Chief
07-12-2007, 09:52 AM
This morning I received an e-mail from Donna Mason at Clark/Vancouver Cable Television, pulling the plug on their coverage of the City Council Debate at the Firstenberg Center, stating in part:
It is CVTV policy and practice because of the many demands on our resources, that we only televise debates that are hosted/sponsored by neutral, third party organizations (e.g. League of Women Voters, Chambers of Commerce, Vancouver Business Journal, columbian, etc.) or candidate sponsored debates (e.g. in 2004 Craig Pridemore and Don Carlson mutually agreed to and sponsored a debate which we covered). We just aren’t in a position to televise debates or forums sponsored by neighborhood groups or small groups of citizens.
On top of that, I got two more bounced e-mail notices from Candidate Dan Tonkovich; both of those messages concerned the details of the debate that was being set up at my personal expense, to benefit the campaigns of all seven City Council Candidates, as a group.
It has become painfully obvious that there is no practical way that one person can set this debate up alone, and I simnply refuse to let narrowly defined special interests here in Vancouver hijack a community event on behalf of one person's agenda.
My wife and I have talked it over, and we think it is prudent to cut our losses and cancel the debate, effective immediately. It is going to cost us 25% of the fee we have already paid for this event, but at least we will not embarrass the Firstenberg Center when nobody bothers to show up.
I don't need to go to any more trouble or personal expense for an event that nobody is interested in, the City is actively ignoring if not working (successfully) to prevent from happening in the first place, right along with the local news media who won't cover something like this even if you paid them in gold bullion.
You people deserve the City Council that you get. You are on your own. Someone be sure to pass the word to Tonks.
It is CVTV policy and practice because of the many demands on our resources, that we only televise debates that are hosted/sponsored by neutral, third party organizations (e.g. League of Women Voters, Chambers of Commerce, Vancouver Business Journal, columbian, etc.) or candidate sponsored debates (e.g. in 2004 Craig Pridemore and Don Carlson mutually agreed to and sponsored a debate which we covered). We just aren’t in a position to televise debates or forums sponsored by neighborhood groups or small groups of citizens.
On top of that, I got two more bounced e-mail notices from Candidate Dan Tonkovich; both of those messages concerned the details of the debate that was being set up at my personal expense, to benefit the campaigns of all seven City Council Candidates, as a group.
It has become painfully obvious that there is no practical way that one person can set this debate up alone, and I simnply refuse to let narrowly defined special interests here in Vancouver hijack a community event on behalf of one person's agenda.
My wife and I have talked it over, and we think it is prudent to cut our losses and cancel the debate, effective immediately. It is going to cost us 25% of the fee we have already paid for this event, but at least we will not embarrass the Firstenberg Center when nobody bothers to show up.
I don't need to go to any more trouble or personal expense for an event that nobody is interested in, the City is actively ignoring if not working (successfully) to prevent from happening in the first place, right along with the local news media who won't cover something like this even if you paid them in gold bullion.
You people deserve the City Council that you get. You are on your own. Someone be sure to pass the word to Tonks.