Kim Bolan - Media Tyranny

The media is the devil

The article raises a serious concern, no question. But I wonder whether The Vancouver Sun's reporting on any other identifiable minority is any better.

I also wonder whether it should single out a single journalist. After all, everything that a journalist writes is approved by an editor. Since even an experienced journalist may be edited, it is impossible for an outsider to know whether a particular detail is added by the journalist or an editor. At times, too, despite a writer's byline, many crime stories in the Vancouver Sun seem to come directly from the Vancouver Police Department's media department. So, rather than singling out a particular writer, who may or may not be the source of the comments, it seems more to the point to hold The Vancouver Sun as a whole to account.

Naom Chomsky goes on at some length about exactly this issue in Manufacturing Consent. He claims that media in a capitalist society operates as a disseminator of the government line. This has a number of causes, and among them is the fact that the government makes its version of events available for free. As a journalist you are of course looking for the fastest and cheapest sources of information to stay competitive, and when there is a global following of this action, the consequence is that information form sources which are assumed to be reputable and do not cost wind up making up a majority of the sources used in publishing an article. What we need are mechanisms which will encourage the media to dig deeper. There is one in place already ... each and everyone of you has control over you own pocket books. If we demanded a higher quality of reporting before dropping two dollars on a news paper, then we could collectively force the market. However it seems that enough of the spending portion of the population out there is satisfied with the Drivel that our local and National media publishes that such a change will not come soon

F

Very interesting comments.

I cannot say that BC Sikh youth is wrong in blaming the writer.

Yes, the editors at Vancouver sun are biased. However, over the past 20 years Kim Bolan has had a personal grudge against the Sikh community which has resurfaced time and time again in not just her writing, but her personal encounters with members of the Sikh community. She tries to instigate confrontations and create controversies where everything is peaceful. So she is not some innocent writer with a passion for the truth, whose articles are being changed by the editors. Yes, the editors allow her stories to run - which shows their bias - and they might even improve on the outrageousness of some of her statements, but the meat of the article comes from Bolan herself.

Fieran I agree with your comments about the media and Chomsky's take on it. And some people have suggested to me that the Sikh community should undertake a total boycott of the Sun and its advertisers to hurt their bottom line, but that does take a lot of dedication and organization. Hopefully something like that can be done.

Would love to hear anybody else's thoughts [:)]

take care,

-k.s.

On 5/27/2006 8:49:20 AM, kulpreet_singh wrote:
$i

Ok then...

Suppose you did manage to organize a total boycott of the Sun and its advertisers. Suppose you even managed to get this reporter fired. What would it achieve? If she really is as anti-Sikh as you say she'd just find some other venue to vent. Meanwhile you'd have annoyed a large group of people who do business with the sun and who probably never thought twice about it till you raised the issue.

Repeat that process too many times and you will look like troublemakers, not her.

The answer to bigotry is not censorship. You handle bigots by exposing them (and occasionally by ridiculing them).

So instead of boycotting the paper I suggest you organize letter-writing campaigns.

Hello Kulpreet,

I don't know the matter but i feel that whole propoganda againest any community or caste , be made by anyone should be condemned.

Some people are always want controversies. They are truely againest humanity.They don't have minimum level of attitude and ethics.
We(Indians) have great cultural background and spirit.
Let us spread positive energy [:)] ,

Avinash

I think Steve has a good point.

A number of letters to the editor, and possibly a few to your local MLA and MP might have the desired effect. If Kim Bolan is the bigot that is reflected in his/her writing and confrontations, then a public display of her anti Sihk agenda could very well put him/her ourt of work not only at the Sun, but also at any lower mainland publishing company. Even that is in a sense censorship I suppose, but then again, Canada has a long history of supporting censurship...hate liturature is band in this country, that is to say articles more extreme and direct than what you are reading in the Sun, we don't play porno movies on prime time cable, and we don't invite all politcal leaders to our leaders debates during election time...you may recall the Green Parties beef in the last federal election. However, this wouldn't violate Mr/Mrs Bolan's freedom of speach, he/she would just be ostracized out of the mainsteam media for fear of financial and to a lesser extent legal reprisal. You neven know when someone might launch a slander suit. I would bet that having someone who is cardinally racist working for your paper is a good way to attract a conviction in such a case.

F

The problem is the anti-Sikh publicity and not that Kim Bolan is personally anti-Sikh, yes?

So, your goal should be to show people a positive image of yourselves. Write your letters to MPs, MLAs, the Sun, other newspapers. Call radio shows. Talk to ANYBODY who will listen, and make yourself available to people who won't listen yet. Answer specific errors with corrections. Answer a general pattern of bias by demonstrating it, and then list all the good the Sikh community has done in contrast.

