a an , us _ “i haneke seh aah satin ‘THE SHOTGUN termina- tion of Pamela Wallin as’ host ef CBC-TV’s Prime: Time Magazine makes one - ask once agaia just how... much Canada still needs’ CBC-TV. ‘at all — at-any®.. rate; ‘in. its present form. : That's ‘putting it politely. ; Ratings suggest a majority of view- rs have already. answered the question with their channel zap- s.' The insultingly abrupt demo- *- tion of Wallin —— a 1995 Gemini. nominee as best overall broadcast - journalist, with two years of her’: contract still to run'—- cari only add to’ ‘those ‘who'd rather switch than - The CBC ‘mostly, has onl y. itself o blame for the mess in which its TV operation is now floundering. For nearly. four decades after intro- | ducing | the nation.to the tube in 1952 it fulfilled its mandate of“. reflecting Canada and explaining | Canadians to Canadians coast to’ Coast at least passably’ well and on = occasions admirably. Even so, “Holy Mother Corp.” always’ suffered from two diseases | endemic in all taxpayer-funded’ . organizations: ‘chronic and often: vicious internal politicking; ; plus a costly, top-heavy jayer of bureau- cratic types firmly convinced of : their own superior judgment. - ‘Following the irreplaceable ~. Barbara Frum’s untimely death in 992 these. were. the geniuses ; who APR EE Sah, EOD reyes whe uy poate F TELLA JO Dean’s proposa! to rid North Vancouver City of the infectious graffiti disease is going to rub some people the wrong wity. But so what. The veteran city councillor is fed up with the proliferating spray-bombed visual pollu- tion that reveats a wanton disrespect for local property and an unusually limited artistic eye on the part of the perpetrators, It’s an issue that needs addressing, Dean proposes putting the onus for graffiti removal on the property owners that have been hit by the graffiti non-artists. Some would argue that the Dean solution PPOs iat SE a IRs Ra eee RS ec Re a ERB EY PHARM ABLES MH EE AE aE Bish ERA LU, city walls. The local police department has as yet organized no designated graffiti squad, and — police officials are unlikely to establish such a squad given the time and expense invo}ved, Members of the public must therefore be drafted to help stem the spray-bomb tide. |. Store owners whose property is chronically defaced by vandals will be doubly upset if they start being hit with municipal fines in addition to vandalized wails, Vigilance will increase, and perhaps with it . the round-up of the. offending graffiti goons. Responsibility for community. standards should reside in the home or work place of any self-respecting community’s individual tor. True enough. But the object of the exercise is the eradi- cation of unsightly and moronic graffiti from survive? receoded to blithely ignore the | _ viewing and bedtime habits of most Canadians. They turned the 10 p.m. ° National and Journal — CBC- TV’s longtime flagship program — into a 9 p.m. Prime Time News ‘hour and then wondered why the | ratings nosedived. » . . Moving it ‘back to 10 p.m. was : “ Starting to help a little and Wallin “was one of the best hopes for grad- - ual improvement. Lured from - CTV’s Canada AM in 1992 to co-. “anchor Peter Mansbridge; her pro- . ' file as CBC's star woman journalist ‘had continued to grow — untila | week ago. Now it’s her lawyers’ turn — and one more problem on: | the. already heaped plate of trouble awaiting former Tory cabinet min- ister Perrin Beatty, who took over < last week as the CBC’s latest presi- . * dent-CEO.) The last thing he needed was a fresh ratings-killing controversy. ‘| Operations Manager . Q . 985-2131, Ast). >. Managing Editor..." With a 20% funding ‘cut looming, he must quickly find new sources of revenue or else drastically modi- fy the CBC's hallowed mandate. : In the days of rabbit ears, and later 13-channel cable, that man- date could prevail fairly easily. But no longer, now that we can pick and choose among at least 40 chan- nels, are headed towards 500 and have global cyberspace at our com- mand on the Internet. _ If your job is to peddle video- nationalism in this communications jungle, you'd better make it sizzle. Long gone are the days when - : Canadians were expected to’ prove their patriotism by enjoying Peter Mansbridge and Road To Avonlea whether they tiked them or not. . Playing political games, ignor- ° ing viewers and kicking talent in the teeth only makes things worse. CBC-TV's one chance of surviving in some nation-binding role is to stop behaving like a mandarin-dri- ven government department and take lessons from the ever-growing flood of popular private-sector broadcasters it's now up against. Lots of luck, Perrin! 1 ewe - TODAY, April 9, many happy returns to West Van’s Joanna ‘ Disher ... And warm birthday wish- es to longtime West Vancouver res- ident Mildred Hughes. WRIGHT OR WRONG: How much smoother life ¥*: ly be if- oe Linda Stewart. . a . Sales & Marketing Director - ° 885-2151 (4176) penalizes the victim rather than the perpetra- ~ abstracts (“Band residents. That’s an unpleasant reality for some peo- ple to swallow, but it’s the only way any 1 real community works. quotes of the week, “Are we going te have oe @ club over not only Capilano Mall . but also over the rest of the City of North Vancouver? I don’t ' think it’s just. I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t even think it’s busi- ness-like.” North Vancouver City Coun. Stella Jo Dean, speaking out- against a proposed bylaw that would restrict the hours of shop openings allowed in the city. (From ‘an April 5 North Shore News story. } “You have to manage the process properly orelse you . could wind up with 2 camel when it should have been a horse.” West Vancouver architect John: Patkau, on the pressure-packed ' world of architecture, (Froman... | Dear Editor: Thank . you for from - my Fund” Management _ Criticized”, page 11, March 25). ° 1 Unfortunately: the" headline emphasizes band mismanagement. This is one of, the Jess important ‘, concerns “for: non-natives though. . critical for some band members. Botched’ negotiations and wan- ton action by. incompetent, ‘syco-° \ Peter Kvamstrom | Display Manager. - | publishing comments.; ' April 5 North Shore News Inside Story.) “There is nothing good, about’. : legal gambling. It creates no." wealth; it adds nothing to our. economy. It destroys nelghbor- hoods and corrupts, govern-, i ments.” Harvey Pudwell of Citizens ; Against Gambling Expansion, on:: the evils of gambling. (From'a_: March a North: Shore, News story.) “Ips a living tradition, 1 not: something that comes out ofa wax museum.” » Stewart MacNeil of the. ; Canadian-Celtic music group the ’ Barra MacNeils,' ‘on the music fro the group's The Traditional Album:. release. (From a'March 31 North. Shore News, Inside e story.) ©. phants: is ; ‘of vital ‘concem This ~ unbudgeted ; exercise... if: continued without” major * “changes : will -pu ‘greater economic and social ‘stres » on B.C, and even all of Canada than ' Quebec separation. : All of this without benefit a the designated beneficiaries‘ except’ for those” who are ‘Already well-off. or “even rich. ~ George E. Price «: West Vancouver . _. 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