From an analysis of coverage of the 2008 federal election campaign by Ivor Shapiro, editor-in-chief of j-source:
First of all, as suggested by the Yaffe example, the Canadian op-ed sphere is healthier than ever, because the print column has been supplemented by the j-blog. The Star, for instance, added to its impressive range of print columnists by assigning veteran David Olive to blog with daily analysis of the campaign. Maclean’s offered its vast slate of columnists with blogs representing many shades of political opinion. Favourites of Carleton j-school chair and long-time political junkie Chris Waddell included the Globe's Jeffrey Simpson and the National Post’s John Ivison - but of course we could go on and on.
The trouble is, opinion was never the problem. The proliferation of printed and electronic commentary could, if anything, become a distraction from the glaring gaps that have been identified in election reporting. The question is not whether voters are exposed to enough opinions, but whether they are getting the facts. ...If the 2008 campaign offered some flashy glimpses of “2.0”-style journalism, there were no signs of a breakthrough on the substantive reporting challenges that Canadian political journalists have themselves identified time after time. The anonymous political source and the horse race still reign supreme, and the jury is out on whether polling data was used more responsibly than usual. According to Paul Adams, media remained slow to recognize the significance of poll results: “in this election, this year, it may be that some voters go to the polls with old information on their minds.”