CAMPBELL CLARK AND BILL CURRY

Ottawa — The Harper government's move to demand central control over all government communications is part of an international pattern of governments seeking to centralize their message while they face pressures to increase openness and accountability, an expert in government information practices says.

Communications aides to leaders say the move is just an expansion of the kind of efforts most administrations have tried — efforts that have invariably fallen apart.

Alasdair Roberts, a Canadian who is professor of public policy at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in the United States, said governments in the United States, Britain and Canada have all sought to impose central control.

"You see all three of these governments basically putting an emphasis on message discipline," said Prof. Roberts, who has just published a book titled Blacked Out: Government Secrecy in the Information Age.

"But then the flip side is they all face pressure to enhance accountability — which is essentially a story about giving up power."

In Britain, Tony Blair's government became obsessed with centralized message control, and then waffled for years on its promise of new freedom-of-information legislation, watering it down when it was implemented. In the U.S., the Bush administration has cracked down on government officials who leak documents and freedom-of-information requests, and built up government communications staffs.

The motivation is common to all countries: trying to cope with faster news cycles and 24-hour media, a proliferation of special-interest groups and new information technology such as the Web and the BlackBerry.

Eventually, most of those governments lose some control, and both Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair have been plagued by leaks and public criticism by former senior figures in their governments.

The Globe and Mail reported yesterday that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has imposed central control over all government communications.

An internal e-mail summarazing a briefing given by two of the government's most senior officials to communications managers indicates the Prime Minister's Office has demanded it vet all communications materials from departments, and that ministers and officials seek to avoid events or comments that are not about its top five priorities. It suggests ministers are to reduce contact with the press and "have been told not to speculate on the future direction of government."

Patrick Gossage, a former press secretary to prime minister Pierre Trudeau who coaches politicians on media relations, said the new government's strategy is simply unworkable.

"Every PMO in the history of PMOs since Trudeau's PMO at least have made attempts to control the message centrally, usually without success," he said. "We tried to do it for a little while. It didn't work. . . . They're in a way, dysfunctional, because it makes the team look like it's not a team."

Other governments have successfully used similar strategies, but usually on a smaller scale, he noted.

For instance, Mr. Gossage said all press releases from Ontario ministers must first be approved by the office of Premier Dalton McGuinty. Mr. Gossage said the McGuinty system simply delays press releases for a few hours to screen them for anything "stupid."

"It's quite another thing to try and control every word that comes out of a minister's mouth. It's totally impossible," he said. "These are grownups that you're dealing with and they're going to be in situations, particularly outside of Ottawa, that are within the realm of their own department. Are they going to check to see if it falls under the five headings? I hardly think so."

Globe and Mail

Bill Curry | Ottawa | March 21

The Globe and Mail - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his desire to have all public comments cleared by his office is nothing unusual and is aimed at ensuring that his ministers don't contradict each other.

Mr. Harper responded for the first time since The Globe and Mail reported on a new policy in which all of the government's communications, from speeches to letters to the editor, must have prior approval from the Prime Minister's Office.

"I think the rules of this government are the same as the rules in any other government. It is necessary for the government to speak with one voice and ministers know the announcements of other ministers before reading them in the papers," he said in French during a television interview broadcast last night on TVA.

"We declared war on terror, it's not even a noun, so, good luck. After we defeat it, I'm sure we'll take on that bastard ennui." - Jon Stewart.

( from April 13 Politics Watch via cursor.org, which compares this to the Bush press strategy)

Romeo St. Martin | Ottawa | April 13

The battle between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Parliamentary Press Gallery intensified this week at a press conference where the Federal Accountability Act was unveiled.

In a podcast, PoliticsWatch replays what happened on Tuesday when the PM tried to bypass Press Gallery reporters lined up at a microphone.

> Listen to the podcast of the PM's press conference[link to the Politics watch itself above to get the podcast]

Timeline of the Battle Between Harper and the Press Gallery

> January 26: Harper chooses the foyer of the House of Commons over the National Press Theatre to hold his first press conference as PM-designate. Harper's aides say the site was selected to bookend his campaign, which was launched in the same spot. Some reporters are not comfortable with one of Harper's aides controlling the list of names of reporters who get to ask questions.

