David Suzuki cannot face the press
I had posted about
this wonderful article in BC Local News yesterday.
Now this -- from
CNEWS:
Sun News Network booted from David Suzuki speech
Fans of David Suzuki who paid $15 for tickets to see the eco-activist speak in Ottawa got a free screening of the theatre of the absurd this week -- organizers threatened to call the cops when Sun News showed up.
The event was announced in the Parliamentary Press Gallery notices, so, Sun News Network reporter Jessica Hume went with cameraman Andrei Filippov to ask Suzuki some questions.
However, Rev. David Illman-White ordered them both to leave the church and cover the event from the sidewalk, despite other reporters being there.
"Out, out, get out," Illman-White said. He also sarcastically remarked "great journalism" when Hume said she would wait until after the event to ask Suzuki questions.
When Hume explained it was an open media event, an organizer from a local bookstore stormed over and ordered them out also, grabbing the camera lens.
"Can someone use their cellphone to call 911? We have media here who will not leave!" the woman who said her name was Lisa shouted at the gathering.
Event moderator and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May swooped in and restored calm.
"Whoa, only Rob Ford calls 911 on the media," she joked before embracing Hume.
"I certainly thought an event at a church sponsored by an independent book store could manage a reporter and a cameraman," May said in an e-mail. "I thought some humour could diffuse the situation. I didn't think twice."
Suzuki eventually emerged from a back room after Sun left the building. His spokespeople did not return calls for comment.
So what is it David -- afraid of some inconvenient questions? You do know that the wheels are coming off the Global Warming wagon. Time to start drumming up something new to cry wolf about...
And of course, the reporter in question -- Jessica Hume -- has published her side of the events.
From
The Sun News:
HUME: The real nature of things with David Suzuki
You can tell a lot about a person by the way they respond to being challenged.
Those with courage of conviction and the confidence that comes with real intellect will back their positions and rise to the occasion. Those whose sense of ego is mightier than their strength of character will retreat, resort to insults or not respond altogether.
So when David Suzuki � environmental guru, would-be benevolent dictator and all-around perfect human � arrived in Ottawa Tuesday evening to tell a church filled with a paying audience what a sustainable future looks like, he shocked his own loyal supporters by aggressively refusing to speak with this reporter and a cameraman (who�d only arrived after a media release about the event from the Green Party was sent to the national press corps).
When we first arrived we were welcomed, asked how long we�d like with the good doctor and where we should set up our shot. When it was revealed we represented Sun News, we were no longer welcome.
David Suzuki didn�t just refuse to speak to us. He refused to appear altogether, sending a handful of hostile event organizers to remove us from the premises. They would, eventually, but not before creating a real drama in front of a real audience that exposed the real nature of David Suzuki.
Read the whole thing as she deftly rips the good doctor a new one. Suzuki should realize that the more he avoids certain reporters, the greater traction they are going to gain and the more they will rip down his facade. This is a zero-sum game.
Posted by DaveH at February 28, 2013 12:19 PM