"Summerland Council should not dictate television coverage policy" - Penticton Herald editorial

"Summerland Council should not dictate television coverage policy"

Penticton Herald editorial Monday, May 17, 2010

Summerland Council is again deciding what‘s the public‘s business and what‘s none of our business with its abrupt and unannounced decision to pull the public question period from broadcasts televised by Shaw Cable.
This raises some intriguing issues.
While Mayor Janice Perrino guarantees "gavel to gavel" coverage of the meeting and promises that any group may come before council with a delegation (which will be televised), her council has arbitrarily determined that open questioning can only be witnessed if the individual comes out to the meeting in person.
This is clearly a case of duck and cover.
The question period is allowed to be televised in Penticton but apparently not in Summerland. It always was. Why the abrupt change?
Perhaps it had something to do with some hard questions addressed to specific council members by this newspaper as well as members of the community.
Why can we as viewers not see what concerns the gallery may have? It‘s quite possible that a citizen may ask a perfectly valid question which nobody had ever thought of before. Voters also deserve to see how mayor, council and its staff deal with the public. How sharp are the politicians we elected when a tough question is posed?
Yes, some questions from the floor are from special interests groups and even the occasional wing-nut will get up and grandstand but they too are citizens and valued members of our community.
Officials from Shaw Cable in Calgary (the local people were not allowed to answer our questions) state that they‘re under no obligation by the CRTC to provide coverage of municipal councils and therefore they‘re happy to abide by the ground rules dictated by this council.
This is an example of chicken journalism.
In-camera meetings are obviously off-limits to press and the public for obvious reasons but Shaw should not be told by an elected board as to what they can and can not broadcast.
They‘re cheating the viewer.
The beauty of television coverage of meetings is that they‘re able to show the entire proceedings. They‘re not limited to a certain number of column inches or a 60-second sound clip like newspapers and radio are.
What will happen should CHBC show up some night and want to shoot footage of the question period? May print journalists no longer use a tape recorder?
Summerland residents should be outraged by this and must immediately begin by writing their council members and phoning the head office of Shaw Cable.
Should none of this work, bring a video camera and tape recorder to the next meeting. If there‘s something interesting, it could always be posted to Youtube.
-James M. Miller
http://www.pentictonherald.ca/stories.php?i=265270&a=38639&d=12586&k=b0187a47844af356f15222c39e44e6ae

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Could James Miller's (managing editor of the Penticton Herald) questions to Summerland council about election expenses during 2008 municipal electon. be the reason for this decision? To watch that November 18, 2009 interview click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVP349ZoNXY