From Mike Duffy to Rob Ford: when politicians make news

An embattled mayor is beset by questions about a video allegedly showing him smoking crack cocaine. A senator and fundraiser for the Conservative Party of Canada resigns from caucus but keeps his seat when he is found to have used a personal cheque from the Prime Minister's chief of staff to cover his $90,000 debt to taxpayers; however, the chief of staff resigns. Political scandals have always figured prominently in the world of journalism but the past week has provided reporters a notably heavy stream of content. U of'T News asked Jeffrey Dvorkin, in Los Angeles for a conference of the News Ombudsman Organization, to reflect on the media maelstrom engulfing Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and Senator Mike Duffy. Dvorkin, a former vice-president of news for National Public Radio and former managing editor with CBC Radio, is lecturer and director of the journalism program at University of Toronto Scarborough and executive director of the News Ombudsman Organization. Two politicians, Mike Duffy and Rob Ford, have dominated Canadian news in recent days - why are these stories so compelling? Senator Duffy is a former journalist so many in the media know him personally. There may be a bit of "schadenfreude" about his difficulties among his former colleagues.