Letters from the Editor in Chief

We need to know nothing other than he is guilty or innocent and that he received corresponding punishment. I don't watch horror film so I will not watch or read much about this. Aren't their some good news stories you can tell about people helping people.

I am still amazed at one of the Toronto newspapers (star I think) which had 2 whole pages devoted to the barnardo testimony. I couldn't believe any body would be so interested to read the whole thing (if they were normal) The only people who need to know are the trial officials and the jury.

Every word you write about them makes them feel important.I couldn't care less about people like that and would certainly not cater to them by reading about them.

I would like to thank the CBC for broadcasting the Pickton trial and updates. I feel that it's important for the public to know what happened to these women. Maybe it'll make the public see that these were real people, not just a name or a face on a poster. While some of the details of their deaths is grisly and horrifying it puts into perspective that these women were survivors in the most harshest of ways. Having to survive by being a prisoner of an addiction and living on the streets would take a toll on any person's mentality.
This is an every day problem all across North America...hopefully more will be done in the future to heed warnings that when 1 or 2 or 3 or 10 or 15 women go missing it's time to take notice. It's time to listen regardless of the womens class, race, or postal code( Downtown Lower EastSide)...
Missing is missing...murder is murder...they had a right to life regardless of their lifestyle.

I too, feel that this media attention is not necessary...I began yesterday by turning off my tv. in particular the news ( which I really miss.) because of the coverage. If in fact it does simmer down, I will be very grateful to have my radio and tv back. In the meantime it is very quite in my house, and I am getting all my news on your web site, which is not a bad thing...

Here we go again, Mr. Burman. The litmus test you prescribe for deciding between what gets reported to the public and what gets quietly put away in a drawer under a stack of forgotten journalism textboods is ruled by the gastronomical sensibilities of a credit-card wielding public. So what if people get offended by the truth of events? What's the worst that could happen? Well, as you so succinctly put it, your programming might go 'unsold'. Meaning once again that the news your reporters bring back to headquarters should coincide as fluidly as possible with the pleasing narrative thrust and consumer-comforting banality of the commercials that will air all around it. Can't have any cognitive dissonance here: Canadians can't stomach it. People might get upset over their orange juice and pancakes and refuse to buy that enormous new GMC truck. How sad. I wonder how the victims of Mr. Pickton would feel if they knew that the public and its broadcasters would rather engage in nicely-packaged trade than know the depths of inhumanity to which they were subjected in the last moments of thier lives. It seems to me a dishonour to these women and all victims of crime to refuse to face the facts and uncomfortable details. I have a suggestion: turn the TV off until after dinner.

Enough already! I do not want hear any more about the Picton trial until a verdict is reached. There is far too much coverage and other news stories are being neglected. It is becoming too sensational, just like the OJ. Simpson trial.

I feel very strongly that CBC Radio and CBC TV does not need to provide the gruesome and graphic details of the Picton trial. I can see no value to the general public as this is a trial by jury. If people want to know the sordid details there will be many sources.
If CBC feels it necessary to provide these details, perhaps it could be a separate area on your website.
I listen solely to CBC Radio – switching between Radio One and Radio Two and The National each evening. These past two days I tend not to have the radio on and when I do, I have appreciated your warning of graphic detail so I may turn off the radio.

Joy Levine

I am an addicted CBC Radio One fan. Today for the first time I ever remember in 17 years, I turned off CBC. I don't want to hear any more grisly details of the Picton trial. They don't give me us any more of an understanding of the case. I would be very interested in how the case is progressing. That's all. Maybe you could just refer people who want all the unnecessary gory details to go to your website.
THanks.

I cannot for love of me understand why the Minister for the CBC does not take action on behalf of the majority of people of Canada that pay the CBC with OUR dollars something has to be done by the way the CBC does whatever it WANTS and to hell with us who pay their wages its time for us to speak NOW ..Its no wonder kids are so violent today
when such gory details are given without any respect for anyone period! Here in NB it was a chain saw that took the head off of a murdered man as the trial began and now its all false period! Lets go to out government and put a stop to such lies and fiction.

We don't want to know about Sierra Leone and Nigeria and Iraq.... Then it will all go away. It's not our problem.... Then again through 1995 to 2001 the murder's of these woman was also not our problem. We need to start paying attention to the gory details of the events that surround us. Don't we?

Please show restraint with the coverage. We do not need to know the graphic details of the slaughter of these women. This will in no way diminish or belittle them. Publish more information about the women. Yes we have seen some. Show us more. Their names and faces, during life, move us more knowing they are dead than the grotesque details of their demise. I want to know more about how society and our institutions are changing to stop this happening in the future. It is not a matter of "being offended by the truth of the events". I recognize truth without graphic details. We can discern, we do not need to be bludgeoned. Fixating on the "depths of inhumanity to which they were subjected in the last moments of thier lives" to satisfy the purile fascination of the few is not reportage.

If you listen carefully you will hear the "zapping" of my radio remote and my television remote as I seek relief from the "news" emerging from the Pickton trial. As a loyal fan of the CBC I'm discouraged to hear and see that you have jumped on the bandwagon of this media circus. I sincerely hope that your coverage will be reduced to a minimum. Let us know when the verdict is in. Until then how about returning to the high calibre that you traditionally display?

Thanks.

This is preposterous. The media's responsability is to report the news, no matter how unsettling it may be to the viewer, and not to worry about advertising dollars. The fact that this is being discussed by our national, tax paid broadcaster is a slap in the face. Free speech, freedom to information take precident, and for our national broadcaster to decide what will be reported to me based on advertising dollars is just another example of why the CBC has become such a waste of taxpayers money. The warning is sufficient, no matter how horrible the story.

Yes, I agree with the many CBC watchers and listeners who have been alarmed by too much coverage of the Pickton trial, and by too much gruesome detail. I had hoped that the studies done that reveal "copy cat" behaviour is common when gruesome acts are widely splashed in the news media would have, by now, served to temper the CBC towards a more restrained coverage. And yes, until greater restraint is shown we will be less likely to go for our daily "fix" of news.

So William, was that a for, or against? Your rant seemed to focus only on the commercial incentives to filter the story.

For myself, I see plenty enough fictional accounts on CSI.

"Dismembered" is graphic enough for a factual account. I don't think anyone, either the viewers or the victims, benefits from the lingering visual of the bucket (nuff said). Leave the depravity to the bloggers and people can seek it out if they choose.

In respect to the Robert Pickton trial, I cannot see or understand what public purpose is fulfilled by either displaying or describing graphic details surrounding the deaths of these unfortunate victims.
By way of analogy, does the media describe in graphic detail how our soldiers or the many civilians met their deaths in Afghanistan?
Of the horror of the mutilations that those forms of violence inevitably inflict on their victims?
Of course they don't.
So why is or are the deaths of these women any different?
Lastly and perhaps of equal importance, how these women were killed and died and what was done with their remains is in fact irrelevant to the issues of the guilt or innocence of the party charged with their deaths.

Sadly, the media circus that is precipitated by anything as 'sensational', as gruesome as the Pickton trial is simply a sign of the times. Where this turns egregious is when this country's (a moderate, middle-of-the-road country, we like to go on deluding ourselves) self-styled, ersatz 'public broadcaster' (for the real thing, tune in NPR) not only joins the fray, but actually heads the braying pack! The reason they CAN do so is because they have access to virtually unlimited funds, 'contributed' by the hapless taxpayer, for any undertaking deemed in the Corporation's 'interest' by the Executive Suite. The reason they WILL do so is because yellow journalism has now become the mantra of 'successful' broadcasting and other forms of (invariably dumbed-down) media.

One of my experiences was a "volunteer" visiting the Regional Pysch Center in Abbottsford. My "friend" mentioned murder is one of the easiest crimes to committ. I agree with this assesment. Given my viewpoint could the CBC please refrain from all and any horroriffic/gruesome details. I and from reading the article the greater majority of listeners/readers are not voyeaurs of the gruesome. One item I would like to know is who/how is Mr. Pickton paying his defence lawyer? His own funds or legal aid.

Coverage, especially for Day One, has been far too extensive. Two suggestions:

Once the trial is finished, a wrap-up story could be advertised as to be given on a certain date and time - NOT ON PRIME TIME. Then, a ONE TIME ONLY summarized, NOT detailed, account could be aired.

While the trial is in progress, a five minute summary, NOT detailed, could be given at 9:55 PM each day and repeated at 5:55 AM the following day. NO OTHER MENTION (not even an advertisment of these 5 minute blurbs)should be given as to the trial or its progress UNTIL IT IS COMPLETED.

Monday morning's coverage of this gruesome event was proof that it was to become a media circus. All the public wants is the basic facts. No need for reporter's opinions, or
interviews with family members. Stifle it.

