RMC today
Major article in today's Globe. While most of it seems good reporting to me, I think this is rather tendentious, to say the least:
Many of the cadets are similarly frank about that financial issue -- and it can be discomfiting. RMC offers a lot of opportunity: direction for the aimless, a sense of belonging and solid job prospects. But it also offers a tuition waiver, a $15,000 annual paycheque and cheap room and board. Is a certain sector of Canadians willing to pay for those amenities by risking their lives?
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 11:10 a.m.
3 Comments:
Can I ask, are any of those statements untrue?
No, Cameron, neither of those statements is untrue. But they're not new, either. I seem to recall my rook-term Cadet Wing Commander getting pulled off Infantry Phase IV a week or so early to take a platoon to Oka.
Go back to WWII and many RMC cadets left school early to take a commission and head overseas.
Other than that, the article gives about as much depth as you'd expect from a civilian who hasn't been there and done that.
I can tell you right now that I don't keep in touch with anybody from high school. None of my best friends lives within an hour of my house - and they're all from RMC.
Ok, here's a question:
In what way would telling the civilians about something that they might not know (which is how journalism works - the journalist goes "huh! I didn't know that. Did anyone else know that? hmm. mb that's important") bad?
I read this blog all the time, I quite enjoy it, but the constant harping/nit picking on journalists and the free pass that the DoD and the CF are getting is getting... annoying.
All wars, in my read of history are two pronged, one is the actual fight and the other is the management of your message/information about the fight and what you're up to.
The CF/DoD/pretty much every government in my memory are doing/have done an piss poor job of doing the later.
Anyone who thinks that journalists like sounding stupid in print/on TV hasn't known very many. Anyone who thinks that they wouldn't throw themselves at any resource that would help them sound smarter knows them even less.
As has been pointed out in the past here, there are a generation of journalists who have never covered the military. There are no military journalism courses (besides the one they all take to learn how to not get killed quite so quickly), mb the CF/DoD or the Legion should step up, offer one (at a charge even) and make sure they get the message out.
Just a thought.
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