Your goal should not be to get anybody fired. If you start persecuting people then you are giving them cause to complain, and from what I've seen most real bigots don't hesitate at all to take that up. The best outcome you could hope for on this road is that one anti-Sikh outlet will be relatively quiet for a time. Meanwhile you'll have added another layer to the Sikh reputation for being vengeful.

None of this is peculiar to Sikhs, just general principles for handling bigotry:

Most people are suspicious of strangers. You make them friendly by educating them.

Some number of people are bigots because they've had particular bad experiences, or because it's convenient to them in various ways to be bigots. With them the goal is still education, but you should be smart about it and, if you can, make it to the bigots' advantage to agree with you.

A very few bigots are (I say) evil people who are actively trying to work harm. Even if you can spot who they are, there's little or no chance of educating them because they don't care about being right. However, they'll have friends and followers who can be reached IF you don't lose the game with them. So education is still the ultimate goal and you have to be smarter than ever. This category is the sort with whom ridicule is often effective. These are the guys like (I guess) Fred Phelps down in the states.

Probably your situation is the second one; newspapers are always biased towards bad news because it sells, and if reporters can get themselves on the front page mining some particular source of bad news then many will do so. If you can turn the tide of publicity, though, they'll be just as happy to start exposing Sikh-haters.

I like Steve's approach. It reminds me of the main principle of the Art of War which is to avoid conflict at all costs unless you have ten to one odds and can reasobably expect your opponent to surrender. If you can turn the tide of the general sentiment against your community the reporting in the papers will follow. This may or may not be true, but I suspect that when the papers are in fact acting as reasonably open and free sources of information, as opposed to propaganda machines, then they will be reflecting the general sentiment of the population. This is a very selfish thing to do, because it sells papers. I buy into what steve says, avoid conflict if you can and try to go about things in the most constructive way possible. If you can, with the help of your local mp or mla. get a member of your community recognized for the good they have done in the community on the front page of the paper, you will be making a giant leap forward.

F

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On 5/27/2006 4:18:13 PM, fieranmason wrote:

I like Steve's approach. It reminds me of the main principle of the Art of War which is to avoid conflict at all costs unless you have ten to one odds and can reasobably expect your opponent to surrender.
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Yes. He who fights and runs away, can run away another day [:)]

Victor.

Added:

Here's what I think Kulpreet. If you are really unhappy with this situation. Then hit them fast and hit them hard with everything possible so they will know better.

Another thing to consider is whether it's worth your time to deal with this s**t. I've dealt (and fought) with a lot of people like that in the past and there are, unfortunately, many people like this in this world and what I've realized is that they are really not worth your time although I am always confronted with a dilemma of defending my principles regardless.

Victor.

"Yes, the editors at Vancouver sun are biased. However, over the past 20 years Kim Bolan has had a personal grudge against the Sikh community which has resurfaced time and time again in not just her writing, but her personal encounters with members of the Sikh community."

I'm not saying that I don't believe you, but can you give some details? Is her grudge connected in any way with her coverage of the Air India bombings? If so, is her grudge against the whole community, or only certain aspects of it? Was her coverage biased before the death threats she received, or did that experience cause her to lose objectivity and any sense of fairness?

At any rate, I would stress again that she is only one person. I would strongly suggest that any protect be directed, not against her, but against The Vancouver Sun. The publishers of a story share the responsibility for it with the writer.

awesome comments by everyone. great suggestions and advice.

it's late so i will respond to the questions on sunday or monday.

thanks everybody for sharing your views. [:)]

I think shae has book about Air India Case and trying to popularize her work in this worst possible way.

Hrm. Just reading a couple of her articles, I'm not sure she wrote anything that wasn't factual. Misleading, perhaps, but it seemed on the up-and-up.

Some people have their "thing" and I guess hers is Indians. She'd probably be terrible at writing about gardening.

Don't expect her to change but, more importantly, don't take it personally. The Sikh religion isn't the only one taking it on the chin in the press. Here in the States, you can expect front page coverage whenever a Christian priest or pastor is even $i of misconduct... and don't forget the radio news on the hour... and the evening news on TV at 6 and 11!

Join the club: Christianity (especially of the 'conservative' and 'traditional' bent) is the most denigrated (in the news) religion in the Free World!

Reporters have the power and authority to "show it as they see it" - while WE have the power to "live it".

-M.
$i

Okay.. I wanted to reply individually to each post because you all have shared some great thoughts.