I turn my TV and radio off whenever reference is made to the Pickton trial. This obviously deranged person has confessed to his horrible crimes and that should be enough to have him examined for mental competence, and then dealt with accordingly without wasting millions of taxpayers money, which would be much better spent in trying to clean up drug addiction and prostitution in the worst areas of our country! Maybe then some of the women who are currently in danger of ending up the same way as the unfortunate victims of Robert Picton, could be saved from such a fate! Why make a circus out of their miserable lives and deaths? Use some of the money being wasted, to do something constructive in their names, which would hopefully give some honour in death to those who surely had none in life!

I commend the CBC for covering the Picton trial and enlightening the public on plight of the problem of women caught up in the sex trade work because of circumstances either of poverty or a bored life because of poor moral judgement. If the trial information, as horrendous as it is professed to be, is not circulated publicly, there is a great chance that similar crime could well occur again. Some how, moral values for humanity must be stressed time and time again. Keep up the good work and make democracy work for all of us.

Can't people not watch and not read those things they do not want to watch or read? Better to err on the side of being journalists, provide comprehensive coverage, and let those who don't want to know pass by. Passing by in silence would be nice, but they'll likely be tutting.

Please..Please spare us the details. Let us know when the verdict is in. For those people that require a play by play of the gruessome detail.......well let them read it on a specific area of your website, and please please spare the rest of us. This sick person already had enought publicity.

Give us the details, however upsetting. For three decades nobody cared that these women were being butchered. Maybe they will now.

What is the purpose of Media? To give "objective reporting or to "entertain"?
I for one have stopped listening to our local radio station CKNW.

I have started my day with CBC for many years and have long appreciated the reporting of news beyond 30 seconds of headlines, the thoughtful analysis of current events, and opportunity to start my day with thoughtful reflection and discussion at breakfast of world events. Recent coverage of a grisly murder in Edmonton and the Pickton trial have left me shaken and questioning the value of sharing the depravity of a small number of fellow humans on this planet. What is news? What knowledge to I require to ensure the survival of democracy and justice, what detail do I need to understand the plight of women, a teen in Edmonton and street workers in Vancouver, or the shortfalls of how the police prioritize their criminal investigations? As a reasonably well educated Canadian I think I had already attained the level of knowledge necessary long before the grisly details were shared. It is not necessary to my mind to be presented with such horrendous imagery to empathize with all touched by these crimes, to appreciate that in our affluent world we do not overcome the cruelty that some are capable of and further, act out on others. Where is the thoughtful discussion on where we as a society need to go from here to avoid these events from being repeated. A more subtle subject to attempt to cover on the news than merely repeating the horrors every hour on the hour. I am not the jury, I am a citizen and listener, that would appreciate more thoughtful coverage of news. I do not consume the violence that is embedded in our popular culture by choice. Must I now turn off the news as well for the same reason?

I am an avid Radio Two listener but like several of your other commentators I found myself, for the first time in my life, simply switching the radio off when the news came on - and that was just the fanfare before the trial had even properly started. Some factual reporting of the proceedings is sufficient. We are all already very aware of the difficult lives and horrible deaths of the victims. There are no lessons to be learned in dragging out the "sensational" details. The lesson should already have been learned - do something positive to help change the lives of women in their situation, even if it is just voting for those in public ofice who take action to reduce poverty and drug addiction.

In the last 48 hours, whenever my wife or I have turned on CBC radio and T.V., we have been bombarded by details of the Picton trial. Some of the coverage has been preceded by a warning that the reportage may be disturbing. If that is the case, don't transmit it. If this case is going to go on for the next year, we don't want to have to listen to every grisly little detail. What is important to most of us is the outcome. CBC seems to be revelling in this "made for media story". If this sort of coverage continues, count us out, we shall be looking for another source for news: perhaps NPR in the U.S. would serve us better.
Sincerely, David Cohen

I do not want my ability to receive the news of the world held hostaage by the Pickton trial. Enough already! Day by day we would like the broader view!

I miss listening to CBC radio but it has been off for two days now. I don't want to take the chance that I might hear coverage of the Picton trial.--not only because I find it so upsetting but out of respect for the victims and their families.

Both my husband and I share the same concerns as your viewer from N.W.T. Monday night's news both on the local Windsor station and the national news featured the trial zoo, we changed channels both times.We don't need to know the grisly details, let the trial continue without media frenzy and let justice prevail.Continue with the news until there is news of the trial verdict.

Hmmm, I'm not suggesting that people be forced to watch or to read information that they would prefer not to. However, I do think that the media is responsible to put the facts, in all of their gory detail in front of the public if for no other reason than to understand the breadth of man's capability of inhumanity to man. Those who do not want this with their dinner, or their breakfast, or in front of their children deny the simple fact that someone brutally killed and disgraced other humans. Minimizing the lives of these women by turning away from their deaths and the nature and extent of their suffering is the last disgrace. The media is obligated to honestly report on thier lives and their deaths.

The television coverage is making heroes of these lawyers by showing them striding into the courthouse daily. Get off the showmanship and promotion of those who are reaping glorious financial benefit from a trial we all wish would go away soon. No doubt this will be extended and delayed to the bitter end to squeeze out every possible dollar they can pull out of we the public .This is turning into an O J type of sharade already. Pack up your bags and give it a rest and hopefully this trial can end much sooner than we all hoped, with the right decision. Its not the prying snooping press that should have any bearing on a decision.

Well, Darrell, what other reasons do commercial media have to censor the truth and withhold factual details but out of commercial considerations, as Mr. Burman himself alluded to at the end of his editorial? Morality? Sensitivity to feelings? What about the feelings of victims of horrible crimes who have the true facts of their stories cleaned up and sanitized for public 'consumption'? Not to mention the rights of accused to have evidence held against them at trial to be vetted before the public. The job of the media is to report facts. Period. Not to take the facts and use artistic license to turn them into a Disney narrative.

Your contrivance to compare news coverage to fictional 'crime' shows as though the two had the same function in society and should be held to the same standards is dangerous and ridiculous. A free and unfettered press holds a central position in a democratic society. Where do we draw the line when we start withholding factual details? The world can be a horrible place and human beings can be horrible creatures. We can not always afford to ignore these facts and go shopping at the mall. Sometimes we have to face the facts of our existence, even the ugly ones. Sorry.

I too am simply not interested in the daily news of the Pickton trial. We rely on the CBC to give us mature, balanced reporting of national and international events - not tabloid titillation. Please - we can't take a year of this.

I had already decided not to watch any of the coverage on the grounds that I'm already horrified and nothing can be served by my hearing or watching any more of it. But could I escape it? No way. At 8-ish pm last night I was looking for that quirky praire comedy - Corner Gas and found myself on a channel that was relaying some of the more gruesome details of the Pickton trial. I heard the words slaughter house, sawn off shot gun, fingers, hands, buckets and "heads sawn in half" - I dropped the remote and started crying on the spot. I already knew this was the most horrifying and saddest things I could imagine, but I felt shattered. And who am I? Just an regular person with no personal connection to the case. I recognize that journalists need to be watchdogs and ensure that justice is served but I worry that if the circus gets too wild, justice could be compromised no to mention sadists titillated, and the rest of us sickened. I haven't mentioned children because I only know the severity of my own reaction. Suffice it to say, turn it's time for a media holiday.

This is the first time I am expressing my views to radio/tv/newspaper. The Robert Pickton trial compels me now to join in and support the population that does not want to hear the gory details of aheinous crime on a day-to-day basis. I am getting so weary of all the bad, sad, and mad news. I no longer have a TV and now rarely buy a newspaper, but I listen to CBC Radio 1 daily. I like the banter of radio talk. This is what wakes me up every morning. This is what greets me when I return home from work every evening. BUT if I am going to have to be on alert to tune out every Pickton update - ....for how long?....a YEAR??? - No thank you. Please reconsider your coverage.

I think that the suggestion to offer a brief summary of the trial after all sides have been heard and a decision has been handed down is a bit alarming. Freedom of the press is part of a democratic society and that is not selective. The press also serves to show that justice is being done - or not - and again, this does not come after the fact. This murder trial is news and I want to hear about it, whether it moves me to tears and makes me uncomfortable or not.
I do appreciate that media outlets are talking about how this information is presented and that people are being warned about content. I also realize that this is a news story with lots of layers and I don't want it to receive any different treatment because the majority of people just don't want to hear about it. That is not how it works.
I don't want sensational coverage either - and there are some that provide just that - but it is news and I want to know what is happening, as it happens and not after. I believe in a free press and I also want to see justice being done...and I have a right to that just as others have the option to turn it all off. It is much easier for you to turn it off than for it to not be available at all - which should be a much more worrisome scenario for us all.
This is the first week of the trial and we should not expect it to receive the same coverage throughout...it will subside, but it should not disappear - that will be when the media has failed us and, more importantly, the victims and their friends and families who have been asking for so long that we sit up and take notice.

I am glad to see that CBC is sensitive to these concerns. What little graphic reports came out of the first day of the trial were horrific enough to tell me that it is n ot in our interest to hear that level of detail.

I really feel for the jurors involved in this one. Obviously the detail needs to be presented in court, but it can't be easy.

Thanks for trying to avoid sensationalizing or giving the U.S. media-style attention to this story even if it costs you the voyeuristic-type viewer and media junkie.

