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Rob Ford radio

Rob Ford has made no secret of the fact he doesn’t like how some members of the Toronto media do their job, and now he’s decided to it for them.

Starting next Sunday, he and his brother Councillor Doug Ford will host a weekly radio show on NewsTalk 1010, taking over a slot previously held by Councillor Josh Matlow.

A NewsTalk official confirms it was the mayor who recently approached the station about taking over the show, and according to Doug Ford, the pair will use their time as hosts of the City to talk directly to the public without interference from journalists.

“You’re going to get the straight goods from Rob and I,” he told NewsTalk’s Jerry Agar Thursday morning. “You’re not going to have the media twisting it around like they’ve constantly twisted it around for a year and a half.”

While the unfiltered musings of the colourful brothers will no doubt make for entertaining broadcasting, media watchers are warning that allowing a sitting mayor a free pass to push his political agenda on air gives Ford an unfair advantage over other politicians.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that it gives him a bully pulpit,” says April Lindgren, an assistant professor at the Ryerson School of Journalism who specializes in urban affairs.

While Lindgren points out that talk radio typically makes no claims to being unbiased, she says that unless the show gives air time to different viewpoints the Fords won’t be doing Torontonians any favours.

“I don’t think it’s doing a service to the community to have the mayor and his brother echoing each other on the show. Citizens need a broader perspective in these tumultuous times to try to get a sense of what’s happening in the city,” she said.

Prof. Jeffrey Dvorkin, executive director of the Organization of News Ombudsmen, suggests that after being sidelined by a series of political defeats on the budget and his transit plans, Ford is attempting to get his message out while avoiding being challenged on his faltering policies.

“He’s in a very defensive position right now and he’s clearly looking for a way to bring the political momentum back to his side,” Dvorkin said.

“I think it’s nonsense, and it smacks of state broadcasting.”

Dvorkin compares Ford’s tactics to American conservatives’ dominance of talk radio, which right-wingers have been using since the 1980s in order to circumvent media outlets they perceive as biased towards liberals.

“He’s probably taking his lessons from how the Republicans are avoiding the so-called mainstream media in order to have an unfiltered way to get their message across. They know that journalists would ask tough questions, because that’s the job of journalism.”

NewsTalk’s brand director Mike Bendixen disagrees that Ford’s show will shut out other perspectives. He hopes it will elevate the discussion of city politics, which he thinks has degenerated over the past few years.

“I personally felt there was not a lot of decent conversation taking place at City Hall. There’s a lot of bickering going on,” he says. “We thought this would be a good opportunity for the mayor to have an open forum to discuss the issues and for the citizens of Toronto to interact with the mayor.”

He argues that there was little controversy when David Miller made monthly appearances on CP24 during his tenure as mayor, and few people objected to Matlow helming the weekly broadcast.

“They will be other councillors there, there will be callers to question Ford on things,” Bendixen says. “But at the same time the show is there for the mayor and his brother to express their views on the city, just like the show was with Councillor Josh Matlow.”

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