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A6 - Wednesday, February 15, 1984 -

North Shore News,

Ei editorial page

Shut-out?

The North Shore Independent School
Society is running up against problems in its
- Search for a suitable building in which to open
this September — and they’re not primarily
financial.

There’s a growing suspicion that the major
problem is the attitude of the North Shore
school boards which own the needed accom-
modation in the form of empty schools of
their own, closed due to falling enrolment.

An ideal location would be the Hamilton
school building in North Van, which the
NSISS has offered to lease at an estimated
total saving to the taxpayers of $1 million over
the next five years. North Van school board,
however, has turned down the application on
the grounds that it can cut a better deal by
moving info Hamilton itself and selling the
board’s present facilities.

The arithmetic may be correct, though the
disappointed private school sponsors question.
it. But it seems equally likely that the school
board is unwilling — at any price — to en-
courage a major independent competitor
threatening a further decline in public school
enrolment. Similar fears have been expressed
privately by trustees and teachers in ‘West
Van, where the empty Pauliné Johnson school
is another possible location.

The school boards might more usefully ask
themselves why several hundred families are
eager to pay $2,000-$3,000 for private school-
ing IN ADDITION TO tax bills for the public
schools they prefer not to use.

That, we suggest, would be a more con-
structive step towards strengthening the public
school system itself than merely attempting to
shut out the competition.

Forgetful 70's?

With the passing of young Yuri Andropov,
a mere 69 years old, at least the generation gap
has been closed in U.S.-Soviet relations. If the
new Russian leader Chernenko, 72, and Ron-
nie Reagan, 73, finally get together, maybe
they’ become so engrossed in chatting about
the good old days that they’ll forget what the
squabble was abont in the first place. In these
two seniors impaired memory could be a
blessing for mankind.

sunday

news

north shore

news

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THIS PAPER IS RECYCLABLE

“By ROGER W. WORTH

THE UNIVERSE, we’ve
been told, is unfolding as it
should. For sure, those are
nice, cleancut words, but
when one considers some of
the oddities that we take for
granted in our everyday lives,
one is forced to wonder
about the expression.

Here are a few examples:

Canadians throw billions

called Registered Retirement
Savings Plans every year,
winning a tax break now and
saving money they will be
able to use in the leaner
retirement years. It’s been a
wildly successful program
that’s helped entice Cana-

‘dians to save on average

more than twice as much
money as their U.S. counter-
parts. Indeed, for the self-
employed, RRSPs provide

BULLY-BOY Paul Watson, the pugnacious Don
Quixote of Project Wolf, is conclusive proof that
the news media today are primarily in the entertain-
ment business, as distinct from the plain old repor-

ting business.

Particularly TV news,
since the overall purpose of
TV is entertainment. But
radio and newspapers are cat-
ching on fast, too.

Marshall McLuhan’s
famous proposition that ‘‘the
medium is the message’’ has
become the new reality in the
newsrooms of 1984, as more
and more people master the
surprisingly simple art of
manipulating the media's
ever-hungry practitioners for
their own crackpot purposes.

The sure-fire formula is
The Protest. All you do 1s
phone the local TV stations
somewhat as follows:

“Say, I’ve got a news tip
for you guys. Last night | was
thrown out of the Park Royal
Theatre just because | (ried to
address the audience tin the
interval about Argentine
atrocities in Patagonia.
That's denying our mghts of
free speech and free assembly
under the Charter, you
know So tonight the Patago-
nian Liberation Army's
holding a mass demonstra
von outside the theatre at 6
pm.”

No nocd to say a word
more Promptly at 5:50 p m
there'll be three camera and
sound crews at the scenc,
jockeying for the best angles
to shoot your sia rent-a-pals

as they circle in front of the
theatre entrance with their
placards.

NEWS CELEBRITY

You'll be interviewed by a
solemn young lady with a
hand mike. By 6:06 p.m. it
will all be over. And five
hours tater you'll entemain
100,000 viewers for 90
seconds on the 11 o'clock
news.

