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The former Vision Vancouver insider who leaked a list of 15 reporters unpopular with the city’s governing party said it was created to personally target critical journalists.
“The gist of it is those people on the list are causing them discomfort, grief and they need to do something about it,” said the man, who asked for his name not to be published.
He said two Vision Vancouver organizers on the verge of quitting the party gave him the email list. The subject line says “problem media - get back to me on this immediately”. He claims it was created by a group of people that included Mayor Gregor Robertson's assistant Kevin Quinlan, who refused to comment Wednesday but claimed Tuesday the list did not exist.
The source said it’s not uncommon for political parties to grade media coverage, but Vision Vancouver is crossing the line.
“Politics is politics, but personal is personal -- they have people looking into the backgrounds of CityCaucus (Mike Klassen and Daniel Fontaine) and Alex (Tsakumis) to embarrass them,” the source said, referring to the NPA-friendly bloggers who occupy the top three spots.
The list also named personnel from 24 hours, CKNW, Global TV, The Province, Vancouver Sun, the Georgia Straight, The Courier, TheTyee.ca and blogger Harvey Oberfeld, the ex-BCTV reporter.
“I’m very for a lot of the things Vision does, there is some good intent there, but it’s gotten lost with who’s running it,” the source said. “This isn’t the party that Larry (Campbell) built. This has turned into a group that is mean and vindictive.”
bob.mackin@sunmedia.ca