It's not just the media...
I haven't read this whole thread, so apologies if this is redundant...
After the revolution in Romania, officials with the Canadian govt admitted that its diplomats in that country were well aware of serious, widespread human rights abuse under the dictatorship there, but kept quiet about it because otherwise they'd have been expelled, thus reducing Canadian influence in Romania to pretty much zero.
That, imho, reflected very badly on the Canadian govt. Their precious influence came to them courtesy of the pain and suffering of the Romanian people. I often wonder, how did Canada ever use that blood-covered influence?