Pull this stunt a few more
times — adding some new lit-
tle twist on cach occasion,
such as lying on the sidewalk
so that movic patrons have to
step over you — and you'll be
a news-hour cntcrtainment

celebrity before your next
welfare cheque ts duc.
Watson, of course, is onc

of the top stars among the
professional protest artists,
openly boasung of his skalls
in manipulating the media
with causes ranging from
native indians to whales, to
seals to wolves

Aside from versatility, you
also have to hand tt to him
for sheer drama Anyone cm
barking on a 100-kilomctre
trek through a snow -covercd
wilderness full of grizzhes,
with afternoon tempcraturcs
of minus 25, sotely in order
to provide ao media sper

one of the few realistic ways
of saving for old age.

Nevertheless, the Ottawa
establishment is talking
about doing away with the
program. Surely such a no-
tion only could come from a
group having lucrative index-

pensions ‘subsidized by
(guess who?) the taxpayers.

s*=e#

————""-" -eifion in recent weeks.

Food prices are rising and
consumers, it seems, know
who to blame. The culprit in
most minds: the individual
that produces the food, the
farmer.

Few people care to know
that’s all a myth. How come?
Farmers will get less (and
sometimes much, much less)
than 25 per cent of food price

increases this time around.
ses

Last fall, Parliament, with
support from all three major
parties, passed a law taking
away the rights of individuals
and groups to openly adver-
tise for or against any issue
during an election campaign.
It was a serious measure, and
the legislative change is now
being tested in the courts.

The better question,
though, may be why the pre-
sent 282 presumably
knowledgeable and in-
telligent federal politicians
acted as they did.

Is it because they simply
didn’t understand what they
were doing? Were they get-
ting even with the groups and
individuals that take pot

nd now, the Watson

Noel Wright
fa |

tacular has to be a superbly
dedicated trouper with
theatre in his blood

As a fellow human being, |
hope he makes it, because
there seems at least a
possibthty that even Watson
may have bitten off a hitle
more than he can chew this
time But that doesn’t alter
the fact that he and his chums

ate not, ino themsclves,
“news”
They're sumpty ai group

that disagrees with a perfectly
legal government action, sup
ported 100 per cent by the
local citizenry and directly af
fecting virtually no one clisc
mBC

shots at them on a regular
basis? Or is it because they
are afraid of losing votes if
they are forced to take a
stand on some of the more
emotional issues facing the
country?
ese 8

That national sport of
Kings (and Queens) called
‘lotteries has been getting
more than its fair share of at-

First, we had the politi-
cians suggesting a lottery
prize of more than $10
million was too high, thereby
coercing the sane among us
to join the army of lottery
addicts.

The prizes, one politician
allowed, should be restricted
to a more reasonable $5
million limit, thus reducing
the chance we’ll all succumb
to the pleas presented in
government advertisements
designed to pressure the
populace into buying even
more lottery tickets.

Then Canda’s Post’s Presi-
dent Michael Warren says
he’s considering competing
with the private sector on lot-
tery ticket sales, using the
$25,000 per-year posties to
handle the task.

Warren fails to mention’
he’lt again need another few
hundred million of tax-
payers’ money to subsidize
his operation this year.
Perhaps the posties should
consider first things first, like
getting the mail delivered on
time.

Show

SOAP OPERA

So in order to make their
point — which may or may
not have merit — they entice
the media to join their act,
thereby manufacturing §ar-
tificial ‘‘news’’ which
wouldn’t have existed
without media involvement.

The media themselves
become the message. And for
TV viewers, radio listeners
and newspaper readers the
message winds up, in effect,
as entertainment, exactly like

the instalments of a soap
opera.
Politicians and countiess

other publicity-seekers, wor-
thy or otherwise, constantly
play the same game
nowadays. Premicrs, cabinet
ministers, council membcrs,
school trustees, business ty.
coons and labor leaders all
become adept at it. So do
sports clubs, chambers of
commerce, charities and ser-
vice Organizations of cvcry
stripe. The basic technique is

identical with that of the
Watson gang.

If nothing new (ic ge
nuincly newsworthy) has

happened with you recently
invent something and invite
the media to take note
Depending on how good you
are at inventing, they'll pay
attention, though they may
sometimes be uncomfortably
inquisitive about details
Don't worry, so long as
they spell your name rmght
When real news ts scarce, it’s
entertainment they go for
And thew audience will
forgive you almost anything
cxoecpt boredom