To: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - Vancouver
To Whom it Should Concern:
I was INCENSED with a report on CBC news final [22 August] about graffiti and it's increasing proliferation here in Vancouver and the lower mainland. It was almost an advertisement saying "Go ahead, Kids - paint away". At the end of the story your commentator/anchor said while pausing for the next segment, "Oh, I think it looks kinda cool." or words to that effect. I almost hit the roof. Her casual "off the cuff" comment, however slight or innocuous, in effect, gives the viewer a form of permission.
I saw the blight on the landscape in Europe - notably Denmark and Germany as well as graffiti in New York City. What a scourge! In Hamburg, graffiti blankets the city far and wide and the offending vandal is like a dog that lifts his leg frequently along his path of travel, indiscriminate of where his stream splashes!
I watch your news programs every day and am becoming increasingly irritated with your News presenters and their inappropriate editorial comments; either verbal or non-verbal. Last night's performance was not so subtle. The attitude of the presenter is soaked up by the viewer and in light of this increasing prevalence of "artists" destroying public and private property, at great expense, with their "artwork", surely we don't need that kind of "encouragement"!
It is time we, as a society, get a grip on this type of crime, among many others. Writing it off as "the little dears are just expressing their feelings" or "Oh, I think it's kinda cool" is a very poor start indeed.
All too often, over the last twenty - thirty years, we have been too permissive with the young. Over that time, as well, we have insidiously removed the power from the hands of Government, the schools and the parents or care-givers to deal effectively with the perpetrators. As a result the moral fibre and level of accountability of and for one's actions is now almost non-existent. Society is crumbling before our very eyes as a result.
You, as a national and regional news service, with a daily presence in the homes across this land, have a duty NOT to encourage or incite your viewers. Last night's performance certainly didn't uphold that duty. Shame on you!
Sincerely,
Charles H. Tupper
[address & phone number removed
for Web page]
Vancouver, B.C.
Cc: To the following, in hopes that one or more Editorial sections will print this letter, as I am almost certain that you will not read it in it's entirety on the air during one of your broadcasts:
Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Province
The Courier
<<< The above letter was published in
its entirety. CBC never responded.
North Shore News
Georgia Straight