OTTAWA – REAL Women has sent a letter to Vince Carlin head of Newsworld Network, requesting the opportunity to participate with the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) in the one-hour debate on women’s issues which was scheduled for broadcast May 26, 1997.
Alternatively, REAL Women of Canada has requested the opportunity to participate in a separate broadcast on CBC Newsworld for a similar one-hour period. The May 26th broadcast was agree to by the television network in order to discuss women’s issues during the federal election campaign.
According to Gwen Landolt, National Vice President of REAL Women of Canada, “any debate on women’s issues should include the views of a broad spectrum of Canadian women.
To put forward only one approach or ideology, such as that of NAC, on CBC Newsworld network, a tax-funded corporation, during the 1997 election campaign, is to discriminate against REAL Women of Canada and other women’s organizations which have different approaches to issues.”
Landolt added that national TV coverage of only one organization’s agenda is discriminatory. “It is also a denial of choice, opportunity, equality and fairness,” she added.
“Moreover, presenting only one perspective on women’s issues is contrary to the broadcast act.”
