Charlottetown. Across Canada, October 2 was Life Chain Day. It was also Walk for AIDS Day, opening AIDS Awareness week.
In Charlotte, AIDS PEI had unintentionally scheduled their fundraising walk to begin at almost the same time as the Life Chain, and almost beside it. With some quick rearranging, they avoided having their walkers get caught up in the Life Chain.
Organizers predicted in advance media interviews that 250 would walk for AIDS. The papers reported 125 participated. CBC TV showed only a few dozen, and one of the 200 Life Chain participants said, “I counted no more than 50 – including dogs on leashes and babies in strollers.”
The walk, led by a police car, began with an official opening ceremony. A local radio station’s mobile unit was part of the entourage.
To the delight of the silent pro-lifers, the ATV mobile unit swung out of the procession to film the Life Chain. They also reported more encouragement than usual from cars and passersby.
An official of AIDS PEI implied that his walkers had needed great courage. “Many times those demonstrating for a cause through the streets of Charlottetown have had to deal with name-calling and various other forms of mental abuse.” He would be hard pressed to back up that claim.
The following day, the largest local paper featured the AIDS walkers in a front page colour photo and an inside story. There was no coverage of the Life Chain at all, then or later.
Since small town media outlets everywhere operate with reduced staff on weekends, organizers of future Life Chains would be wise to arrive with a prepared report in hand (minor details like numbers to be added on the spot), and a camera (pictures to be developed before the end of the afternoon, if possible).
They would then be able to deliver immediately to all media not represented, both an accurate report and interesting good quality pictures. This would greatly increase the likelihood that their event would be reported.
Except for Vancouver. An AIDS PEI spokesman said, “In Vancouver, another organization had a major event planned for the same day, and they’d been having it on that day for a long time, so the walk there was scheduled for another day.” This event was Life Chain.
