Fleet Street
Comes A-Calling!

Vancouver Sun - Friday, January 2, 2004

One often touted aspect of the 2010 Olympics has been the attention it would generate for British Columbia and Vancouver around the world, and from the global media. Well judging from the traffic stats at the House lately, that is true, as visitors from various media organizations, from Toronto to Moscow, but particularly the UK press have been leaving tracks in my back room. Unfortunately perhaps for Herr Gordo Campbell and his acolytes - the ink-stained wretches of Fleet Street seem very interested in subjects such as the posting which was illustrated with this infamous Vancouver Sun front-page.

Even though Anne MacKenzie has added her publication ban to the CanWest policy of ignore the trial and it will go away, I am heartened to think of actual journalists in London pondering the 27 questions that issue of the Sun posed, questions which for the most part have still hardly been addressed, much less answered these six years later and counting. If anything the number of unanswered, but troubling, questions have multiplied since the first issue of the Vancouver S(t)un for 2004 hit the streets. Go here for the posting from last fall and a list of the original 27 Questions for British Columbians.

Considering that the National Enquirer has just been nominated for a Pulitzer prize for digging into the marital duplicity of former Senator John Edwards, is it too much to think some American or British journalist may wonder about the exact nature of Lara Dauphinee's duties when it comes to "serving" our great leader Lord Gord? Perhaps the arresting officer from that famous drunken Gordo going all Wowie Maui incident wouldn't be that difficult to locate and could clear up any confusion about who else was in the erratic, veering, lane changing car that night. Then there is the other guy(s) in the drunk tank that night with our great example of leadership and class.

Who knows, foreign media outlets may even already have unpublished photos in their files that actually have Lara Dauphinee IN the picture, not just listed as not present for the shoot, as such group pictures of international events published by CanWest and other media that live in Gordo's pocket. Then again, maybe Lara works undercover for CSIS and cameras are confiscated from photogs who deign to threaten national security by capturing her image. During the election last May, photos were scrubbed from the internet (anywhere that the hard-working PABlum Brigade could access) of our little Lara, as soon as they were located and pointed out.

Even with a publication ban on the show trial of the fall guys (Basi,Basi and Virk), anyone who cares about BC, could still write, e-mail or phone the Guardian, Virgin Media, the BBC, various US media and such - especially in jurisdictions that deal with BC for power and other resources - real reporters appreciate good leads. The American and European media may not be too concerned with scandals in some former colony in Africa or Asia, but Canada, now that's a member of the family, and member of the co-alition - believe it or not - Canada Matters!

Dare we hope that times are still economically bad enough that no one will be able to buy the Canned Waste Empire of Evil as one or two big pieces? What a chance for real journalism to actually exist it would be if many of the papers were purchased individually and locally. Imagine a British Columbia that actually had two or three DIFFERENT daily papers, that actually competed with each other for scoops, rather than colluding in deciding which news to ignore or embargo.