Hmmm, how many important news stories will be relegated to page two before the Rob Ford controversy runs its sordid course?
Try a Google search for “top news stories” at this very moment. It is pretty much a sure thing that one of the top 10 will be the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of beleaguered Toronto mayor Rob Ford.
For my readers from other areas of the country, you need to know that Rob Ford is a shoot-from-the-hip, unapologetic local politician who attracts criticism in much the same way that road kill attracts vultures. A simple Google search of his name currently delivers 399,000,000 hits which vaults him into cult status.
Ford is one of those guys that is either passionately loved or thoroughly despised depending on which camp you land in. (Personally, I abstain from picking a side. I choose to be apolitical wherever possible.) He has an ongoing, no-holds-barred battle with a major newspaper which never passes up an opportunity to put his face on the front page below a screeching headline.
What does raise my hackles is the fact that the media seems to believe that his situation deserves the top banner headline, or lead story on the evening news, ahead of other more pressing stories, such as:
Nine people killed and 75 injured in Oklahoma City, after multiple tornados and thunderstorms swept through Friday night at rush hour, before the dust had even settled from the F5 tornado that hit the Oklahoma suburb of Moore on May 20.
The crash of an emergency services Sikorsky helicopter in Northern Ontario in which two pilots and two paramedics were tragically killed.
High winds and severe hunderstorms which knocked out power and flooded two rivers near Quebec City making it necessary for firefighters to evacuate 51 homes and rescue 68 people.
Two days of anti-government protests in Turkey which saw police using tear gas and pressurized water to disperse demonstrators.
Sadly, I don’t see any end in sight to the Ford headlines. Ford’s supporters are rapidly abandoning ship putting enough blood in the water to keep the media sharks circling for some time yet.
Truthfully, I don’t feel much sympathy for Ford. I think he fancies himself as a shark in his own right. His love for the spotlight and his adversarial bent make him his own worst enemy. But I do feel bad that his term as mayor will be remembered mostly for his shark fights with the media.
I doubt that Ford set out to become a metaphor for sharks fighting sharks. But that’s what he has become – a Great White Shark surrounded by ravenous Hammerhead Media Sharks in a blood feud where all parties lose. One thing is certain. There will be a lot more blood in the water before his name is retired to the media archives.
~ Michael Robert Dyet is the author of “Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel” – double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com or the novel online companion at www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog.
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Tags: media · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · Moore tornado · Oklahoma City tornado · Roh Ford · sharksNo Comments