Five years after your humble e-scribbler first wrote about it, the world pretty much accepts the notion that the governing Conservatives time their communications to coincide with polling done by their contract pollster. A couple of university professors have taken up the task of documenting the extent of the poll goosing and talk radio stacking activities.
Well, labradore posted a couple of reminders last week about just exactly how intense this can get.
First, he show a chart comparing the number of releases issued in the middle of summer. Not surprisingly, 2011 showed the heaviest news release output on record. That’s not surprising because it is an election year and the the incumbent Tories apparently are having some problems with popular support.
Second, labradore charted the number of media advisories issued by the provincial government, by month from 1996 onward. No one ever said this poll goosing thing was something the Tories invented. It’s just that they do it more aggressively than the gang that went before.
- srbp -