Citizen Journalism -- One Day In The Trenches

Date: 19 September 2006 To: "Edit (Times-Colonist)" Conversation: Basi, Virk, Basi in court yesterday? Is it too much to ask, that a daily newspaper should report on the appearance in BC Supreme Court yesterday (Sept. 18) of Basi, Virk, Basi, their lawyers, the Special Prosecutor (on behalf of the people of BC, presumably) and Judge Elizabeth Bennett concerning a matter of serious significance to this province and this country? Did the trial take place, as forecast, to discuss the status of evidence and to confirm the trial date? If so, what was the decision? If not, was the trial delayed? postponed? stayed? what? Too often, the public is accused of being apathetic. But it's difficult to keep informed of such an important matter as Basi, Virk, and BC Rail ... if the news isn't published in the mainstream press. BC Mary and to her great surprise, a reply came from the Editor-in-Chief: From: "Chodan, Lucinda (Times-Colonist)" Date: Tue Sep 19, 2006 To: bcmary14@xxxxx.com Cc: "Helm, Denise (Times-Colonist)" , "Obee, Dave (Times-Colonist)" , "Patterson, Candace (Times-Colonist)" Subject: Re: Basi, Virk, Basi in court yesterday? Dear Ms. Mary: There was indeed a pretrial appearance by Basi, Virk et al yesterday. Our reporter staffed the appearance, and nothing of note happened. As is the case in such instances, the reporter consulted with his editor and did not write a story. When there is news, we plan to report it. Sincerely, Lucinda Chodan Editor-in-Chief Victoria Times Colonist 2621 Douglas St. Victoria, B.C. V8T 4M2 And readers may remember, too, that BC Mary was reprimanded for showing the readers of The Legislature Raids blog even this much "news". But we did think -- didn't we? -- that Victoria Times Colonist may have been ever so slightly alerted to the fact that the public was waiting for news on the Legislature Raids trial. Or that the public was watching CanWest with growing suspicions about their reliability in matters of justice and the public interest. Fast Forward to today, 11 April 2007, remembering the Editor-in-Chief's promise that "When there is news, we plan to report it." But no, once again there is nothing in Victoria Times Colonist about yesterday's very important Supreme Court hearing in the matter of Basi, Virk, Basi at which the trial date was agreed for 18 April 2007 in Vancouver Supreme Court, with Madam Justice Elizabeth Bennett presiding. Times Colonist was able to ignore this, despite the fact that yesterday Judge Bennett felt she needed to book the courtroom for SIX months! If this isn't an important British Columbia trial ... if this isn't news, said BC Mary, I don't know what is. But according to today's TC, here's what is headline "news": * Canadians consume way too much salt * Gay firefighter files complaint over jokes * Disc with bondage found in ex-astronaut's car * Hair from Ramses II back in Egypt. But not the allegedly flawed sale of Canada's 3rd largest railway and not the dark cloud which will continue to hang over the Gordon Campbell government until this trial is concluded. There is no doubt that the media is a branch of government, like it or not. I have great respect for a free press and the duties of journalists in a democratic society. That's why TC wins no prizes in either category. ********************************************************* But there were other news on the B.C. Rail affair: BASI-VIRK TRIAL SLATED FOR SIX MONTHS By BILL TIELEMAN, 24 HOURS - 11 April 2007 The breach of trust charges against former provincial government aides David Basi and Bob Virk will take as much as six months of court time, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Bennett said Tuesday. "I have arbitrarily set 120 days for this trial. I've seen the witness list," Bennett said. Bennett also agreed to a defence request to delay the start of a defence disclosure application that begins the case by two days, from April 16 to 18. Bennett will hear the trial that arises from the police raid on the B.C. Legislature Dec. 28, 2003 and subsequent allegations that Basi and Virk provided confidential government information about the $1 billion privatization of B.C. Rail to lobbyists representing one of the bidders. Outside the courtroom Basi's lawyer, Michael Bolton, said Bennett was using "an abundance of caution" in scheduling 120 court days, which means about six calendar months for the trial. But Bolton also said it was possible the trial could conclude in October. Bennett also asked defence lawyers if they objected to her continuing as trial judge after noting that she had taught a legal advocacy course at the University of B.C. Defence has raised an issue over special prosecutor Bill Berardino's role in teaching the same course because key Crown witness Erik Bornmann was in the classroom as a law student after Basi and Virk were charged. Bolton quickly told Bennett the defence would not be seeking to disqualify her as trial judge. Bennett did not say whether Bornmann had been in her class. ********************************************************** Many thanks, Bill. The Vancouver Sun and The Province have articles on the B.C. Rail Trial but Bill has already covered all their points. Robin Mathews was out of town for the Easter weekend. A very interesting piece of Citizen Journalism is Meaghan Champion's bright report of a sidewalk scrum with Big Media outside B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver yesterday. As well as inside the courtroom. Here's a good example, from a comment she just left us. Meaghan comments: Got one of those clips up of the entrance of Crown Prosecutor to the court house. Trial was schedualed for 9:30... however, I was tipped off that it was going to convene at 8:30 to avoid press. So we showed up at 8:30, and the only other media present was Global Media.. assuming they had also been tipped. Maybe that's what they didn't like about us being there. That a citizen journalist had about the same amount of info as they had. No Other media showed up for 8:30 or 9:30 - at the door... I mean by way of film crews. There were 6 reporters in the room - at least one guy was there from the Globe and Mail, but he wasn't Gary Mason, I checked. I was looking for Vaughn Palmer.. didn't see him... might have missed him. The press seemed to sit together.. except for Bill Tieleman who sat one seat away, and was friendly to us bloggers.:) ______ Great work, eh? Meaghan's blog is Somena Media, the URL is http://somenamedia.blogspot.com/ which, if you scroll down, gives us a neat YouTube showing of Ol' Bill Berardino trudging manfully in to work that morning, his lunchbucket ... er, briefcase clutched in his hand as he wearily made his way toward the courtroom, evading the media. - BC Mary. ********************************************************** And that, my friends, is the small percentage of a citizen journalist's day. The rest is taken up with research, phoning, writing, corresponding, re-writing ... all of it because why? Because the mainstream media isn't doing its job: it's there to sell advertising, to promote favourite agendas, to raise up and/or smack down this person or that issue ... but rarely if ever to lay out the facts of great public affairs such as the allegedly flawed sale of Canada's 3rd largest railway: B.C. Rail. But the trial begins next week -- 18 April 2007 -- and it looks as if the determined bloggers have had quite a bit to do with keeping the issue standing up, waiting for answers. More at: http://bctrialofbasi-virk.blogspot.com/ [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on April 12, 2007]

Note: http://somenamedia.blog... http://bctrialofbasi-vi...