What’s said in the driveway doesn’t stay in the driveway
That is, if there’s a recorder on. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper learned this the hard way recently, when a 2005 encounter with a journalist came back to haunt him. Tom Zytaruk was working on a biography about MP Chuck Cadman who had recently passed away, when he heard that Harper - at that time, Leader of the Opposition - was visiting the Cadman residence. Zytaruk managed to get there as Harper was in the driveway and did a quick interview.
When Zytaruk’s book was about to come out earlier this year, someone leaked portions of it to the media, including quotes from the driveway interview. Those quotes appeared to back up allegations that the Conservative party had tried to bribe Cadman - an independent - to get his vote and help topple the minority Liberal government.
A portion of the audio tape and its transcript remains on the internet at the website of the Toronto Star, to whom the tape was released.
The Hill Times has a good follow up interview with Tom Zytaruk.
Posted: May 26th, 2008 under Interview Transcripts, Location audio interviews, Print Interview Case Studies, Tough Questions.
Pingback from The Media Interview » Blog Archive » The Cadman driveway interview gets new legs
Time June 6, 2008 at 10:05 am
[...] A week or so ago I mentioned the controversy over statements made by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a taped encounter with journalist Tom Zytaruk in 2005 in the driveway of MP Chuck Cadman’s widow’s home. The statements allegedly showed Harper acknowledging that payments had been offered to Cadman when he was alive in an effort to get the independent MP to switch over to Harper’s Conservatives. [...]