policy meaningless.

“National reporters who are not paying to get on the campaign bus, $3,000 a day or $12,500 a week, or $78,000 for the entire two-and-a-half-month campaign, don’t get to ask a question. Ever.”

Meanwhile, local reporters lucky enough to be allowed to ask a question have their queries vetted and approved to ensure they are “local” enough.

Ling says he tried to ask Harper a question at an event in Ontario last week but was told by Tenycke it wouldn’t happen as he was neither local nor tour media.

When Ling persisted, he says his concerns were brushed off and Tenycke told him to “go write a story about it.”

“It is absurd. It means that only about a half-dozen reporters in the country will get to question the Prime Minister over the course of this campaign. I think any Canadian should be completely taken aback and staggered by that.”

By the way, Ling did write a story about it and after it was published, he says he received a little present from Kory Tenycke.

“He sent me a picture of a sad clown because I dared comment on the fact they were banning from from asking questions,” Ling laughs incredulously.

“The fact he had the gall to chastise me when I tried to call out my question after the event as though I was the one causing the problem as opposed to him limiting access by the media boggles my mind.”

Ling believes no party should have that level of control over media access.

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