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This is just...surreal:

CTV News, Global News, City TV and CPAC have filed a joint complaint with the Department of National Defence for giving exclusive coverage to CBC of the state funeral of Sergeant Ernest (Smokey) Smith, the last recipient of the Victoria Cross who died earlier this month.

"Without our knowledge and without tender or consultation with other broadcast news organizations, DND assigned broadcast rights for the funeral to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation," stated the four broadcasters in an Aug. 18 letter addressed to Defence Minister Bill Graham (Toronto Centre, Ont.).

In the letter, obtained by The Hill Times, the four broadcasters also said they were "censored and denied access to a news event of important national interest," and demand to be reimbursed for the costs CBC charged for access to the coverage of the state funeral which took place in Vancouver.
[...]
When they found out that CBC was the sole host broadcaster before the funeral, the three stations got together and proposed that two of eight camera positions in the church be assigned to private broadcasters and in turn they would provide a common pool at no charge, but DND rejected the offer, Mr. Hurst said.

"We said, 'What's going on here?' and their response was, 'This has been organized for two years and it's too late to change anything. What's your problem?'"

Mr. Hurst said CTV paid the CBC $2,500 for news access and decided not to carry a live feed, which would've cost the network $6,500. Mr. Wyatt said Global also paid the $2,500 fee and decided not to carry a live feed. "[The situation] was forcing us into a position where we were held hostage by two tax-supported organizations, one the Department of National Defence and the CBC. We paid the ransom," he said.

Posted by damian at August 29, 2005 06:24 PM | TrackBack