I cannot comprehend how a steady diet of the gruesome details of this sick individual's acts can possibly be construed as optimizing our awareness of the sad plight of the victims.
This daily in-depth reporting serves only to raise the profile of the man on trial & delight those who revel in ugliness.
I don't want the story sanitized I just don't want it!
The end result will suffice & I shall return to the CBC online news when they discontinue this cheesy attempt to sell headlines to the world in the name of righteous, honest journalism.

Whatever happened to the concept of 'all the news that's fit to print'?
You may think this detailed and lengthy coverage will increase your number of viewers but I doubt it. We see it as the sensationalizaton of revolting events and we change the channel when it comes on. Other people I have spoken to feel exactly the same way.
It is current events and I would be interested in a brief, non-sensationalized summary of the days happenings but not in the gruesome details or in the anguish and opinions of the families, friends and professional criers that your breathless "journalists" dig up to interview.

I am adding my voice to those who just want the facts and not the hype around the Pickton trial. Facts which alert us to the plight of sex-workers, reveals the depth of sexual dysfunction facing society. Paying too much attention to the legal proceedings becomes hype and takes away from the need to address the underlying and unspoken truth about prostitution: their clientele is as addicted to their sexual services as the prostitute is to the money. It gets their needs met at a terrible price, sexual health.

This addiction is present whether a client sees an expensive sex-worker, or those women on the lower east side of Vancouver. It is also present in any sex crime and those most at risk are usually at the lower end of the economic scale. That is the issue, how to protect them.

Some advocate legalization or decriminalization and on the Lens, "A Safer Sex Trade" appeared to advocate this position. It was a one-sided documentary with a madam who just wanted to be treated like anyone else. Unfortunately, promoting legalization to prop up one's self-esteem will not make sex-workers safer. Nor with it stop the Pickton's from harming vulnerable men, women and children.

Decriminalization may take the stigma out of prostitution, but it would not address the sexual dysfunction itself. However, devaluing a prostitute gives the client cover, so it could be the first step towards resolving the problem.

Unless and until society becomes willing to address both participants involved, client and prostitute will be locked in a self-perpetuating cycle which destroys communities. Witness the grief of the friends and families of the many missing and murdered women. These women were not disposable commodities, but valued and much loved members of their community.

Media that sensationalizes the details of this crime avoids dealing with the problem, instead of becoming part of the solution. That would require a sexually astute media outing the client.

It seems quite revealing to me, that wall to wall coverage is provided for the trial of an alleged mass murderer of women involved in providing sexual services .... but to acquire the same degree of coverage for the promotion of legalization of sex trade establishments would be a non-starter.

Decade after decade, Canadians continue to bury their heads in the sand when it comes to the legalization of prostitution establishments.

Our government will happily accept taxes dervived from the income of prostitutes ... for prostitution itself is not illegal ... only the setting up of a clean, safe and licenced establishment in which to provide the service is illegal.

Yet another politcal oxymoron purpetrated by our government.

While no one wants to diminish the death of these women, no one should have to listen to the gory details. By the same token, Tony, you are not listening to your viewers (something you did hint to in previous columns). The death of these women would be best remembered in a more constructive way. It seems to come back to glorifying the crime and the criminial. It's time for everyone to take a step back and ask ourselves why. I am also among those who have been ignoring the news in the last few days. A weekly summary would be a much better alternative than a barrage of sensational events that would make CSI want the script.

Everyone knows what Pickton is accused of. To say that re-hashing the gruesome details is crucial to maintaining a free press is laughable. At this point it serves only to titillate stimulus-addicted viewers for whom movies like "Saw" are "cool". Reporting on how the trial is progressing is valid but this can be done without resorting to shock.

Reporting on the lives of the victims makes sense as well - as Mr. Burman suggests. However the focus should be on legitimizing the humanity of the victims themselves. So far most reporting reduces these women to sex trade stereotypes under the ironic guise of honouring their memory. Seeking out family members or acquaintances to ask them "How are you feeling?" is just insulting and gratuitous. It does nothing to address the problems which led these women to be victimized.

After being disgusted by a lurid report by a correspondent on "Sounds Like Canada" yesterday, my radio is off this week.

In response to William Hanlon,

How, exactly, is it dishonouring the victims if I place safeguards around my mental and emotional health by limiting when I hear newscasts about the victims' dismembered body parts? It seems to me that protecting my own health is a way of honouring these womens' memory, not dishonouring it.

Even many of the victims' own families have declined to hear about the grisly details - so there's no reason the rest of us should feel obliged to hear about it, every hour on the hour.

I would ask the CBC to take the high road on this one, by NOT making the Pickton story the lead item in every newscast, and by simply alluding to the grisly details instead of explicitly describing them. You will likely get more people turning their radios/TVs back to CBC and, ironically, increase the general awareness of the case.

I agree with many of the submissions below - the details of the crime are not news, but instead constitute gruesome entertainment for the strongest stomachs in increasingly callous viewing public. News is meant to provide people with what they need to know in order to live safer, better lives or to help others do the same. The greatest tragedy in this entire case could well be that the publication of the grim details of these poor women's fates serves to further desensitize people to the repugnance of such crimes. The new normal edges people already on the fringes of decency closer to depravity and our cultural heart, out of self protection, hardens a little more. We begin to take less and less notice of the most vulnerable individuals among us, become less and less willing to risk our own security to help them, and increase the likelihood of their victimization by predacious and evil men. Enough already. In our family, we too turn off the radio or TV when any mention of the Pickton trial is indicated.

Will,
Its about discretion, not censorship. Saying they were killed, dismembered, violated, reports the facts & truth. Reporting in intricate detail an inventory of parts, and acts does not significantly increase a persons understanding of the situation.

"the rights of accused to have evidence held against them at trial to be vetted before the public." Isn't that what a trial by a jury of their peers is all about? The jurors bear the burden of vetting, discerning and forming an opinion of guilt / innocence on behalf of society. We can't all be a juror, we can't all spend the time to hear every line of testimony, and ergo it needs to be filtered, summarized, and synthesized to fit into a news format. Summarizing requires choices of what to include. To me the bucket of parts crosses the line.

You want the full, unfiltered story: get the transcripts. You want colourful commentary, read a blog.

It is very easy to the journalist to report on stories like Karla Homolka, O. J. Simpson or Pickton. Just go to the court and start your taping record machine or the camera and that is. This is the journalism which is less expenses, easy and covers a long period of time on the schedule of the TV. I pet that is the target from all this kind of media.
What are the effects of this on the peoples? It is not so important!!

Once upon a time, our professor in the university came 5 minutes late. We thought he is not coming because he was the man on time. After he took his breath he said to us: You are here about 100 students, if I would not come; that means I would have wasted 100 productive hours from your life!!!

How many million hours you want to waste from the life of the citizens????

One deterrent to violence now seems to be forgotten. Many years ago, sometime in the early 70's I think, the US Senate had a hearing on the effect of violence witnessed on TV and film, probably particularly on children.

The National Film Board made a film of the hearing under their program "Challenge for Change". It might be useful to view that film again. I believe violence breeds violence, and I regret that our children are so overexposed to it in so many ways, games, movies, etc and have become insensitive to it.

Well I am again amazed @ the media's fascination with grizzly details...

We had a family tragedy in 2003. Adopted mother was murdered by her son. When it happened we had media all over us, they had no respect for the shock and pain we as a family where in. Once the court process was happening they seemed to be fascinated with the grizzly details of the crime, I cannot compare the 2 cases details but I can say that to sit through it in a court room was bad enough but too then open the paper and read it all over again was too much!

I believe as others have said that if people are wanting to get the nasty details then they can get it without the news media bombarding us with it.

Regards

David Van Duzen

The basic question in ethics is: "how do we treat another human being"... All mediums of media need to ask themselves that question prior to all verbal or written communication. I listen to and read extensively all forms of communication. I do not need to know the ugliness of the details of many stories covered by various medium sources. Do not show me pictures of the accused and/or artistic sketches. This is not necessary to the issue of justice. Do not relate over and over and over again the ugly details. It is not necessary that I know this to know outcomes. We can have access to all the details we want after the trial is over by seeking out approved gov't sources.
I do not want Canadian newssources to be just another cheap, crass, continuous, nauseating verbage circus. Good, solid and regular reporting is indeed good, but those who need the ugly, they can get it in other places and in other ways. There is always the Internet. Step up CBC and be a network of ethical behaviours with no exceptions. Thank you.

Quite the surprise while preparing dinner on Monday night to hear about a woman's dismembered head in a bucket. Fortunately, my three children (ages 6, 7-1/2, and 9) were playing elsewhere in the house out of earshot.

As I wrote yesterday to CBC to comment about the first day's coverage, it's interesting that we heard so much before the trial started about the traumatic effect the testimony is expected to have on jurors, and yet here in my home in Alberta I can against my will be subjected to equally graphic information. My compatriot Don, above, is correct when he calls this a matter of discretion, not censorship.

