A6 _ Terrace Review — Wednesday, July 11,1990

_ Accuracy as
Critical as air

Accuracy is as critical to newspapers as air is to
breathing. A newspaper without a reputation for ac-
curacy is of no use to its readers.

Like most human beings, journalists hate to make
mistakes. Admitting failure is among the most dif-
ficult things we humans are asked to do.

A factual error is a definite no-no in the profes-
sional newsroom of today, regardless of how big or
small the error may be. One of the trends that has
developed over the last few years in the newspaper
business is an emphasis on accuracy and the need to
willingly correct an error of fact as soon as it is

discovered.

There was a time that newspapers would only print
a correction if the mistake was so bad that someone
could sue and win. Fortunately, for readers and news-
paper people, that attitude has changed at most
newspapers. That’s why in many newspapers, you read
more corrections than you did a few years ago. It’s
not that we make more mistakes. It’s because we’re
more willing to eat humble pie and admit it.

It is not uncommen for the responsible reporter or
editor to phone or write a letter of apology to some-
one whose name was misspelled (just to let them know
we didn’t take the matter lightly). Our goal is to never
make a mistake. However, we know that perfect ac-
curacy is the impossible dream in the real world.

At the Terrace Review, we will always endeavor to
get it right the first time, but we won’t pretend or con-
tend that we’re perfect. If we present something as
fact and it isn’t (regardless of the cause for that
mistake), we will do our best to set the record straight
and make sure the same error doesn’t get printed

again.

Accuracy is not just important to us, it is the life-
blood of our profession and this newspaper.

Established May 1, 1985
The Terrace Review is published
each Wednesday by
Close-Up Business Services Ltd.

Puptisher:
Mark Twyford
Editor:
Michael Kelly
’ Staff Reporters:
Tod Strachan, Betty Barton
Advertising Manager:
' Marj Twyford. ~
Typesetting:

Carrie Olson
Production Manager:
Jim Hall

- Production:
Charles Costello, Gurbax Gill,
Karyn Kirk, Linda Mercer,
Ranjit Nizar

_, Office:
Carrle Olson
. Accounting:

- Mar] Twyford, Harminder K. Dosanjh

Second-class mall
registration No. 6896.

All material appearing In the Terraca Review is
protected uncer Canadian copyright Registra-
tion No. 362775 and cannot lagally be repro-
duced for any reason without permission of the
publisher,

Errors and omiselons. Advertising is accepted
on the condition that In the event of
typographical error, that partion of the advertis-
Ing space occupied by the erroneous Item will
not be charged for, but the batance of the adver:
tlsement will ba paid for at (he applicable rate.
Advertisers must assume responsibilily for ar-
rors in any clasaified ad which is supplied to the
Terrace Review in handwritten farm.

In compliance with the B.C. Human Alghts Act,
no advertisament will be published which

’ discriminates agalnst a person due to age, race,

religlon, cofo?, sex, nationally ancestry or place
of origin.

4535 Greig Avenue, a
Terrace, B.C, -
V8G 1M?
Phone: 635-7840
Fax: 635-7289

One year subscriptions:
In Canada $38.00
Out of Canada $100.00
Seniors in Terraca and District $30.00
Sanlors out of Terrace and District $33.00

BO, AD AN INDEPEN
DENT SOVEREIGN
TERRITORY:

VICTORIA — There is one
word which sums up the new
Referendum Act just intro-
duced in the Legislature —
Danger!

At first blush, the legislation
may appear to be — and
already is being touted as —
the best way to have pure
democracy in action.

Basically, the two-page,
seven-section bill takes more
power away from the elected
MLAs of all parties, and gives
it to the partisan Cabinet to
‘*go to the people’’ on any
issue they want, any time they
want, any where they want.

Cabinet would have the
power to make the results of
the referendum legal and bind-
ing.

Cabinet would have the
power to say which of the eight
United States of B.C., also
known as the premier’s decen-
tralized regions, would be in-
cluded in any given referen-
dum.

And Cabinet would have the
power to increase the percen-
tage of votes needed to have a
referendum pass.

In other words, Cabinet
stacks the deck, deals the
marked cards, and then, when
accused of cheating, says,

“Who, me?”’

Premier Bill Vander Zalm
says it’s ‘‘the best thing we can
do for democracy’’, because it
gives the people the chance to —
vote on controversial issues in

_their areas or province-wide.

_ He acknowledges that the
Act “could be used for almost

mi any issue where there’s a great

her « deal of controversy, and where .
: there are strong feelings one

way or the other in a com--

al munity or « region or the prov- ©

WHTA cA ga!

BB cum consnmin.

r 5 AD “eR,
WILL PUT TOGETHER

ZAIM AND TE SOORES

ie is apes
r

The view from
Victoria —

by John Pifer

ince’’,

For instance, an issue such as
abortion, Mr. Premier? Or a
form of B.C,-style separation
or sovereignty association from
Canada? Or user fees for
health care services? Or any
other pet plan you have been
plotting to push through while
in power?

I don’t know about you,
dear readers, but this humble
scribe has learned that the peo-
ple who least should be trusted
in life are those who repeatedly
say ‘‘trust me’’, or ‘“‘to be
honest with you’’, or ‘‘it’s
democracy in action’’.

In the world of doublespeak ©

that is politics, never forget .
that the opposite of what is
said, is all too often truly what
is believed or intended,

Thus, when you hear a
premier say he does not believe
in public-opinion polls, you can
bet your butt he hangs atten-
tively on the results of each
and every one of them, and |
then sets out to influence the
next one any way he can.
(Province-wide TV addresses:
or fireside chats spring to
mind).

Under the powers of the
Referendum Act, it could be
argued that a government
would be in a position to con-
duct public polling at taxpayer
expense, rather than through its

party’s coffers.

As to the cry of how demo-
cratic this all is, do not forget
that the relentless determina- -
tion of fanatics to press their
case on any subject can and.
does influence such results so
that they bear no resemblance
to reality.

For example, you and Mr,
Vander Zalm may call it dem- -

- ocracy for a 25 percent turnout

of 1,000 eligible voters to deter-
mine your fate with a 51 per-
cent vote. But that means just
128 of those 1,000 people
decide the matter.

I call that dangerous; and
would prefer to have the
British parliamentary system
prevail, thank you. Otherwise, —
the one-issue wonders and
other minority-interest people
set the political agenda.

May this insidious legislation
die on the Order Paper...
quickly.

For those of you wondering
just how current polling is go-
ing, there is generally better
news for Social Credit sup-
porters than there has been of
late:

It seems as though the
Socreds have pulled within
about 10 points of the New
Democrats, and the personal
popularity level of Mr. Vander
Zalm has nearly drawn level
with NDP leader Mike Har-
court. Both of them are a few
points behind the party stand-

ings.

The most recent results came
before the airplane-logs saga,
and before the end of the
Meech Lake Discord. I am

‘reliably informed that another

Socred party poll is under way:
to see what effect those two |
issues have on the earlier-
mentioned figures. |

It appears likely that the __
kafuffle over the use of govern-
ment jets by Cabinet ministers
will cause little if any blip on
the graph; but the failure of
Meech Lake and Mr. Vander.
Zalm’s support for it could. .

cont’d on All.

Lee RAFAL tar,