Alberta government bans CBC....well sort of

On Thursday, the Alberta government banned CBC from media lockups 'for at least a year'. This means that CBC reporters in Alberta will no longer have access to government documents prior to their public release. News organizations  are given early access in exchange for their promise not release any information until the Public Affairs Bureau (the PCs' information clearinghouse/spin machine) says its OK. Unfortunately, during the recent release of the provincial budget a CBC reporter breached this contract by sharing some  information with a Calgary official, in an effort to get a head start getting budget reactions (prior to the budget announcement). To be clear here, the information was never broadcasted on air or in anyway released to the public at large. While this was an error on the part of the reporter I doubt this isn't the first time a situation like this has occurred.

What strikes me as interesting about this whole ordeal is the harsh and swift reaction of the government. In the past few months (especially) I have noticed that CBC Edmonton's editorial line has become more and more critical of the Alberta government. In particular, reporters Kim Trynacity and John Archer were highly critical of the PCs during their last campaign and seem to have continued this trend.* I appreciate their perspectives and I certainly don't blame them for taking a position (does anyone still cling to the illusion of media neutrality?). In contrasr, the Edmonton Sun is usually painfully conservative and pro-AB government (and as such, I don't read their tabloid....I mean 'newspaper').** But, I wonder if they would have received the same punishment had one of their staffers made a minor breach?

Check out the CBC staff blog, for more deets/commentary.

*take a close look at the two photos in this last article.
**No self-respecting newspaper should frequently feature half-naked women or men on their pages.

UPDATE: Graham Thomson's Saturday column in the Edmonton Journal discusses Stelmach's penchant for vindictiveness and his 'don't mess with the Alberta government' attitude.

Comments

[Aaron]

Two words:

Don Hill

What goes around . . .

[Jewel]

Because there are very few things that capital C Conservatives love more than CENSORSHIP and pissing on journalists.