A simple, effective, and respectful solution would seem to be the establishment of a dedicated page on the CBC website for the day's details. The Vancouver Sun seems to understand the difference between discretion and censorship far better than the CBC and is taking a particularly admiral restrained yet thorough approach to its coverage,

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=ff1215a4-cffa-%2042cb-8b58-caf8f14bce65

The difference with a newspaper, of course, is that it is nowhere near as interruptive or intrusive as radio or television can be. So, much as my husband and I dislike taking the step of interrupting the interrupter, especially for an entire year, we don't ourselves want to hear the particulars, and we certainly don't want our children to.

It won't be the first time we've turned off the CBC -- the Bernardo/Homolka trial and recent strike come to mind -- but it may well be the last. Whether we'll tune back in, in a year's time, is a good question, especially with the prospect of a second trial on the horizon (after all, the present trial is concerned with only six of 26 charges). It seems like a good time to catch up on our reading, through the magic of audiobooks.

Why was there no police interest, or media interest, when women were first reported missing from the area over 10 years ago?

You can be sure Pickton is relishing his fame . Why give him the satisfaction? Please, just the facts, leave the gory details to the tabloids and Fox News.

I have turned the channel from CBC radio where it has been set for the past 20 years. This is the first time that I have given up listening to CBC radio. I understand the need for the public to be aware of what happens but the graphic details are too much. I need to know that women were brutally murdered. I do not need to know what happened to each body part. There is a balance between responsible journalism and tabloids. CBC has now crossed the line. You have been "zapped" in our household and once silenced, I am not sure that we will return. You risk losing the support of long-time CBC supporters and gradually disappearing completely.

The media plays a vital role in these cases and it should continue coverage as things change.

I think the key in your blog was that you must be careful not to "glorify" the details. Otherwise, I think it is important to report on the trial as things progress towards a verdict. I believe that the reports give a good insight into our criminal justice system which we don't often receive. I believe that it is important for our society to see what has happened to these poor victims and think about what this means to our society and how to prevent similar incidents from occurring. I also think that media attention focused on the trial makes the police investigators and the prosecution team work harder to present a good case.

People will be outraged by what they hear and see, they should be outraged but, we shouldn't turn a blind eye to what has happened.

However, as I've said, as long as the coverage does not "glorify" the details.

This is a PS to my comment of Monday, to which I have received a reply from Mr. Black, thank you. Remember that when those radios and TVs are turned off, they may stay off for some time and long-term listeners, watchers or readers are liable to be lost on a permanent basis.

It never ceases to amaze me how a few can dictate what many do. If you don't want to hear the details, turn off the tv or radio and turn the page of the newspaper. It's that simple. As a member of a victim's family, I encourage people to be aware of the atrocities that people can to do other people. There are people out there mascarading as human beings. Take whatever safety precautions that are necessary to keep yourself and your family safe. Don't hide your heads in the sands, because it can happen to you, whether you believe it or not. Please be safe.

As I wrote with respect to another topic, the foregoing reactions to the CBC's coverage of the Pickton trial (even if largely negative) add up to enough of a dog's breakfast to allow the powers-that-be at our 'public broadcaster' to continue as they please - as usual. In that light, Nicole Levesque's exhortation above to the Corporation - "Step up CBC and be a network of ethical behaviours with no exceptions" - is touchingly naive, at best. For neither Tony, even less Jane, and least of all Robert, will ever pay heed to such a plea.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to see how many comments go so far as to report (or threaten) to turn off the CBC for good. But even that won't get their attention: after all, as long as they don't actually have to earn their ratings (and, thus, their living) in the open market, why should it?

I feel strongly that every piece of gory detail should be published / reported by every media available to the public.

My reasoning for this line of thinking??? It is time ALL of the population in the free world knows just what type of "sicko" is out there. We need to approach these types of horrors head on, to ensure we are apprised of such such situations so we can re-act in a positive manner, accordingly. Only then will the general populace realize just what can happen to you, to me, to our family & loved ones.

Only then can the general populace, however minute, get a feel for just what can, and will happen, if we let our guard down and contribute to the introduction of terrorists to North America by condoning the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan,and all the other "terrorist-infested" countries in the world. We need to stomp this evil from our society on their turf, else they WILL be over here in Canada & the USA, carrying out their "cause", the killing of all "infidels" in the name of their god through Gjhad.

The correlation of the Pickton trial & Afghanistan??? If you need to ask, then we are in worse shape as a country than I thought. God help us.
RHM

In case you don't realize it , the infidels are us.

Since Monday, when I wrote to CBC, I have left my radio and television off at news time and mostly otherwise. With print, I have the choice of not reading material. The radio is usually my favourite news source but some information just doesn't qualify as knowledge.

I, the Public, have already heard all the gruesome details of the gathering of the evidence at the Picton hog farm. We do not also need a blow by blow description of the daily trial. It serves no purpose as to "guilty or not guilty" since that is the Jury's decision and not the Public's. Enough already!!!!!!!!!

I don't want to hear any more than I've heard of this trial. Yeah, it may seem to some that I am hiding my head in the sand, perhaps that is so, but I simply cannot handle the sadness that the reports of how these women died brings. We have heard every single way a women can die, in a hundred other years of news reporting, why do we need to hear even more horrifying details. I have thought about what I would want the world to hear if something - god forbid - happened to me like this. Of course I would want justice, on behalf of my family, but I would also want my family to have the dignity of some privacy. I would want them to lay me to rest, no matter what happened to my body, but also to seek some sort of peace, even if it meant seeking justice. I have made the huge assumption that these women would want the same, and not have every single sickening detail broadcasted to the world. These women had children and families, do they need to know that the world knows how their mother, sister, daughter, niece, aunt or friend died, in every single detail? I would like to think that my family would want justice, not each and every gory detail. Thank you CBC for cutting back on the coverage so far, it hasn't gone unnoticed.

i am finding the coverage of the pickton trial very disturbing....i understand justice must prevail...but enough already with the fabulations for details that are at times psychologicay trying.

thankyou for the opportunity to express my
concerns.....

I understand there is a difficult balance to find, but here's a suggestions
Give us the absolute minimum on the news (radio and TV ), and not every day, and tell listeners to go to the CBC website if they want more detail - in print, pictures or video. Apologies to those who don't have internet access - the desperate ones can go to public libraries.

Although I appreciate the coverage, if this trial is going on for a year something creative is going to have to be done so that we don't turn off the news. The crimes are horrific but weekly updates on how the trial is going with some of the major issues highlighted would be what I would be interested in seeing. Say 10 minute special on a Friday for example.

Balance is what is all about.

If it wasn't for the fact the family needed closure
the S O B should be taken straight to the gallows with the evidence found on his farm

While I understand both sides' ( media / public ) responsibility and right to report / know, where is the line between voyeurism and respect. It's not so much a media circus as it has become entertainment . . . that is the sad reflection on our society.

I am very surprised there is not a publication ban for this trial.

I feel the same as the majority of the comments already received;

Please..Please spare us the details. Let us know when the verdict is in. For those people that require a play by play of the gruessome detail.......well let them read it on a specific area of your website, and please please spare the rest of us. This sick person already had enought publicity.

I too will be changing channels pretty quickly when you start with the Picton story!

The coverage of the Picton trial and all it's gory details is quite unsettling and brings out many different emotions, dibelief, anger and sorrow for the way these women were treated. People indeed get upset watching, and a lot have stated they turned the radio and tv's off. You have dealt with the problem your way people, but please don't try to force your choices on the rest of us. If the CBC were not presenting the trial as it unfolds, they would be as guilty of washing the news as those who cover the wars in the mid east without showing the mutilated bodies of the men, women and children by troops from all countries involved as if by doing so it somehow becomes cleaner.

Only by being exposed to the details can we make intelligent assessements about those who do these terrible things to others.

Thank-you CBC for your concern and discretion for viewers and families of thosed involved but please keep up your excellent work in presenting the news to the rest of us.

The media have no real ethics - they sell listeners to advertizers. The CBC is supposed to be different. There is a wonderful tradition of supporting all that is great about Canada! Well, this Picton furor is a symptom that our CBC is getting badly off track. I wonder how many people are turning off their radios whenever they hear the name Picton. (I know I do) Is there anyone up there watching to make sure that the coverage actually promotes anything useful in a positive sense? If all the CBC is doing is publishing lurid details of questionable validity to satisfy morbid idle curiosity then I would start to wonder: Do we really need the CBC? Private providers can do that job with no cost to taxpayers.
I say, publish proven facts only, and leave the rest alone until the truth has been established as far as the justice system is capable.

I too am adding my name to list of people that are more than irratated with the media gong show surrounding the Picton trial. I am able to go one step further by cancelling my company advertizing with any media that get carried away the the circus.

So not only do you stand to lose a reader, listener, and viewer, but also you stand to lose a valuable client. I have a lot of other resources availible to me including word of mouth which in my humble opinion out ranks any media agency. A word to the wise think and listen twice as much as you take action!

