Insider: Getting to know the mayor through his selfie videos

Happy Holidays!

I hope you’ve all been able to decompress a little bit over the past week or so. I certainly have. Though it was a busy Christmas — the first grandchild’s first Christmas makes him a popular little guy — it’s been one full of joy.

• Want to give a big welcome to the almost 200 new Insiders who have joined this month!

For today’s issue I wanted to do something a little, honestly a lot, different than what we normally do here. Rather than the short but detailed style you’re used to, what follows is a on piece on a single topic.

For the end of the year, I wanted to write something about Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s first year in office, but I couldn’t really think of a good hook. Sometime in late November I got an idea that I couldn’t let go of, even if I didn’t love the journey I was about to set myself on.

What if I watched all of the selfie videos the mayor seems to have become so fond of posting to social media? What could I learn about the man and the politician? So I sat down and I watched. And I watched. And I watched. In the end, at least 15 hours of watching and note taking and research just for this story.

I won’t spoil what I found (for that, you’ll have to read the rest of this newsletter) but it was an interesting exercise. There more than a few things that come through about Sutcliffe that reveal who he’s become as mayor.

One bit of housekeeping: Because this issue is much longer than most, you may find your mail provider cuts it off early. Be on the lookout (sorry) for a button to “read more” to see the whole thing. You can also read the full issue online at this link. We’d also like to see what you think about the issue, there’s a poll at the end asking for your thoughts!

Until the New Year, let’s get to it.

— Robert Hiltz, managing editor

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THE ESSAY

Looking through the selfie glass into the mind of the mayor

Or, how Mark Sutcliffe promised to make Ottawa safer, more reliable, and more affordable and broke my brain in the process

If the eyes are the window to the soul, the selfie video is the viewport into the mind of the politician. At least, that was the theory.

I figured, what better way to look back at the first year of Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s time in office, than by watching the numerous selfie videos he posts to his Twitter account, and on Instagram. It’s through these videos we get to see Sutcliffe as he most wants to be seen, talking about the things he wants to talk about the most. From that, surely we can see into his political heart?

The format of the selfie video is intimate in its everydayness, but still keeps that distance. In the hands of someone like Sutcliffe, a former broadcaster, it remains slick without feeling polished. It’s a one-way format in a way that seems more disarming, which is perhaps why it is one of the major ways Sutcliffe communicates on social media. It’s also one of the most popular online video format these days.

They aren’t the only videos he and his team post to his account, but they’re a type he’s used from the start with different iterations and refinements. 

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