Survivor: Parliament Hill
In the beginning, the word “survive” seemed appropriate when the Harper minority government made it through a confidence bill. (Indeed, the word became a routine headline insert sometime during the Martin minority government.)
The thing is, it’s not appropriate anymore. How can you call it “survival” (as most continue to do, see “Harper government survives another confidence vote“, Canadian Press, globeandmail.com)?
Let’s call it “Harper minority breezes through another confidence vote” or “Conservatives yawn off another quiet confidence vote down at the office”.
If anyone survived anything, it’s Dion surviving another day as Liberal leader. The one who’d be panicking the most if the government fell on a confidence vote is him: yet another screw up for the Liberals.
Now the continued use of this word “survive” can be blamed on media “sensationalism”. This is what people tell me when I complain about the word. It’s easy to believe this. Sensation sells, and “survive” makes it sounds like more was going on than what actually was. My suggested headlines would obviously be far less interesting to potential readers.
But I don’t think it’s sensationalism. I think it’s laziness.
Real journalists (unlike myself) should come up with some interesting way to describe the non-event of a confidence motion that Dion cowers from. Let’s hear it for honesty in journalism!
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Dave Hodson
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Nathalie
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