So now where is your pay cheque going to come from, eh?

--
Bill

I find it fascinating that CSI, in all of its manifestations, is the most popular tv series going and yet we don't want to hear similar kinds of details when they occur in real life. Perhaps CBC listeners/viewers don't watch CSI. I suggest that there be a weekend summary of the key points the previous week; that's my middle-of-the road position between getting daily reports (no one really wants that) and waiting a year to hear the judgment. In fact, it's society that is on trial, not just Pickton. Until we listeners/viewers insist that our cities, our governments, deal with poverty, homelessness, and treatment for drug addiction--all of these so that women and children don't find that selling themselves is the best and sometimes the only way to make money--we are likely to be confronted by similar events in the future, no matter whether Robert Pickton is found guilty or not. So keep the case before us to remind us of what happens when we ignore too much the world in which we live. But delete the lurid details that prompt too many to turn off the broadcast, perhaps persuading themselves that none of this is happening.

I am among those who do not wish to endure gory day to day reports from the Pickton trial. We have CBC on mostly at mealtimes: this morning we had to endure on the Early Edition Rick Cluff interviewing an expert on "jounalistic ethics" (an oxymoron?). He suggested there was a journalistic duty to report fully. But viewers and liseners have no corresponding obligation to listen.
For me there is a solution: take a leaf from sportscasters who invite listeners to turn off for a few minutes when a game scheduled for a tape-delay broadcast is being reported on.
If the coverage continues as it has, I won't be watching or listening to any radio or TV news. We shall go to print or internet services where it is possible to avoid the reporters' gory self-indulgence backed up by Burman editorial angst.

Right after submitting my comment re the trial in the death of six women (aka the Pickton trial), I read the online CBC news and discovered that nearly two dozen social service programs for the homeless in the Greater Vancouver District are in danger of shutting down. The Supporting Communities Partnership Strategy used to fund the 23 programs, but it has been axed, and the money runs out at the end of March. Ottawa's new Homelessness Partnering Strategy was established in its place but there is no information on when its funds will become available. The GVRD has apparently been assured the projects will be funded later this year. How much later? And more important, how many people will be endangered, will turn to selling themselves, will be forced to live in dangerous conditions, may lose their lives while we wait for Ottawa to get its act together?

Thank you for your tasteful coverage of this trial. I appreciate reading and knowing what is happening. It is helpful when I am able to follow along; in fact I feel privileged that I am able to read exerpts of Mr. Pickton's interrogation. This is an important trial and although terribly gruesome some of us wish to know about it anyway. I respect the fact that not all people want such detailed coverage but I am glad to have it. Knowledge is power, thank you for the information and for providing the choice to participate democratically.

W Loader

After reading many objections to CBC's coverage it sounds a lot like we are 'shooting the messenger.' Let us focus on the crime and not the reporters. I understand the revulsion one might feel reading the details but fact is fact and we should not hide away from the truth because it makes us uncomfortable. Why don't you direct your anger towards the guilty instead of our National Broadcaster who remains one of the top reporting institutions in the world?

W Loader
Calgary

It is ironic that, as a Canadian working with traumatized children in post conflict Bosnia, that I am greeted by the citizens with news of the Picton Trial. Here, people shot at each other and did bad things to each other, but the grisly details of what Picton did (he is already judged here) is more than anyone can handle. They did not eat each other, or grind each other up for the pigs. The story as it is revealed here, is more unimaginable than the two years of armed civil combat. So - from my perspective, as a Canadian who has enjoyed the respect and the perception that I come from a peaceable, quiet and tolerant nation, the airing of the grisly details is particularly embarrassing. Personally, however, I am extremely disgusted that the news machine has no sense of cultural or human values as it prostitutes itself in sensationalizing this tragedy. The shock of such details affects and changes all of us... chisels painfully at our innocence, and our chldren's innocence - but not for the better - not for deeper wisdom. It does not contribute to a better world in Canada - or anywhere else. Please spare the details and urgently get trauma counselling for your reporters who have no other outlet than to write about this horror.

I think there should be coverage of the trial as we have waited years to know what went on. I lived in Port Coquitlam for 7 years and my husband and I attended one of the parties at the other pickton farm. It just scares me to know now how lose we came to a killer! scary!

Hello
Credit goes to whomever put it this way:
“The only thing I need to know about the Robert Pickton trial is if he is declared guilty or innocent,” wrote a viewer from Yellowknife, N.T. “So please spare us the day-by-day coverage because our household won’t watch it.”
My sentiments exactly.

I neither watch nor listen to any reports regarding the details of these horrific crimes. I'm sorry for the families who have to go through this every day. It's difficult enough when you lose a loved one but losing them this way! We cannot even imagine what these poor women went through. Hopefully this animal will be found guilty. Hopefully these families will find peace knowing what happened but, they will never forget.

My wife & I are dedicated CBC listeners, we also have children that are aged 6 & 9. We explain to them the information that they hear and see on the news in a manner that is appropriate to thier age. That said, we are also very selective in what they see & hear.

We turned the dial to "off" when we started hearing the details of the Picton trial- my wife & I both thought "great have we got a hear of this type of coverage?!"

Inform- don't be too descriptive. My children will be "educated" as they mature.

Do we remember the names of those women victimized by Paul Bernardo? No, but we know Paul Bernardo, thanks to the media. Do we remember the names of those women victimized by the Montreal Massacre? No, but we remember the killer thanks to the media. Will we remember the names of those women killed in Vancouver allegedly by Robert Pickton? No. But we will remember Robert Pickton, thaks to the media It is the responsibility of media to provide coverage that is balanced. Perhaps some of the comments already expressed regarding exposure to details are made out of fear. Fear of someone else repeating....fear for our daughters and mothers and sisters....fear of our own possible gruesome deaths....Myself, I am trying to homour the victims by understanding how they were treated in life and in death and how their sacred bodies and souls were destroyed.

What a cop out to say that if we don't like the gory details extolled by the CBC or other newscasters that we can turn off the TV/radio!

First of all the CBC, is a public broadcaster and should be responsive to all Canadians.

Second, there is no public need to reveal the gruesome details. News shows do it for one reason: ratings.

High-level descriptions will suffice. Reporters need to show some journalistic integrity and human dignity! Don't behave like sensationalists to make more money and then tell me to just turn it off if I don't like it.

I feel there is far too much "sensationalism"in media broadcasts. Now that the media has this gruesome trial to report they will do their best to annoy the devil out of the population. My husband and I were sickened every time we watched the news and saw Rena Virk's body being removed from the water. Please don't make the family and friends of these murdered woman go through what the Virk family endured.

Still too much coverage. How could the networks misjudge the Canadian public so much. No appetite for blood and guts here.
We only need to know what the verdict is and what the sentence is. Period.

Your right, we all have a choice and mine is to stop listening to CBC Radio One (Vancouver) AND I will no longer be watching the CBC TV News (Sorry Mr. Mansbridge).
Even if your choice is to reduce your coverage 'considerably' you've still lost me as a listener/viewer. I choose to respect the lives that have been horrifically lost and will not support any forums that further victimize them.

Please limit coverage of the Pickton trial to a minimum. It turns my stomach to hear about it, and we have already learned all the lessons we're going to learn. Unless there arises evidence that seriously brings Mr. Pickton's guilt into doubt, now would be a good time to just stop.

I find it interesting that CBC programs such as 22 Minutes and Air Farce make fun of the over-the-top coverage by certain American networks when it comes to sensational news...and here I had to stop eating a great dinner because CBC felt it necessary to tell me about
buckets filled with decapitated heads.
"Well,you shouldn't be eating dinner while watching the news !", I hear you say
but that is hardly the point...is it?

thank you, CBC, for your courage in covering this crime. Every year hundreds of people "disappear" - and as police investigations show, it is being proven that there are, among us those who would do horrible things to other humans. Time and time again, in the US and in Canada, it is proven that the perpetrators go about their ghastly business with little interference from people who are all too eager to look the other way, to ignor, and to not think about what has happened or could happen.

Yes, the crime is ghastly. But public awareness is the only way that such behavior can be stopped. We need to look out for one another more carefully. We need to be aware that others are at risk when we don't care or can't be bothered or don't want our little worlds shaken.

there isn't a canadian community that doesn't have its missing people - and ignored crimes

I find the descriptions of the victims to be unnecessarily graphic. Please spare me those details. Surely there is another method by which someone who wants to see/hear these details can do this without using public air waves.

