Editor:
Well, the writ was dropped May 1 and campaigning is in full swing, although some entities have been in full swing for months.
In one circulation in Calgary, Danielle Smith has been the nom de guerre for months. She appears almost daily on page 1 or 3 at least. Her picture accompanies every article, seemingly getting larger as we speak.
If an article mentions both major candidates, Rachel Notley's photo may be MIA, smaller or the same page will invariably have another article with bold print mentioning the UCP, or again Smith.
Poor Rachel gets relegated to page 5 or 6. Their printer suddenly runs out of dark print, pictures, if any occur at all, are generally smaller in comparison.
To add insult to injury, just before the writ was dropped, the NDP had a paid ad on the front “ad page” talking about our pensions. That page covered approximately more than two-thirds by the ad and then above this was a pic of Danielle Smith, among others, announcing the new arena deal. Turn the page over and another full-paid page with the NDP and Rachel Notley talking about healthcare. And low and behold, the official page 1 has a 7”x10” pic that appeared above the first ad page, with our premier prominently posed along with a few others.
Our news channels are just as guilty. Danielle Smith gets close-ups, nicely cropped, accompanying any story with her in it. If both Rachel and Danielle are mentioned in the story, Danielle’s pic often overlaps and when Rachel finally appears on screen she appears as if the shot is taken from far away.
The absolute worst happened about a week ago when I looked up at the six o’clock news and there was Danielle covering my entire TV screen.
I think I’m going mad. I’ve started measuring pictures in the newspapers. I was going to call this subliminal messaging, but something so blatant escapes that terminology.
Marilyn Foxford,
Canmore
