There s an entire parliamentary tradition built around the reality that journalists protect the interests of the public because, often, politicians will not. Essentially, journalists are the unofficial opposition to the government. Which is a good thing, because history teaches us governments and official oppositions can have common interests, which do not coincide with the public interest. So, journalists are neither morally nor professionally obliged to treat the government and student protesters equally. In fact, they have an obligation to be the equalizer.
Students represent a portion of the public with the least means.
The government, on the other hand, is a multi-billion dollar corporation with unlimited resources that writes its own laws. A ridiculous complaint, considering Chretien s government is taking further advantage of the inequity between government and students by stacking the government side with high-priced legal help, while refusing students funding for legal advice. In fact, refusing assistance regarding this issue would be to the media s shame. This phrase is commonly used by journalists and others to describe governments. Premier Glen Clark s press secretary Jean Wolff was quoted recently in Victoria s Monday Magazine saying that when he left journalism for government, members of the Press Club teased him about going over to the Dark Side .