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FOI Clampdown: City of Victoria vs. Focus Magazine


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#21 aastra

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Posted 03 October 2012 - 07:03 AM

In fact, let's be absolutely clear.

Focus is a highly partisan rag operated by a handful of aging and angry writers seeking revenge for having lost the referendum on the bridge.

Aging writers should be put in jail. Where do they get off caring so much about facts, anyway? It makes me sick, the way they do that. They deserve to get smacked around if they won't shut up.

Focus has forfeited any claim to journalistic integrity.

A magazine forfeits its integrity when it makes an FOI request about the largest public project in Victoria's history? By that standard, the city's integrity is chained to concrete blocks somewhere at the bottom of the strait right now.

Do people not know what "partisan" means? It means you're supporting someone/something by default. For example, if you support the city regardless of the facts of any particular situation because the city is always the good guy even when it's acting like an 800-lb. gorilla, that means you're partisan.

#22 dasmo

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Posted 03 October 2012 - 07:13 AM

Yes, only the press that kowtows to my affiliations is legit...

#23 Holden West

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Posted 04 October 2012 - 09:14 PM

Lisa Helps' FB comment:

I brought this motion to the Council table today. And it failed. Helps, Isitt, Young and Gudgeon for; Fortin, Alto, Madoff, Coleman, Thornton-Joe against. Those who voted against spoke about their worry of 'political interference in a public process.' I asked how many times since the Freedom of Information Act was passed in 1992 had the City of Victoria filed a section 43 request to the Privacy Commissioner. (A section 43 request is made because a party requesting information is seen to be making requests of a "repetitious or systematic nature, would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the public body.") The answer was "one", as in the current one in progress with regard to Focus Magazine.

So the motion proposing to give final decision making power as to whether a section 43 request should be filed against a member of the public or the press was NOT about giving council control of the whole FOI Act Administration. And it was NOT about Council initiating section 43 requests that could then be brought forward. It was NOT political interference in a public process. Rather the proposed bylaw amendment was to give Council - as elected public officials responsible for ensuring a good public process - discretionary power in one very exceptional circumstance.

The point of the amendment was to ensure that a body of elected public officials by majority vote, not an appointed staff of one was the final arbiter in deciding whether to send a request to the Privacy Commissioner to limit someone's access to information.The motion, as I see it, would not have enabled political interference, but rather could have led to stronger political leadership on this important and clearly contentious issue.


This FOI debate may need its own thread.
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#24 G-Man

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Posted 04 October 2012 - 09:31 PM

Wow well at least we can see a clear division on council here if Fortin is required to break the tie. I would say this is the beginning of this project unraveling.

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#25 Holden West

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Posted 04 October 2012 - 10:03 PM

Let's not forget Ross Crockford was rolled into this Sec 43 request too.

Ross and Focus' requests are in limbo pending the hearing. What if someone else, say VibrantVictoria or Monday made the same request. Wouldn't that request have to be fulfilled in a reasonable time?
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#26 Greg

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Posted 04 October 2012 - 10:21 PM

Focus is a highly partisan rag operated by a handful of aging and angry writers seeking revenge for having lost the referendum on the bridge.


Good thing that governments are exempt from FOI requests from people who are partisan or have an agenda. Otherwise someone might ask uncomfortable questions.

#27 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 04 October 2012 - 11:57 PM

Let's not forget Ross Crockford was rolled into this Sec 43 request too.

Ross and Focus' requests are in limbo pending the hearing. What if someone else, say VibrantVictoria or Monday made the same request. Wouldn't that request have to be fulfilled in a reasonable time?


I believe so.

But the current request(s) date back to July don't they? A request today won't get the information before Christmas.
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#28 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 12:17 AM

Let's not forget Ross Crockford was rolled into this Sec 43 request too.

Ross and Focus' requests are in limbo pending the hearing. What if someone else, say VibrantVictoria or Monday made the same request. Wouldn't that request have to be fulfilled in a reasonable time?


I think that's a good plan. Wait to see what happens here, if they get 43'd, then someone else needs to step up and make the request. Imagine the media storm if they decided to 43 everyone.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#29 Adrian

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 06:42 AM

Someone needs to point out to Holden West that Lisa Helps is running for Mayor and has been grasping for any issue that can be used to trash the current administration for her own benefit.. Last week it was the Mayor leading the mission to China, this week it is introducing a bylaw that allows any extremist masquerading as the legitimate media to harass the city's administration with a barrage of FOI requests. Can you imagine the havoc Murdoch's tabloids would create with BC's FOI and Lisa's Help!

