Sep. 07, 2010 - Issue #777: The Sex Issue 2010
Vuepoint
Not a good start
There is a difference between truth and opinion, though the two are being conflated now more than ever in the Canadian media. We turn to reporters and news organizations to help us navigated the ways that various groups seek to skew the truth, but it seems one station—one that has yet to broadcast for a single minute—hasn't grasped this fact. A recent debate around the application by Sun TV has put the upstart network's very credibility on the line publicly.
Sun TV was denied Category 1 licensing because the CRTC is moving television to a digital format and not accepting any Category 1 admissions until the transition is complete. The CRTC has the ability to review the application before this transition but it would be queue jumping and would open the flood gates to numerous other applications the CRTC has put on hold. According to Vision TV CEO Bill Roberts, it seems the application is being fast-tracked. This whole situation has led to accusations of political interference by the Prime Minister's Office, and has started a petition campaign asking that pressure not be put on the CRTC.
A concerning development was revealed in the whole debacle when numerous Maclean's journalists received emails thanking them for signing the petition when they had done no such thing. CBC journalist Kady O'Malley caught on to a fact in an op-ed by Kory Teneckye, formerly the PM's communications officer, and now head of the Sun TV project, when he revealed the petition contained numerous fake names and listed such notable celebrities as Snuffleupagus. O'Malley realized Teneckye had information not available to the public as you can't view who has signed the petition. The whole situation unravelled to reveal that one IP address had submitted numerous fake names including Mr Snuffleupagus and the Maclean's reporters. And Teneckye knew the whole time. The man in charge of a news organization, asking for an application to be a priority channel required to be offered in cable packages, was using information given to him by a source submitting fake names and fraudulently representing people on a petition. Is this someone we want in charge of a news network?
More stories in front »
vueweekly.com comments: powered by DisqusPrivacy Policy:
Vue respects your privacy. We will not forward your personal information to any other organization except as required by law, and will use your e-mail address only to respond to your comments. We reserve the right to edit and remove comments for length, clarity and/or if they are illegal or inappropriate. Your email address is never shown to visitors to vueweekly.com. Read the whole policy at: http://vueweekly.com/privacy
Comments policy
Comments go online directly without first being seen or reviewed by editors at Vue. Don't personally attack people, don't be defamatory, don't be spam-atory, don't hawk your band, don't pretend to be someone else, be clear, be on topic, be nice. Read our extended comments policy here. »
We use Disqus for our comments system. What's that all about?
We found that managing the comment community at Vue was easier to do with a system like Disqus. If this isn't straightforward to you, get help here.