Power, Prime Ministers and the Press

An intimate history of the journalists who covered Canadian history, and made some of their own.

The history of the press gallery is rich in anecdotes about the people on Parliament Hill who have covered 23 prime ministers and 42 elections in the past 150 years.

Mining the archives and his own interviews, Robert Lewis turns the spotlight on the watchers, including reporters who got too close to power and others who kept their distance.

The Riel Rebellion, the Pacific Scandal, two world wars, the Depression, women's liberation, Quebec separatism, and terrorism are all part of the sweeping background to this lively account of how the news gets made, manipulated, and, sometimes mangled. Since Watergate, press gallery coverage has become more confrontational — a fact, Lewis argues, that fails Canadian democracy.

- A high-ranking insider gives a behind-the-scenes tour of the history of the Parliament Hill press gallery
- Argues that political journalism has grown more polarized and confrontational over the past forty years, and that democracy has suffered as a result
- Includes stories about the correspondents who got too close to people in power, and those who stayed at too great a distance
- Incredible stories about the role of the Parliamentary press corps throughout history, including Louis Riel's rebellion, the Great Depression, and the War on Terror
- Author is a seasoned parliamentary journalist and the former editor-in-chief of Maclean's magazine