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#30 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 06:49 AM

^ Do you really believe Focus, Campbell, Broadland and Crockford are "any extremist(s) masquerading as the legitimate media"?

I'm cool with your views, Adrian, and the "Helps for Mayor" is news to me, but I'll accept that. But I don't know how anyone could have a legitimate grudge with Focus, unless it stems from something outside of this issue.

Adrian, FOI aside, what are your thoughts on the overall bridge process thus far?
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#31 Holden West

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 07:03 AM

Both of Adrian's claims ring false to my ear. Helps' running for mayor would be a display of miscalculation, something that Helps has not yet displayed. Unlike Isitt, she seems aware of her rookie status. Not saying she wouldn't run, just that it would be out of character.

As for Focus being an illegitimate rag, they're up for a Jack Webster award this year, which is the ultimate accolade for BC's mainstream media.
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#32 Mike K.

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 07:27 AM

Notice that the split is new councillors vs. re-elected councillors and mayor Fortin (save for Young, of course).

I like Helps. She's doing well as a first-time councillor.

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#33 Adrian

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 07:42 AM

I think if Holden was to examine what Ms Helps has been up to in recent weeks, he would change his opinion.

I just checked the Jack Webster Award website and noted that neither Focus Magazine nor Sam, oops I mean David or his wife, were nominated.
Only a Focus writer, Rob Wipon was nominated and for articles that were not associated with the editor and publishers' harassment of City Hall.

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#34 aastra

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 08:05 AM

"A new bridge would be awesome."
"The old bridge is ugly."
"Focus is a rag."

And after several years of this saga, we still haven't found a single person who can be bothered to offer more detail than that...

#35 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 08:13 AM

I just checked the Jack Webster Award website and noted that neither Focus Magazine nor Sam, oops I mean David or his wife, were nominated.
Only a Focus writer, Rob Wipon was nominated and for articles that were not associated with the editor and publishers' harassment of City Hall.

Adrian


Oh boy. Check TC publisher Bob McKenzie's resume. Oh ya, he has never been a writer, editor or anything. He has been a circulation director and major cost-cutter. Never worked in the newsroom. But he still runs a legitimate news source, doesn't he? He employs writers and editors that win awards, right?
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#36 Hotel Mike

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 09:54 AM

Here is a formula to focus on success in journalism:

1. Buy yourself a magazine.

2. Decide you are a journalist

3. Find an issue you can fixate and hound people on.

4. Fill your magazine with paranoia and picayune prose.

5. Repeat steps 2 to 5.
Don't be so sure.:cool:

#37 Mike K.

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 10:06 AM

You'd think that after over a decade of amateur bloggers changing the world we could sidestep the notion that only an individual with a degree in journalism from an ivy league university can be trusted to report on issues of substance?

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#38 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 10:12 AM

You'd think that after over a decade of amateur bloggers changing the world we could sidestep the notion that only an individual with a degree in journalism from an ivy league university can be trusted to report on issues of substance?


Ya, that's what I was going to say. It's funny, if these trained journalists were so good, you'd think they'd be able to save daily newspapers, with their superior writing and journalism skills.

.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#39 aastra

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 11:00 AM

3. Find an issue you can fixate and hound people on.


For example, the most expensive public works project in the city of Victoria's history, which also happened to represent one of the most significant heritage preservation controversies in the city of Victoria's history? It must really be a slow news day if the so-called journalists at Focus have to resort to covering stuff like that.

If Hotel Mike and/or Adrian could please touch on even a single point of fact in their ramblings it would be much appreciated.

#40 Bernard

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Posted 05 October 2012 - 11:10 AM

Given the cost of the bridge and given the total possible cost of the FOIs. these two numbers seem to be utterly out of sync with each other.

I am trying to get to add up the potential costs of all the of the Focus FOIs and even using costly assumptions and zero cost recovery I can not get to more than $40,000 over the last several years. Keep in mind the City is allowed to charge for FOIs and is allowed to charge out at a rate that should be more than enough to have a 100% cost recovery.

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