I turn-off radio and TV as the word"Pickton" appears. In total agreement whith the viewer of Yellowknife:“The only thing I need to know about the Robert Pickton trial is if he is declared guilty or innocent,”

While I personally find some of these stories stomach turning and horrific reading experiences, I disagree with folks that indicate their preference is that this info just not be published.
I can chose to read or stop reading an article, I don't need anyone telling me they chose not to publish something for my own well being or protection, I'll decide that for myself, thank you very much for being so meddlesome.
I personnaly get tired of these folks that say I didn't know, that could happen, or whatever. Whenever I see a SUV deep in the ditch, which is inevidibly where they are after a storm or icy roads conditions that can occur around here, the dirver saying I didn't know that by driving like a fool in an SUV I could end up in the ditch, well grow a brain, is all I can think of.
Some folk just don't want to deal with reality.
So to the fools mout there who think they are safe where and whatever the company they keep, I say, look at the pictures of these women, that are no longer amoungst us, they thought they were safe as well, regardless as to how far they pushed the envelope. Tragedies such as these shouldn't happen to anyone, but then that's not reality.
That's what I think.
John

If you don't tell people about the trial, it's as if it didn't happen. While it could be argued that graphic details be only alluded to, the trial (and the crimes that preceded it) are news, and deserve coverage.

I think CBC's policy of prefacing news reports with a viewer/listener advisory is well-founded. If people don't want to watch/listen to the report, they can change the station.

Better to be criticized for having too much coverage than not enough.

I agree with those who state that the truth should be known no matter how horrible, bizarre or uncomfortable the truth is.
Truth is important in terms of understanding real issues, but there should written and spoken WARNINGS given to the public by the media. In TV News the warning should be spoken and written at least 30 seconds ahead of time; in newspapers, the warning should be printed in the FIRST paragraph of the article.

These days I hit the off button on my radio when your news begins to cover it, and usually miss the rest of the news as a result. And CBC has been my primary news source for decades. There is a story here that needs repeating - who were these women? How did they end up so vulnerable? And especially, the complete and utter failure of Vancouver City Police to end the carnage and bring someone to justice much earlier? Why was the police chief at the time more focused on keeping the one officer with the skills to deal with the missing women out of the officers lunch room, than protecting vulnerable citizens? Do we need to look at the police culture that lead to this failure?

So far CBC has been glorifying the deeds and I don't want to hear it.

I think most Canadians will not find it interesting to watch the extensive coverage on TV. All I need is to be able read in a small space in a newspaper that Picton has been found guilty. I think it's a great waste of time & resources to give so much publicity to cover Picton's trial. There are a lot more noteworthy things to know about.

This discussion could go on for the entire year that this trial will likely devour; each of us could continue to be outraged and disgusted at the indecencies that humans inflict upon each other; each of us can revel in the total lack of tact being shown by assorted media coverage; we can all sit back and question how these poor unfortunate women fell victim to this monster; all of us can wonder why nothing was done to further this investigation when the women went missing in the first place. I could go on an on along this line dissecting every aspect of the case,examing it under a microscope, pointing blame all the while. My sole question is this - WHAT HAVE YOU DONE AS A MEMBER OF SOCIETY TO EFFECT CHANGES THAT WILL ENSURE THAT THESE POOR DOWNTRODDEN HIGH RISK INDIVIDUALS ARE LOOKED OUT FOR WITH THE SAME LEVEL OF CARE AND DIGNITY THAT WE THE VIEWER/READER EXPECT TO RECEIVE FROM MEDIA? If you cared as much about stopping this kind of carnage as you do protecting yourself from hearing about it, you would put the effort you put into writing your comments here into writing to the powers that be about making change. We are after all SOCIETY. It is not a third party, it is each one of us.

That said, I do not approve of the level of gore being presented and am in favor of summarized updates with details available to those wanting to know more. I just sit in amazement that the social problem which has been cast into the spotlight as a result of this deplorable case continues to worsen with the glare remaining on the perpetrator of the crime.

Lets get the victims out of the shadows and remove the situations which present those in need on a silver platter to those depraved enough to take them.

My thoughts are with the families who no doubt did all they could to try and help their loved ones and who nonetheless find themselves in the midst of this horrible black mark on Canadian history.

Hi:

The reward posted on the Missing Women's Poster remains at $100,000. Six years have gone by and the reward has not grown a penny.
While Pickton is on trial for killing 6 or 26 women, the long list of Missing women still stands. This leaves some 35 families of missing women waiting by the phone for a call from the police. I think the reward should be increased substantially in a bid to help the police with their on-going investigation into the case of the Missing Women. If I am not mistaken, the annual salary of a BC cabinet minister exceeds $100,000 per annum and this goes for federal MPs as well.

And I think British Columbians should hear about the barbaric way many of the Missing Women died. The news abchors usually warn viewers that coverage of the Pickton trial will be graphic. This gives people the option of switching channels or sauntering to the fridge for a cold snack.
Ernie Crey

I don't always watch TV and usually the only means of accessing news for me is listening to the radio as I get ready for work or on the way to work. I appreciate the full coverage of the Pickton trial. I want to know what happened because I know people who knew some of the women that died senselessly. I don't have time to research the topic to find out what happened.

It makes it more real for me to hear what those women went through in their last days alive. It wouldnt have the same impact and it would be easily dismissed to hear only the outcome of the trial. It wouldn't make sense to hear that a man was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to ? many years in jail for killing 49 women. I think it honors the women for their name to be said. They deserve to be seen as a person, not just a number.

I will be interested in reportage that goes beyond the voyeristic gore, such as the action/inaction of the police and government, the impact on Aboriginal communities and sex trade workers and their responses, the role of the media, and the devaluing of Aboriginal lives in this country. I am interested in how media can contribute to asking the tough questions to identify areas for social change.

- How can we, ‘The Public’, be assured that 'Justice' is being served if we are not allowed full disclosure of all the facts? How could we blindly accept any (unanticipated) decision without knowing all the facts and reasons behind that decision?
Those who do not wish to know the gruesome details, need not read the articles or watch the news on TV! Watching the news and reading the headlines is not mandatory!
Ironically though, the uninformed are often people who will watch gory horror films or play bloody video games without giving the acts therein a second thought, and sadly, the uninformed are often the very people who cry foul at any question of guilt.

The gory details need to be reported for several reasons.

An open and transparent trial is a right in this country. A trial held behind closed doors or censored reports could be a show trial like those in some counties like Iraq and China. That sounds like a slippery slope to me.

The people who don't want to hear about the details probably don't understand that we are all guardians of our rights and that includes giving Picton a fair trial. If convicted he needs to be studied to find out how he became
this monster.

Since most people have internet access it would be a good idea to put all the gory details on the web site with a warning about the graphic content. A watered down version could be broadcast on TV.

As a final thought... What if Picton is innocent and is found not guilty? Without full disclosure there would be a lot of unanswered questions!

First of all, before I say anything, my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. I don't begin to try and understand the pain you're going through, but my thoughts are with you nonetheless. The details of the Pickton trial are quite graphic, but it would be a huge mistake to omit them because people simply aren't comfortable with them. I agree that the Pickton case is an ultimate example of man's inhumanity to man, but do people honestly think it's going to go away (or never happen again) if we don't hear about it. Robert Pickton is accused of being the worst serial killer in Canada's history, and he didn't need the media or anything else 'egging' him on, or 'encouraging' him to commit these murders, if he did (I say this because last time I checked, everyone is innocent until proven guilty). The idea that the media, or video games, or music, or entertainment encourages anybody to commit murder is ridiculous. I personally think the fact that the police didn't do anything when these women were going missing encouraged Mr. Pickton more than anything else. Society simply didn't care enough about these women and Pickton probably knew that.

All rants aside, my opinion really doesn't matter much, and neither does anyone else's. Until the families publicly speak out against the coverage, continue on CBC, report what you want, post your warnings, and report whatever details you want (no matter how graphic). I, and myself only, will choose what I want to listen to, and what I want to watch. No one else has that right. If you don't like it, turn it off. I wish people would stop trying to force choices down other people's throats. Let people make up their own minds. Enough already!

Good day,

Was going to write to comment on the fact that the lead of the news on TV every night re the Pickton trial was forcing us to switch off or turn to another station or show until the subject changed.

We are loyal CBC news watchers and I have already heard enough pretrial coverage to last us a life time.

I am sure the victims family members are interested but until its decision day enough is enough.

More money and effort on prevention and cleaning up Vancovers streets is releavent

Out of respect for the women who died horrible deaths, and the families and children who survived them, spare us the ghastly details.

And thank you for seeking the readers/viewers opinions.

Eveline Flint

I turn off the radio/dont read the paper while this going on. How about declaring this the Year of the Downtown East Side Women, and using the opportunity to explore the depths of the problems there. Some of that has been done already; in my opinion it could replace trial information almost completely. B. Mcmaster

I will choose not to watch any of it. Unless one has a personal interest (families, sex trade workers, policemen)I cannot imagine why anyone wants to even know any more of the gory details. The fact that i was a nurse makes means I have seen lots of unpleasantness, but i have no need to wallow in other people's troubles. Just give us the end result.

Why don't we just have all good news stories so those people who wish to keep their heads in the sand about the world they live in can rest comfortably. The facts of life should never be hidden. There are monsters amongst us, but pretending they don't exist won't make them go away. I personally dislike candy-coated news. A warning should suffice so people can take responsibility for what they view.

