Sona submitted his application on Tuesday, complaining that Sun TV personality Brian Lilley named him in connection with the Guelph robocall without giving him the opportunity to comment, a breach of proper journalistic practices.
Because of that, Sona writes, “forcible taxpayer funding of this network would not be in the best interests of the journalistic profession or the viewing public.”
Kory Teneycke, vice president of the network, declined to comment on Sona’s submission.
“We have no comment on Sona other than to say that we stand by our story,” he said in an email Tuesday.
Also, we would like thank the tens of thousands of Canadians that have written into the CRTC in support of our license application.”
The money-losing network has applied for must-carry status — the same status enjoyed by CBC and CTV news networks — to provide a revenue stream for its unique blend of right-of-centre commentary and news reports.
A panel of five Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission commissioners will begin to consider submissions from the public in Gatineau, Que., on April 23.
In his submission, Sona says that he wants to appear before that panel to warn people about the network’s journalistic practices.
After the “robocalls” story broke last February, Sun News Network, citing Conservative sources, linked Sona to a deceptive call that sent hundreds of opposition supporters to the wrong polling station. He was fired soon after. Sona says Sun did not give him the opportunity to comment before going to air.
“They did so without first calling me for comment, and the resulting political and media upheaval resulted in not only a lost job on my part, but also intense, unwarranted scrutiny of my family and friends,” Sona writes.
“At this point it’s too late for me to undo the damage to my reputation which Sun News engineered …. However, if my testimony can shed additional light on Sun News and save even one more person from having their life ruined by this network, I would consider it worthwhile to testify.”
Party spokesman Fred DeLorey has stated that the party has never named Sona as a person of interest to the investigation.
A spokesman for the CRTC said Tuesday that he doesn’t know whether Sona will get the opportunity to address the panel.
“For the ones against, we try to let everyone and we generally can,” said Denis Carmel. “It depends on the number of people. And then you make a decision based on arguments and relevance.”
So far, 82 people have applied to appear before the panel to speak in favour of Sun’s application while 27 are opposed. The regulator has received 7,888 submissions, 5,100 in favour of the application, 2,771 against, not including online petitions.
The deadline for submissions is end of business day Wednesday.
In its application for mandatory carriage, the network reports that its losses are $17 million a year, which it blames on its uneven distribution on cable services.
If the application is approved, the network will be guaranteed 18 cents a month from all English Canadian cable subscribers.
In 2010, when the network was seeking its licence to go on the air, Teneycke angrily rejected accusations that the network would seek mandatory carriage.
“Sun TV News is not, nor has it ever, asked for ‘mandatory carriage’ by cable or satellite companies,” he wrote.
“As the critics correctly point out, this would be tantamount to a tax on everyone with cable or satellite service. It is what CBC News Network has, but not what we are asking for.”
Quebecor CEO Pierre-Karl Peladeau, whose company owns Sun, recently wrote an op-ed in Postmedia newspapers in which he said the network was forced to seek mandatory carriage because many cable providers had declined to offer it to consumers.
“While a free market approach is a noble vision, and one to build toward, it bears little resemblance to the television market as it operates today,” he wrote.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Stephen Maher
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