It turns out that the rally at the Legislature against Norwegian salmon fish farms on May 8 was much larger than first reported.
Below is an excerpt from an article that can be found on The Common Sense Canadian website. There is a link to the full story below. I have been A Times Colonist subscriber for over 21 years and shortly after the rally I exchanged several e-mails with the assistant editor of the newspaper who tried to do everything in her power to justify their horrendous reporting of the rally. In the end it was with great pleasure that I told her I was no longer in need of such biased reporting and canceled my subscription. My only regret is that I did not do it many years ago.
How did we get publicity without actually getting publicity?
The coverage by the Victoria Times Colonist, the Vancouver Sun and The Province – all Canwest papers – was so appalling that it became a story itself that highlighted for the crowd there and eventually the public generally just how biased Canwest is and how snug in bed they are with the Campbell government.
The Province devoted two short paragraphs on A28 saying that the crowd was nearly 1000. The Times Colonist and the Sun did a contrast in views on the sea lice issue and ignored the speeches including a great one from Grand Chief Stewart Phillip. They also said the crowd was nearly 1000.
Ironically, the lie was put to these absurd crowd estimates by their corporate sister, Global News which had the figure at 4000-plus. They couldn’t have lied because they had the crowd on film. (You can judge for yourself by looking at the picture below).
4,000-5,000 jammed the Legislature lawn in Victoria on May 8 to speak up for wild salmon
This yellow journalism of the Canwest papers was not only contradicted by its sister TV station; the Internet was flooded by angry witnesses laying out the truth. I daresay Alex got more coverage by far from angry witnesses than she could have got even with honest reporting.
May 8th in Victoria was more than an event – it was a happening. People from far and wide, native and non-native, young and old came together to protest to the government by paying their respects to and showing their love for Alexandra Morton, the Californian who came to BC to watch whales and ended as the saviour of her adopted province’s wild salmon.
It was a day none of us will ever forget.
