DBIA Closes Door On Information Flow to Opinion250

Thursday, April 21, 2011 01:00 PM

Prince George, B.C. - Downtown Prince George has a new executive, but they don’t want Opinion 250 to know about it.

News releases were issued to all media outlets and at least one person in a public relations position yesterday, but Opinion 250 was not on the list. While one would like to think this was an oversite, Opinion 250 has learned there was a resolution passed in June of last year which stated Opinion 250 was to be sent news releases, but no one in the DBIA was to do any interviews with Opinion 250.

That resolution was passed at a time when the DBIA had stated its goals for 2010-2012 included “Improving communications both internally and externally”. That goal was also stressed at the most recent Annual General Meeting.

At issue, is the contention Opinion 250 is not “accredited” ( valid) because it does not belong to the B.C. Press Council. It is true, Opinion 250 is not a member of the B.C. Press Council. Readers might be interested in knowing that the CBC, Global Television, CKPG News, The Wolf, and 94X are also not members of the B.C. Press Council.

Opinion 250 is an electronic medium, and as such, has membership with the Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) and adheres to its code of journalistic ethics.

The membership also ties Opinion250 to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, which has far more stringent regulations on a variety of issues which go beyond the journalistic code of ethics.

Readers may also like to know, that even if Opinion 250 had wanted to join the B.C. Press Council, that organization did not accept on-line independent news outlets until the fall of 2010 when it accepted “Castanet” from Kelowna as it’s first independent on-line member.

After being advised that a new executive had been elected, Opinion250 called the Downtown Prince George office and asked the Manager there for a copy of the release. The request was denied. When asked if the release could be “read” over the phone, that request was also denied and Opinion 250 was advised to place a call to the President of the organization (which is Carla Johnston of the BID Group of Companies). A call has been placed, it has not yet been returned. The fact that there is a resolution on the books which prevents any member of the DBIA Executive from being “interviewed” by Opinion 250 would mean returning that call would be a violation of a resolution.

So, despite the fact Opinion 250 is not supposed to have this information, we have acquired it, (albeit later than others) and here is the new executive of the DBIA:

· President, Carla Johnston (Communications, BID Group of Companies)

· Vice President: Hugh Nicholson, Publisher Prince George Citizen

· Treasurer – Kate Roxburgh, Owner/Operator, Topaz Bead Gallery

· Secretary – Betty Bryce, Owner, Pace Realty

**** update: email including news release was sent to elaine@opinion250.com at 1:38 p.m. email received at 5:00 p.m.

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Posted on Thursday, April 21, 2011 01:00 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: BCRacer on April 21 2011 1:42 PM

maybe tell us which business these people own, I am sure I can find a reason to go in and tell them why I am not patronizing them.

Posted by: verballabel on April 21 2011 1:42 PM

Like little kids on the playground not letting others play with them, lol!

Posted by: He spoke on April 21 2011 2:16 PM

There's the problem right there. Vice President, Hugh Nicholson.

Ben, the problem is, you have more bloggers than the Citizen has subscriber.

Posted by: seamutt on April 21 2011 2:19 PM

What are they trying to hide?

Posted by: crystal on April 21 2011 2:38 PM

Did Hugh Nicholson vote , and how , you know the importance of freedom of speech and all that stuff.

Posted by: HeGottaGo on April 21 2011 3:03 PM

just another reason to back up my canselling my citizen subscription

Posted by: interceptor on April 21 2011 3:12 PM

If it was released to the press yesterday than the Citizen would be lucky to have printed it today. Since I read it here today anyway than I would say that after all the run around its still a tie ;-)

Posted by: Just Curious on April 21 2011 3:17 PM

Good point crystal. If Hugh, the publisher for the Prince George Citizen, voted to restrict access of DBIA information to a competing media outlet (regardless of BC Press Council or RTNDA membership) while acting as a director of the DBIA, would that not be a clear conflict of interest? I would assume the DBIA minutes would indicate who voted and how. Are these as hard to come by as other DBIA information appears to be?

Posted by: HeGottaGo on April 21 2011 3:28 PM

WWDD -- What Would Del Do?

Posted by: Vulgar Sage on April 21 2011 3:35 PM

I call shenanigans...haven`t received my email yet so I must still be at least one more away for shenanigans...

Posted by: Just Curious on April 21 2011 3:41 PM

What sort of accountability does the DBIA have to the City? Are they only required to provide information to the City when requesting the tax levy or should the City be following up on some of these matters that are beginning to seem less than forthcoming, if not actually fishy? I ask because it seems the City should have copies of all the financial documents that have been requested by Ben and I would hope that meeting minutes and related documents are provided to the City, since they are footing the bill through the tax levy they are collecting on behalf of the DBIA. It seems simple, if everything is going smooth and is above board; provide the paperwork that shows it.

Posted by: lmorge on April 21 2011 5:21 PM

Guess you pissed somebody off there Ben.

Posted by: nu2PG on April 21 2011 6:39 PM

DBIA Grow up already!!!!!

Posted by: saywhat on April 21 2011 7:33 PM

Ben doesn't play nice :-)
So they are taking the ball and going home.....

and these are the people that are using our money to do what for the city?

I think we should take our ball (taxes) and go home!

Posted by: Harbinger on April 21 2011 8:21 PM

50% of my household wanted to stop subscribing to the Citizen. I was "reasoned out of it". For now. But I still might cancel. So there! Citizen.

Posted by: Dragonmaster on April 21 2011 8:56 PM

I quit the citizen when they started delivery at 5am.

Posted by: Downtown Business Person on April 21 2011 9:10 PM

Wow! Something smells stinky at the DBIA and it is not the smell of the pulpmill either.

I thought one of the reasons for press releases was to ensure the uniform and simultaneous distribution of information to the press (and the public) without playing favourites.

DBIA is funded by tax dollars. Its activities should be open and transparent. Playing games with press releases and who gets them is plain silly and petty.

The taxpayers and the public deserve better.

Hopefully this was just an oversight and the management at the DBIA smartens up and starts to follow some basic rules of fair play into the future in all it dealings.

Posted by: Surefire on April 21 2011 9:44 PM

My goodness I can't even think of a darker corner of earth that is this draconian. You are right all of you Prince George deserves better. I know a fella with a size 12 EEE that's triple E boot that could take care of the problem.