Steve -
I agree with you that a boycott of advertisers or of the newspaper may not have the best outcomes. However, if it annoyed a large group of people who do business with the sun, and if by result their awareness was raised, wouldn't that be a positive outcome? I think there is a difference between censorship and protest or boycott. Nobody is saying censor Kim Bolan, they are saying we do not want to support racist propaganda. Nonetheless I do see merit in your letter-writing campaigns which brings me to Fieran's post.

Fieran -
Since the editors of the Vancouver Sun are as biased as Kim Bolan, they are likely to not fire Kim Bolan regardless of whatever the Sikh community does. I agree with your comment about censorship vs. "censure-ship". However, Bolan's writing is not explicit hate literature. The defamatory, propagandist bias is more cleverly integrated into her articles so as to manipulate the reader's interpretation of the situation without creating full shock. But I agree with you it is important to look at different options.

Steve (again)
Re: your second post. If a person who does something negative happens to be from the Sikh community, I do not have a problem with the press covering that crime, or exposing that person. However, I do have a problem with the press trying to show a relation between the crimes of specific individuals and the philosophy or overall ideology of the Sikh faith. I totally agree with your perspective about awareness and education. Exposure, education, writing and speaking out are really important - and doing it with an intelligent methodology as you have stated.

Regarding the three situations - Kim Bolan does not fit in the second one, but the third one. She does not just have a traumatic past with Sikhs or something of that sort. She has almost a mission to defame Sikhs in BC through the media, while playing the role of an innocent messenger. It is very easy for the messenger to manipulate the message and then say "don't shoot the messenger." [::)]

Fieran (again)
I think you're right about getting an influential person to have a more prominent coverage, and create awareness.

Victor -
I agree that sometimes it's not worth it to deal with such things, however Sikhs have a religious duty to stand up for anybody, anywhere against oppression and manipulation. Not just that, but this issue is actually creating thoughts in the minds of individuals which are all out lies - and those lies are propagated further to kids, and those kids grow up with inaccurate prejudices and stereotypes about Sikhs and Sikh youth.

bbyfield -
If you read the BC Sikh youth article there are some examples in there, but not just that, basically from 1985 to 2005, if you read any article related to BC Sikhs by Kim Bolan, 4 out of 5 articles will have a statement that represents the Sikh community in a negative light, with an intentional attempt at connecting that negative representation to some aspect of the Sikh faith or Sikh beliefs. I'm not sure when she received death threats, but she has been writing this way since 1985, so this is a long-standing thing. She took the Indian Army attack on the Sikh community in 1984, and the Air India bombing, as a career-launching opportunity. She has made her career out of it. She is a very dedicated person with a lot of skill, which is exactly why she does her job of manipulation very well. I'm not sure if her grudge is against any one individual. I agree with your comment that the publishers share a responsibility in the accuracy and objectivity of any article in the Vancouver Sun. [8)]

Avinash and Keen -
Thank you very much for your thoughts.

Michael -
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree with you and Avinash, that we should be positive and one should not be discouraged from following our faith with love, honesty and devotion just because of some people like this. [:)]

take care everyone,

-k.s.

It's a sad truism in the media that bad news sells, and some people court controversy for the sake of a dollar.............perhaps they feel if people are talking however negatively... there is a dialogue......but at what price!!!!

"She does not just have a traumatic past with Sikhs or something of that sort."

If the death-threats were connected with her coverage of the Air India bombinbs, which they seem to be, that would probably qualify as traumatic. Not that she would therefore be justified in a bias, of course.

"She has made her career out of it. She is a very dedicated person with a lot of skill, which is exactly why she does her job of manipulation very well."

That certainly seems to be so. Becoming the main writer on a big story is a classic way for a reporter to develop his or her career.

But one thing I do wonder about: Kim Bolan had what seemed like a neutral report on an event in the Sikh community in Monday's paper. Given the details, she seems to have actually attended the event. Is it right to assume that there are some elements of the Sikh community that don't view her the same way? Otherwise, I don't see how she could cover the event personally.

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... I haven't seen a negative article from her in the past two weeks. It is interesting. The last three articles by her relating to Sikhs have been positive, and have been published after the BC Sikh youth article. Her most recent article was on the Hells Angels and similar gangs. However that is very rare. The past two weeks have been nothing like the past 20 years of her articles.

Kim Bolan is now being sued for defamation

I am glad to know you Kulpreet if only through cyber space. I find that so many people today believe that the combination of democracy and apathy work well together. It is nice to see that there are still activists out there who are trying to ensure that the system continues to work. Education about the events which are occuring, and the stories that are being told is what will help our society grow stronger.

F

Thank you for your encouragement Fieran [:)]