Please forward the letter below, or the AAS messageboard link, to
everyone you know who will be interested in how the media has covered up for the SPCA for
decades, and helped to steal credit and donations from small organizations and direct them
to the BC SPCA. The media distorts and destroys with impunity and though we may not be
able to make it give credit where it is deserved in this case, the media needs to know
that we all are aware of its deceit. Please take the time to email all the organizations
and persons for which we have provided addresses.
BE SURE TO CC YOUR LETTER TO AAS: animaladvocates@telus.net
August 21, 2002
To: CRTC: c/o CRTC Director Marguerite Vogel info@crtc.gc.ca
c.c. to: Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
P.O. Box 3265, Station D
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 6H8
complaints@cbsc.ca
GLOBAL BC
7850 Enterprise Street
Burnaby, B.C.
V5A 1V7
(604) 420-2288
Steve Wyatt, General Manager: steve.wyatt@globaltv.ca
Ian Haysom, Director of BCTV News on Global: ian.haysom@globaltv.ca
Toronto office: globalnews.tor@globaltv.ca
President Michael Steven and the Board of Directors, BC SPCA, mjs@kercam.com
Re: BCTV/Global Newscasts on the rescue of dogs from Topaz Creek, BC
It has come to our attention that in several recent newscasts, BCTV/Global deliberately
credited the rescue of the Topaz Creek dogs to the BC SPCA when in fact the rescue was
carried out by Creston PAWS Society. When these omission were pointed out to BCTV, it did
not make full corrections.
We request that BCTV be made to air another newscast on the rescue of the Topaz Creek
dogs, with full credit given to Creston PAWS, including the important information that the
BC SPCA had been informed of the dogs' and cats' conditions for years and had done
nothing. If the public does not know that the SPCA is frequently not preventing cruelty,
it will continue to be mislead by the media into giving donations to the SPCA under false
pretences, and the SPCA will continue to receive money that rightly belongs to other
Societies, in this case, Creston PAWS. The media has a clear duty to find and publish all
relevant facts. In this case, BCTV has deliberately withheld, distorted, and manipulated
facts that it was in possession of, and as a consequence, it has directed funds away from
the correct, and deserving, recipients to an incorrect and undeserving recipient.
We received this information from Creston PAWS:
"I called Global TV today and asked to speak with Aaron McArthur as he was the one
who prepared the Saturday story, to make several corrections. I was connected with
"Tim". I went over ALL of the errors in the story and was told that the
corrections would be made for the next update. The only correction was the omission of the
name SPCA. PAWS was still not mentioned by name nor were other corrections made. We, the
Creston Pet Adoption & Welfare Society are especially deflated by this newsfeed and
concerned that the help we so desperately need to care for and find homes for the 22
remaining dogs in OUR care will dry up..."
(signed) Vicki McDonald, President, PAWS, Creston.
Judith Stone,
President,
Animal Advocates Society of BC
AAS also posted on its messageboard:
Posted By: AAS
Date: Sunday, 18 August 2002, at 9:25 p.m.
We have just been told that last night (Saturday, August 17th) Global, channel 11, did
a story on the Topaz Creek rescue and gave the SPCA credit. Can anyone confirm this?
We know that Creston PAWS tried for years to get the SPCA to get those dogs and cats
out of the woods they were captive in and the SPCA did nothing! We know that is Creston
PAWS, with other rescue groups helping, that did all the work.
If Global did give the SPCA credit, it would not, could not, have been by mistake. All
the media were contacted by Creston PAWS. The media is not concerned with truth, the media
is concerned with stories that sell newspapers or air time. The media is concerned with
keeping its contacts stroked. The SPCA can go on supplying the media with 'quick draws'
(no work, lots of reader/viewer appeal), so stroking the SPCA makes sense doesn't it?
All who have shouldered the work and footed the bills for so long deserve to have their
work acknowledged - not STOLEN! (Edited by AAS, full post is on the AAS messageboard.)
Posted By: AAS
Date: Monday, 19 August 2002, at 8:32 a.m.
In Response To: Global TV gave the SPCA credit for the Topaz Creek (AAS)
We have heard that in several recent newscasts, BCTV gave credit to the SPCA and to
BigDogRescue but not a word of credit to Creston PAWS. Was BigDogRescue recognized just by
accident and Creston PAWS not mentioned just by accident? BigDogResue is very friendly
with the SPCA, even using their home in which to hold SPCA initiated meetings, and Creston
PAWS is the organization that told the world that the SPCA did nothing for years. The SPCA
is behind this. It either made sure, or at the least it permitted (unless the SPCA
insisted the newscasts be corrected), this theft of credit, and theft of credit is the
same as theft of money because donations that properly belong to Creston PAWS are now
going to the SPCA, and the law recognizes that. Creston PAWS could sue the TV stations
which directed credit/money away from it and to the SPCA.
Creston PAWS was deliberately and royally shafted, just as have been many small groups
because of their opposition to the SPCA.... Again, you have to understand that the media
exclusion of Creston PAWS and giving credit to the SPCA is not accidental. They all know.
(Edited by AAS, full post is on the AAS messageboard.)
We received confirmations:
Posted By: BigDogRescue <BigDogRescue@aol.com>
Date: Monday, 19 August 2002, at 9:53 a.m.
In Response To: Creston PAWS has been robbed (AAS)
Yes, Creston PAWS has been robbed, as we have informed Aaron MacArthur of BCTV
*several* times, and as we have informed Tim Perry, the weekend producer, several
times....
At the airport was the first interview with BCTV, at that time we made it very clear
that PAWS had saved these dogs from a terrible fate, and we were just more than happy to
help them in anyway we could. The same has been said at every interview since. BCTV has
taken more than four hours of tape at our home, and aired perhaps four to five minutes of
it. ...
We do ask everyone to please send letters and calls of complaint to BCTV and their
parent company. PAWS deserves all the credit here, in no way should the SPCA be brought
into this except in a negative light.
Beth and Charles Butler
Big Dog Rescue
(Edited by AAS, full post is on the AAS messageboard)
Posted By: dognut
Date: Sunday, 18 August 2002, at 10:34 p.m.
In Response To: Global TV gave the SPCA credit for the Topaz Creek (AAS)
and the news-reader said that people had complained to "the government" many
times and were ignored, and that the owner surrendered the dogs to the SPCA. This morning,
on the morning news, the news-reader did not credit the SPCA, but still no mention of
PAWS.
