On December 2nd, the CBC posted this story,

CBC News

Posted: Dec 2, 2011 5:12 PM PT

Last Updated: Dec 2, 2011 7:30 PM PT

A B.C. First Nation has announced it’s backing the Northern Gateway pipeline  project to ship oilsands crude to the West Coast, despite fierce opposition from  dozens of other groups in the area.

Chief Elmer Derrick said the hereditary chiefs of the Gitxsan have accepted  Enbridge Inc.’s offer of an equity stake in the $5.5-billion project. He expects  the deal will provide at least $7 million of net profit to his people.

The very same day, the Terrace Daily Frontpage published an angry rebuttal to the announcement from the Gitxsan Band,

Contrary To the announcement of Elmer Derrick of today’s date, the representatives of the Plaintiffs To the British Columbia Supreme Court Action No. 15150, Cited as Spookw v. Gitxsan Treaty Society, Oppose the Agreement. The Gitxsan Plaintiffs include Hereditary Chiefs And four Gitxsan Bands with a population of over 6,000 Gitxsan people; the majority of whom are House Members in the Gitxsan Traditional system represented by Hereditary Chief, Spookw, In the court action.

The Representatives do not support Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Agreement entered into by Elmer Derrick And state “Elmer Derrick And the Gitxsan Treaty Society/Gitxsan Economic Development Corp. Does not speak for all Gitxsan. The Gitxsan People had no knowledge of the proposed Agreement Nor were they consulted”. The Plaintiffs Contend that the Gitxsan Treaty Society, Or the Gitxsan Development Corporation, Does not have the authority to enter into such Agreements Without consulting or being authorized by the Gitxsan people.

After I read the statement issued by the Gitxsan people, I logged into CBC and provided the link to the statement in the comments, and pointed out that the story was incorrect.  That was Friday, they have not published my comment, nor have they updated or corrected the story.  It stands, although it’s now buried in BC News under, more news…

The Globe posted the same news, which remains on their website, even though some commenters have pointed out that the claim is untrue.  It seems that the media understand that if you post it on Friday and give people all weekend to read it, it doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not, by monday it has been sufficiently digested to ring true to enough people to sway public opinion.

I am disgusted by these developments in our media, on top of the Paywall the Victoria Times Colonist has put up to prevent me from reading more then 20 stories a month.  Strangely, I was blocked on the 1st this month, and I sure didn’t read 20 stories that day.  A couple of weeks ago, they had a story about a dangerous sexual predator being released in Victoria.  They blocked me from reading that story.  So much for free press!  If journalism is important to democracy, should it be limited to those who can afford to pay?

Then, on Wednesday my local weekly from Black Press announced it will no longer accept anonymous comments on their website, allowing only facebook users to post comments.  While I understand the problems with anon comments and a lowering of the standard of public discourse, I know many people who refuse to join facebook with good reason, so I think that to limit the conversation in this way further weakens our democracy.

One more thing for today, the National Post is ripping off a metis woman’s blog, without adequately crediting her for the story, after it went viral this weekend.  Instead of linking you to NP, go directly to the source, and bookmark it while you’re there.  She speaks truth and she translates legalese!

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