Attacks on Free Press Continue

Vandals Cause $4,000 of Damage to CUTV’s Televisions

An attack on CUTV’s equiptment took place two weeks after the demonstration outside The Link’s offices. photo erin sparks

Two televisions belonging to Concordia University Television were vandalized in the Hall building on March 22. The next day, a third CUTV screen was badly damaged in what is becoming a month of repeated attacks on freedom of the press at Concordia.

Of the three vandalized televisions, one had its wiring ripped out violently while the two others had an industrial strength magnet run across their screens, ruining the picture quality permanently.

The attack on CUTV’s equipment took place two weeks after a demonstration outside the offices of The Link where a handful of students—including Ariel Dabora and Terrence Adams, both running for Concordia Student Union Council on the Action slate—protested perceived media bias.

Laura Kneale, the station manager at CUTV, believes that the two incidents are related and a result of the political situation at Concordia right now.

“Both [the demonstration outside The Link and the vandalism] are attacking independent student media,” she said. “To be honest, what I find the saddest about it is, in both cases, none of the people that are mad or protesting against these campus stations are addressing the issue with the actual media outlets. How can we respond to what they’re trying to reproach us for if we don’t know what it is that they don’t like?”

The damage to the televisions is estimated at about $4,000. The money that is going to pay for repairs comes directly from the $0.18 per credit fee levy every Concordia undergraduate pays into the station.

“These don’t seem to be acts that are grounded in a larger strategy of getting what they are trying to accomplish, which is what they said: free, independent media,” said Kneale. “If you want to encourage free, independent media then don’t damage the small, independent stations on campus.”

Lex Gill, the presidential candidate for Your Concordia, agrees that the vandalism is related to the upcoming election and political tension around Concordia.

“It’s a shameful attack on freedom of information and freedom of the press. I think that CUTV has always been an incredibly strong voice for democracy and consistently provided programming that is critical, interesting and engaging to students,” Gill said. “[They’re] really a vehicle to speak truth to power on campus—and to that end I can imagine there are some regressive individuals who feel threatened by people presenting the truth.”

While Gill believes the attacks to be politically motivated, she doesn’t believe that they were perpetrated by either political party.

“I do have some problems with the tactics of some of my opponents, but I don’t think that they’re organized enough to orchestrate something like this,” she said.

Recently The Link received a letter slamming CUTV, accusing it of media bias and threatening the station’s fee levy. The Link received similar threats from one Action candidate on Feb. 17.

Action presidential candidate Kalil Haddad said he thinks that the vandalism was a tragedy, but that it was not politically motivated.

This article originally appeared in Volume 31, Issue 28, published March 29, 2011.