I feel that the coverage of this story - horrific details and all is important. You don't hear people complaining about the violent tv shows on tv (often played during the dinner hour or when children are still awake and watching.) or the violent shows in theatres. Is this because it isn't real? In this day and age people turn a blind eye to what is going on around them and beleive it does not affect them. Drugs and violence and their affects on people affect us all and these women probably would not be who they were if they hadn't fallen victim to drugs. Most of us in our day to day lives are not even capable of imagining that this type of thing happens. Perhaps we need to hear the gory details to remind us that it does not just happen in movies and is not just make beleive. We as a society are becoming too hardened to things that go on and the answer is not to turn off the tv or radio and ignore it. We need to hear it and act against it.

While i respect the decision to afford discretion where necessary to protect those unable to process the graphic and albeit horrific details related to the Pickton trial, I can't help but think of those women and their families. We can close our ears and our eyes, and maybe even our hearts, for the sake of "decency" but it won't change the facts. We are offered a wake up call here, a wake up to the corruption and oppression and, yes, even the unthinkable that thrives in our society and it doesn't matter how many times we hit that "snooze" button, we are eventually going to have to wake up. At the very least, I can't imagine the suffering of so many loved ones. Isn't it our society that enabled, if not bred, this type of horror - so should it not stand that it is our society that takes responsibility for shouldering some of that pain? Too uncomfortable? Just imagine then, for one moment that it was your daughter, or mother, or sister, or loved one. We seriously, and collectively, need to address the fundamental issues, not turn a blind eye. Perhaps we'll give more consideration to drug programs or put more effort into caring about our most vulnerable and most oppressed if we are collectively horrified into doing something about it?

Today, while reading reports on the Picton trial, a wave of anxiety and tremendous sadness came over me. I began to really think of those victims' loved ones. Few of us can imagine the pain they live with every waking moment. It is their situation that has me writing this. Part of me would want to shield them, part of me knows they have the right to the facts presented in court. The amount of time that they have had to wait for their right to know must be unbearable. Secondary, but equally important is the public's right to know. I feel that the warnings that have been placed prior to coverage are the proper way to handle the situation. It then becomes the decision of the viewer/reader as to whether they wish to continue. You are in a unenviable position, but I believe it has been handled the best way possible.

Sadly the old adage is forgotten and then re-instituted by the CBC of all media entities ... namely "If it Bleeds - It Leads".

I and others expect more from our public broadcaster than the 'FOX' style sensationalism we sense in the coverage.

I find a certain amount of bitter irony that the media never cared about the 27+ prostitutes when they went missing but now provide day to day coverage of the alleged killer. Where were the reporters when any of the 27 victims went missing? I lived in Vancouver at the time and I don't remember the missing persons reports on prime time news.

I thought there was a publication ban. I am confused about what a publication ban actually bans (or if there is any enforcement of the ban), because what I have heard is sensationalist, gory, unnecessary details that should have been banned. All I want to know about is the outcome.

I was grateful for the photo (in the Hamilton Spectator) of three First Nations women who were performing a ceremony for healing outside of the courthouse at the Pickton trial. The only reason I scanned the newspaper report was to see if it would elaborate on this photo. Unfortunately, it did not. This story reveals so many levels of broken relationships. The brokenness is complex and much healing is needed. Please allow this to be part of your focus.

I would like to commend the CBC for their coverage. Frankly it has been tastefully done, considering the circumstances. Having lived in Vancouver for the last ten years, frankly, this story needs to be told. Yes we don't need all the gruesome details, however it came as a shock to myself as to what evidence the police actually had. Up until the first day of trial I was still questioning what kind of argument the prosecution could have against Mr. Pickton. Not much detail was released to the public (in Canada) and thousands of pieces of DNA do not make a case. But upon hearing more details on Monday it made me feel better about what the prosecution had and hopefully the possibility of a conviction. Sure I don't need to hear exactly how it was done or what was exactly done, but before I condemn this man I should at least have part of the story. And to all those who don't want to know all the details, this is exactly how these women became/become marginalized, because society doesn't want the details of what's actually going on.

I'd cut the broadcast coverage to a bare minimum, and steer interested viewers/listeners online, where they can read about the trial in more detail - if they choose.

Perhaps you could also create a podcast for those who want the gory details.

There is something to be said for revealing the truth in all it's gory details...simply because the acts were gruesome. However, for public television and radio, I agree that a healthy dollop of editing is the correct way to go about the daily heralding of the progress in the courtroom. For those who want all the details, how about having them available onlline, where an individual could access the information rather than hearing or seeing it by accident through other media?

I like the idea of general updates with links to the website for more details. While I don't want to watch, read or hear much about the case, as it's a fait compli, I nonetheless believe it is important to have the information readily available. A possible alternative in an impossible situation.

These women should not be judged because life, society subjected them to forced survival.

The police failed and Pickton even said, "poor policing". The property to pay for Pickton's lawyers is partially owned by his siblings. They new the Hell's Agents spelled drugs, high crime, prostitution. Criminal activity was going on for years. Give the farm to women in the East end and provide them with shelter, medical attention and rehabilitation to get off the drugs. Give them a life.

So many of you are turned off .... well go bury your head in the sand. If you voiced your opinion for changes to a system that is lacking it may make a difference. Why blame the media for doing a job that is tearing there hearts out as much as it is mine and yours. If you don't want to listen .... don't but please do not complain when someone close to you goes missing, run over by a drunken driver or mutiliated next door. Lynn Duggan in North Vancouver, B.C. is an example when she went out with a cop. The world is not safe.

Only people can change it for not only horrendous crimes such as these but why should anyone in this country have to go hungry. That is another crime of society.

We can however put heaps and heaps of money to restore a forested area like Stanley Park. Nature would have replaced the trees. Another storm will have torn them down.

If the economy crashes .... well the homeless are going to survive and have the last laugh.

Heather

I get my news via email and this reinforces that desire. I simply choose to read what I want. This trial in not on that want list. The sick and most likely to seek their gory limelight are having a hayday. Go ahead and feed them. You can not print how my wife feels about this trial.

Tonights news asked for my view on the Pickton
trial coverage. My spouse and I both feel very
strongly that coverage should be kept to a minimum. I have no interest in any more information. Let me know the verdict next year.

The publicity is exactly what this man wants.

I've already asked the Globe and Mail to stop
putting his photo on its front page. I always
watch the CBC news and when the Pickton clip
comes on I hit the mute button. It's worse then advertisements.

Please heed your viewers wishes on this one.
Davis

I really have no interest in the Picton trail. Don’t get me wrong, I think the crimes were terrible, so let me know how it turns out in 51 or so weeks.

I should also mention it’s rare for me to sit at my computer and ignore the National (usually I tune in and watch focussed every night). However that is exactly what I found myself doing, till you were done doing reporting on Picton.

Your request this evening was to comment on how the media is handling coverage of the Pickton case. I can only comment on CBC coverage. In this case, I must thank you for continuing to show us to ourselves, that we may learn the full nature of our species.

Thank you for not shrinking from things that are unpleasant, thank you for not bowing to hysterical responses from those that would deny the darker parts of our society.

Thank you for presenting the subject in a sombre & reverent tone, and not a bloodthirsty & sensational one. Thank you for treating the victims with dignity, naming them each day and showing their faces to us.

Those that feel overwhelmed are invited to turn off, tune out, and take care of themselves. For those that would seek to understand, to grieve, or to seek healing in the blood of the wound, we are fortunate to have CBC coverage.

'Do not turn your eyes from the bandaged place. That is where the light comes in.'
- Rumi

We saw and heard it all during the investigation.We don't need to hear it all,the verdict is all we need.He is becoming famous ,or will become famous ,so the more that is on the tv about it, someone else may want to be a copycat and be famous, and round and round it goes.The amount of taxpayers money being spent on this is unbelievable,maybe up to 75 million, how many nurses and beds would that put back into circulation in our collasping health care.
We do not need all this sensationalizing .
The Russians dealt with Chikatilo very quickly,we should do the same.

I don't think the media, including Stevie ? , get it. The public just don't want to hear any more, it's not the gory detail, but the amount of coverage.

As a resident of Port Coquitlam and a former class mate of one of the remaining 20 alleged victims I have found the news coverage of the Pickton trial completly overwhelming. I couldn't sleep last night and have chosen to not watch the news for a while. It is all just so close to home for me and truly chilling. I believe our community is in a state of stunned shock that this could have happened at all let alone go on for as long as it did.

I am not looking forward to a year long trickle of gory details coming out of the Pickton trial. I understand that press coverage of such an important trial is crucial to our society and it may be inevitable that some sensationalist coverage will occur that bothers the public.
Thorough and detailed coverage can be provided in print and web sources where the readers can select articles. Broadcast media in which the viewers-listeners have no choice of program segments the coverage should summarized to only the salient points that come out every few days - i don't believe daily gory details need to broadcast.

I talk to my daughters and mother on a daily basis and we are all saying that we do not want to be subjected to a whole year of this trial's news. As soon as it comes on we all just switch the channel. It's appalling to hear that this trial will take one year. This simple pig farmer is sure getting the royal treatment with tax payers money much more than the poor victims received.

