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Welcome to the official blog of the British Columbia and Yukon Community Newspapers Association (BCYCNA).
We look forward to sharing stories from across our network of news providers, as well as articles, links, and announcements from industry friends everywhere. Be sure to check this space often for BCYCNA updates, and to offer your feedback on community newspapers!
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BCYCNA Achieves Significant Victory for Members After Meeting with Attorney General Mike de Jong
Posted on June 15th, 2010 No commentsThe Attorney General’s office announced yesterday that the $6 search fees imposed as of January of this year will be done away with as of August 31. This will enable the public (and journalists) to once again search online court records for free.
The BCYCNA had been fighting the fee since its inception in January and for several years prior the association had been in meetings with many departments and senior staff to ensure that access to court documents was easy and free for every newspaper.
“This is a huge achievement for our papers, ” said BCYCNA General Manager, George Affleck. “The cost to our members over the long term would have been into the millions of dollars.”
Affleck said that the fees would have proven to be restrictive in that community newspapers already work on such tight budgets. Investigative journalism and court journalism would have suffered.
“I would like to thank the AG for listening to our concerns and standing by his very public opinion that our judicial system should be more accessible not less,” Affleck continued.
The BCYCNA represents 120 community papers in every corner of the region. ”This decision is important to all of them,” concluded Affleck.
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Third party election advertising isn’t dead yet
Posted on September 15th, 2009 No comments
The controversial B.C. ”gag law” restricting third-party spending on political advertising during provincial elections, which has been dubbed as a threat to free speech, is not dead yet. Attorney-General Mike de Jong has announced the government will appeal the BC Supreme Court decision last spring that struck down limits on third party advertising before the four week election period begins.
Law Dates Back to 1995
B.C.’s spending limits legislation dates from 1995, but was challenged successfully by the publisher of the Vancouver Sun and Province newspapers.The B.C. Liberal government then amended the law in May 2008.
Elections BC rules define election advertising to include messages that take a position on an issue that is associated with a candidate or registered political party.
The rules, however, exclude messages sent directly to members of the ad sponsor’s group, employees or shareholders, and personal political views sent by individuals on a non-commercial basis, including text messages, phone calls and the internet.