> February 1: Harper holds a press conference to react to the Gomery inquiry's recommendations in the National Press Theatre.

> February 6: Harper faces an open scrum with reporters on the third floor of the Centre Block after the first cabinet meeting of his new government.

> February 7 to 20: With the controversy over some of his cabinet appointments dominating news coverage, Harper does not hold a media availability for two weeks.

> February 20: Harper holds a media availability in a small room on Parliament Hill to announce his plans to change the Supreme Court selection process. His aides again control a list of reporters with questions.

> February 20: Sandra Buckler replaces William Stairs as Harper's communication director.

> February 21: Harper holds his second news conference in as many days, this time in the foyer. Again one of his aides controls the list of names of reporters with questions. When asked if his two press conferences were a sign of a new communications strategy, Harper tersely responded, "I will be available whenever I have something to announce."

> March 1: Harper holds his third wide-ranging news conference in the foyer since becoming PM. Reporters are pleased with the amount of questions being taken and the newsworthiness of the answers Harper is providing at these events, but at the same time are still uncomfortable with his aides controlling who asks questions.

> March 7: Harper's staff tells reporters they will no longer be allowed to wait for ministers in the third-floor Centre Block hallway outside the cabinet meeting room. His staff says Harper and his ministers will take questions a floor below in the foyer. The PMO says the reason for the change is "more space." Reporters are suspicious it will give cabinet ministers more escape routes after cabinet meetings. Harper holds his fourth press conference in the foyer with his aides controlling who asks questions. While he holds his press conference on the second floor, embattled Trade Minister David Emerson leaves the cabinet room on the third floor and faces a smaller pack of reporters.

> March 8: Parliamentary Press Gallery president Emanuelle Latraverse writes a formal letter of complaint to the PMO, saying the new restrictions on covering cabinet meetings would "roll back decades of tradition and impede the freedom of the press to have access to our country's top decision makers."

> March 17: The Globe and Mail publishes a leaked internal government document revealing the Conservatives are deliberately restricting media access to cabinet ministers as part of their communications strategy. The decision to not allow reporters to set up outside of cabinet meetings is specifically mentioned as part of this strategy.

> March 23: Some reporters fed up with Harper's aides controling who asks questions start shouting comments and follow-up questions during a Harper press conference in Gatineau.

> March 24: A meeting between the Parliamentary Press Gallery executive and officials from the PMO does little to settle the growing row, and raises new concerns that the PMO may hold secret cabinet meetings to circumvent House of Commons rules allowing reporters to set up outside publicly announced meetings.

> March 27: A transcript of the meeting between the Press Gallery and the PMO communication staff is released to reporters. PoliticsWatch publishes the full transcript.

> March 28: The government holds a cabinet meeting without informing the media. Harper later defends the decision at a press conference in the foyer, saying it is within his constitutional powers.

> March 31: A rookie B.C. Conservative MP issues an an apology after writing a letter to a local newspaper floating the idea of jailing journalists who write inaccurate or misleading news stories.

> April 5: Harper holds a surprise scrum with reporters after a Tory caucus meeting. It is the first time in two months Harper meets the Hill media without his aides controlling who asks questions.

> April 7: At their annual general meeting, the Press Gallery membership unanimously supports resolutions to deplore efforts by the PMO to limit access to cabinet ministers and to signal it would no longer allow PMO aides control who asks questions at press conferences. Journalists informally agree not to provide their names to Harper's aide and to instead line up at a Press Gallery microphone at news conferences.

> April 11: The Press Gallery sets up its own microphones in the foyer where Harper is scheduled to hold a news conference to launch the Federal Accountability Act. At the last minute, the PMO moves the location to a smaller room in the Centre Block. Reporters tell Harper's aide they will not be providing him their names for a list of questions. Harper delays the news conference by 20 minutes and reluctantly relents to take questions from the first two reporters in the line up.

_{"at some point I'm hopeful I'll figure out something to put here:-)"}