2010 Olympics Business News for the Vancouver and Whistler regions of British Columbia. Plus, Alberta, the rest of Canada, Washington State, Oregon, Idaho, Montana & California

OlyBLOG Feature:


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An Open Letter to the Dalai Lama
Published March 31, 2009 


Well Hello Dalai - Part 1 of 2

Far be it from me to give you advice Your Holiness, but considering this is my home, and that I also have personal experience respective of the motivations of our local news media, I want to share a little insight with you regarding your decision to become a Vancouver Sun Guest Editor.

Like most things in life, what you see is not necessarily what you get, so I'll try to break it to you gently ... you're not the Sun's first Guest Editor.

The Sun had its way with Dr. David Suzuki two years ago, and now, this experienced news media player is luring you with similar PR temptation.

Like you, the famed environmental evangelist is also worldly and media adept, but as you'll soon see, even he was caught off guard. The result was that he looked a little naive, and to some, self serving.

The Sun makes it sound like they are humbly doing the world a favor, but in reality they are very slyly attaching their motivations to the long tail of your red robe to turn your followers into their followers.

There's no easy way to put it but,

Good Grief Charlie Brown !!

They want to turn you into a Puppet for Peace.

Misdirection is one reason newspapers are going bankrupt.
Parlor tricks are for bar rooms, not public forums.

Granted, anytime someone associates you with peace in any way shape or form is a blessing, but allowing media to put their hand up the back of your robe isn't a good way to convince followers to keep the faith.

You complain when China does it, so why concede to it here?

Propaganda is the same in Canada as it is everywhere else.

If you wanted to be a Guest Editor you should have emailed me because I'd love to give you free rein to pick any stories you want, and cover them in any manner you feel is appropriate right here on my blog. In fact, I'll even make it possible for people to respond and make comments at the end of each article. I doubt The Sun will give you this type of freedom at their place of worship without censoring or pushing their agenda.

I had an email conversation with Dr. Suzuki right after his Guest Editor event, and he told me his experience was much less satisfying than expected. He said he had little control or input picking the articles and issues he felt were important. Dr. Suzuki wrote to me complaining;

“... they had already pre-selected stories that appealed to them.”

He also said the news process was chaotic and confusing.

I’m not surprised. It's what happens when one is less than forthright.

I've always found telling the truth fairly simple. You just tell it.

Please do not fall into the same trap as the good doctor. If you allow it, The Sun will attach your sterling reputation to theirs to make themselves look good while fooling our community into thinking they are primarily interested in doing something positive for humanity. The reality is they are more interested in generating profit.

Newspapers are no longer the purveyors of truth and democracy they lead us to believe ... if they ever were.

Mainstream news media are experts at looking the other way.

Beijing 2008 is a prime example.

The Vancouver Sun underplayed Tibetan human rights issues, because I assume, they were scared to offend the IOC, from whom they accept advertising revenue. Apparently ... the truth WON"T set you free.

Kirk LaPointe, managing editor of The Sun, said in a public debate the primary goal of his newspaper is to generate advertising revenue.

Serving the public doesn't seem to be high on his agenda. In fact, one of his reporters argued with me that nowhere in his journalistic book of ethics did it say he had a responsibility to the community.

I always assumed a consciousness of ethics was implied.
According to The Vancouver Sun ... I am wrong.

If all you aspire is to be a figurehead then blindly inhale the Guest Editor bait and risk becoming news media's chinook on a hook for peace, but I assure you, many of us, thanks to citizen journalism tools like blogs and Twitter are wise to the political and commercial misrepresentations and misdirection of newspapers, that have, and will do anything to serve and now desperately save their livelihood.

If The Vancouver Sun was so concerned about humanity, why did it take them so long to raise awareness of the oppressed and homeless in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver?

They should have made it a huge issue twenty years ago.

If you don't know about the DTES (Downtown Eastside) please call me when you arrive in Vancouver and I'll take you for a walk and show you human suffering created in part by the same real estate companies and developers that buy huge lots of advertising in our local newspapers.

Here's a short video to get you started ...



Click here to read Part 2 of "Hello Dalai Lama"


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Follow me on TWITTER

The video below was taped two days
before the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
It becomes even more relevant each passing day.




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