POSTMEDIA CENSORS SAFE WATER CALGARY ADS IN HERALD, SUN

 

Postmedia, the media company operating the Calgary Herald and Sun, has banned half-page ads Safe Water Calgary had been running opposing water fluoridation in the upcoming plebiscite.

 

The ads had already run in the Sun on Wednesday and the Herald Thursday and Friday. They were scheduled to run Saturday in the Herald and Sunday in the Sun.

 

Safe Water Calgary had already been guaranteed the ads would be run by Postmedia and had already paid for them in full. It is currently looking into legal options.

 

On Friday, Safe Water Calgary was asked by Postmedia to either reduce their ad to merely saying people should vote No and reference their website or provide a citation or direct URL for numerous statements in the ad. Safe Water Calgary responded within an hour by providing both citations and URL’s for all the statements Postmedia had highlighted. Safe Water Calgary also pointed out that these references were freely available to the public on its website at www.safewatercalgary.com.

 

Less than two hours later, Dean Jager, Director of Media Sales, e-mailed Safe Water Calgary saying “I am writing to inform you that we cannot accept your advertisement at this time.”  Jager has not responded to multiple requests from Safe Water Calgary for an explanation why they are now banning the ads.

 

“This is an outrage,” Dr. Robert Dickson, MD, Safe Water Calgary director, asserted. “This is censorship – pure and simple. Are we still in Canada? Do we still have freedom of speech? Postmedia is favoring one side in this debate, restricting the rights of the other side to be heard – an egregious violation of journalism ethics.”

 

Contact:

Robert Dickson, MD, Founder and Director, Safe Water Calgary

403-560-4574

drbob_is@me.com

 

Newspaper ads and references, with URL’s, to statements made in them are at www.safewatercalgary.com.