Gossip Girl

I admit, some reservation when I first heard Jane Taber would start offering a daily "Ottawa Notebook" for Canada's flagship publication. The reasoning was simply, already prone to chasing gossip, expanding the frequency would just lead to more trivial pursuits, in an effort to fill space. I think it fair to say, my initial hesitation has been vindicated, as I've read a slew of the most superficial of postings, amounting to an embarrassing display of tabloid journalism on a paper that supposedly has "standards".

Jeff posts today on a column from yesterday that was entirely offensive. With a touch of irony, readers are left "stupefied" with each successive offering that really offers nothing at all, except fabricated storylines. Jeff highlights the sequence of events, wherein this entire discussion about who Ignatieff would cheer for last night, was entirely a one person show, feeding on itself.

The whole "issue" of Ignatieff's background- the underlying premise that his nationality was in question- was a manufactured presentation. First, you posit the absurd, then you have the audacity to actually ask Ignatieff who he's cheering for, then you follow up on your initial absurdity with ANOTHER column. Ignatieff on the defensive, all because some bored pseudo-journalist, decided it was to juicy to pass up. As Jeff points out, not ONE, but TWO entries devoted to a topic that is so AMATEURISH it hurts. That this tripe appears in the G and M, a LITERALLY sad commentary on the state of journalism in this country.