I think we should be advised of the Pickton trial. Those who don't wish to can simply not read the papers or watch the news. Its strange as people could not get enough of the Bernard trial, but now they don't want to hear about Pickton. I don't believe in censoring the media.

The truth has to be told
no matter how sickening

While painful to look in the mirror of our own culture, it may be important. Both the crime and our collective response reveal much.
What would a person from Baghdad think while reading our comments, having survived months of gathering the bloody remains of friends?
Are we so shielded from the harsh realities of our world that we enshroud ourselves with parochial filters like Pollyanna wearing her raincoat in the shower? The issues raised in this case demand considered reflection and deciding at many levels. Switching to American Idol or Hockey Night in Canada may
dull the pain but won't allow it's horror to take us to a better place. And history will repeat itself.

it is to much gory detail
all i want to know at the end of this is
he guilty or not

If the press had covered this story properly from the start, some of these women would be alive today. How many women from West Vancouver would have to disappear before it became a story? How much pressure would have been put on the police to investigate?

Now I think it is time that everything was revealed. Women were systematically picked up,taken to the farm and butchered. If the only outrage you can feel is because you might have to hear about it over breakfast you should be ashamed.

Pickton was no evil genius. The women he killed were petty much handed to him. The lower eastside is where people who have been abandoned go. And it is there that they are preyed upon by drug dealers, pimps - and people like Pickton.

For many of these women, the sad,lonely and horrific deaths they suffered were just the final chapter of lives lived in misery. Out of respect for them, their stories should be told. Perhaps the shock and disgust we feel will result in some compassion and help for people in similar situations.

It is important that CBC continue to cover this story and the details of the trial. It is horrific but as a society we have to recognized that it happened and is happening. Closing ourselves off from the details is imagining something doesn't exist. This imagining is what gave Pickton the power to do what he did. We have to hear what happened to those women, so as a community we recognize that it happened on our streets, in our home. And as a community, we are responsible for one another and we have failed these women miserably. Only through awareness and looking at the hard truth can things change. If things are reported with this intention driving it, our community is better for it.

The trial coverage of this pig farmer is not nearly so traumatic as the crimes of which he is accused. The fact that these crimes were committed in an atmosphere of public and institutional indifference, because of the lifestyle and social standing of his victems, reveals a basic flaw in Canadian society. Like our southern neighbours, whom we love to disdain, we have constructed a society based on narcissism and ego-centrism. I am incenced by those whining and complaining about the coverage of this shocking crime. I doubt they are as traumatized as they claim. I also disagree that the entire country should have their news coverage censored to ease their tender emotions. Humanity is capable of great acts of evil. Pretending this is false, or that it doesn't happen here, provides the ideal conditions for such behaviors to thrive. The Canadian public should brace themselves: there are dozens of missing sex-trade workers missing in Alberta and a number of unsolved murders of sex-trade workers. Society must accept some responsibility for what happens to its poorest, weakest and defenceless members. This is the price of indifference to the fate of others. Perhaps the morally offended amoung us could spend a few of their precious moments to do something positive; for example, they could get involved in their own communities, actually talk to someone different from themselves, and take steps to ensure that evil does not flourish in their own backyards. The depravity raging in the world is the direct result of an insulated, wealthy elite selfishly hoarding their wealth and blaming the unwashed masses for the misfortunes which befall them. Shame on the Canadian Public for its' self-indulgent attitude. I guess we should stop believing we are just a little bit better than other nations.

We don't need the play-by-play. It doesn't serve the public interest, it's disturbing, and it's disrespectful to the victims and those who are grieving them.
It also feels exploitative on the part of the CBC to be filing Pickton stories daily. This trial could take a year. Let us know how it ends up. That's it.
Post your reports on the internet if you must (and I don't think you must). I'm no longer listening to the news. I don't want to start or end my day hearing gruesome details about Pickton and I sure don't want my daughters to do so either.

I find it difficult to give much credibilty to a public obsessed with the details of media coverage when half of that public can't even be bothered to spell "Pickton" properly.

Few weeks ago I watched on the ABC Diane Soyer when she was in North Korea. She was hosting a secondary class. She asked one girl in the mixed class about what kind of music she interested in? The girl answered: The music of Tchaikovsky!! This made Diane astonished. If Diane comes to Canada and asks our students which is your favourite program on the TV? I hope the answer will not be the trial of Mr. Pickton!!

$120 million in taxpayers dollars paid to the lawyers, prosecutors, judicial system, countless other expensive hangers on to try just 1 man in a judicial process that seems to have taken on a life of it's own??

And if found guilty, and even if by some weird quirk he wasn't, his conviction both by the judicial system and the court of public opinion is absolutely guaranteed. Picton will never see the outside again.

The evidence seems overwhelming so why not in the face of it a simple "guilty your honour" and spare us the expense Robert Picton. Do you Robert Picton really think you'll walk a free man in the face of the overwhelming evidence against you?

If your really guilty why not plead guilty?

But Peter Richie his lawyer and the judiciary will have none of that... they're all riding a taxpayer funded gravy train that the rest of us could only dream of.

So what's this all about? Money, closure, justice? Is there no limit to what we the taxpayer has pay, pay and keep paying? We have 1 vile man costing us over $100million while sick people all over the province dying from lack of care in our hospitals and emergency wards.. Where the hell are out priorities??

Not a penny will ever go to clean up the Vancouver East Side mess that spawned Pictons alleged slaughter in the first place.

So why the gory bloodletting... so why do we get some satisfaction from this expensive expose' like a modern day gladiator match played out in slow motion? Picton the alleged mass murderer against the system?

It'll be Picton with that simple "Not Guilty Your Honour" who will get the last laugh by bleeding the money out of the system so there will be nothing left for the social and medical services that our communities need so badly. That money will soon be residing in the exclusive tony neighborhoods of North and West Vancouver.

When will the taxpayer have had enough of this insanity?

Please refrain, or preferably, ignore, this ongoing farce of Canadiana. It is not what any normal person needs or wants. Otherwise - we will have to: "click."

My local paper the Vancouver Sun, and the local Global media jumped on the salacious details as soon as possible. Front page slime.
I rang the managing editor of the paper to infotm that I had been a reader for 25 years, but would cancel if this subject was not reverted to coverage of a normal content, not all over the paper. The so called freedom to report all the news is a joke, as we are subject to the commercial instincts of some editors who are either off their mind, or totally unscrupulous.

There is far too much coverage of murderers by all of the media who justify the gruesome details with comments like..."the publics' right to know" and we only give them "what they want".

CBC has been at fault as well. There is no need for daily let alone hourly broadcast coverage of the horrible details of how people died at the hands of demented individuals. And daily print coverage is just as unnecessary.

It's bad enough for the families and friends of victims. They do not need to be nor should they be constantly confronted with the gory and horrible details of how the accused carried out his or her murders.

There has been a decline in the standards of media coverage of violence over the past 40 years and it's time all media reviewed their practices from ethical as well as a journalistic principles. This morbid fascination with violence murder should end.

There is absolutely no reason to dwell on violent criminal activity (including war) to the exclusion of all the other news events that are happening throughout our country and the world.

Sincerely,

Cam Finley
Lindsay, Ontario

Like one of the previous readers, the only thing I need to know if whether he is found guilty or not.
Wanda

Unfortunately, I think the details should be publicized. We ignored these women as they were being murdered. And Pickton is not accused of murdering just one woman. He will eventually be charged with killing more than 20. Society stood by and let this happen. While it may be unfair to say it, we are all complicit in their deaths. Perhaps the shock of this trial may motivate people to make things safer for women on the Lower East Side.

If the Canadian way is used on this issue (hide everything in the closet, this happened in Canada we don't want to here about it).
This issue was hidden, not policed properly and allowed to happen for years and many lives were lost because this could not happen in Canada if it does we don't want to know anything about it. We as Canadians are guilty of letting this happen for so long. Show the details of what we as Canadians have let happen. MABEE WE WILL NOT LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN!!!

Well, CBC, the click of the remote is what is happening in this household. Although my husband and I usually watch the CBC news in the evening, and I listen to CBC radio periodically thru the day, now, as soon as we hear the word "Pickton", we switch stations/channels, or turn the radio/TV off. How about a SHORT weekly summary , at an announced time, that we can choose to tune into if desired. Details can remain online where people can be selective as well. Ultimately, I do want to know the verdict.

The women who have been murdered, as well as their families, deserve so much more respect. It is obvious that these women died horribly. I think the media should be focussing on what really needs to be addressed - the issues of the downtown eastside and its citizens and how we, as a society, continue to be apathetic toward marginalized people.

I really have a problem with some of the regional news readers, who after reading the news about Pickton or some other catastrophe, go on to chit chat about what they're doing on the weekend etc etc. As an example, after each regional news broadcast on Sheryl Mackay's show (North by Northwest, she chats with Brian Dance or whoever else is reading the news and questions them all about their personal lives, I can tell you everything about their personal lives even down to their sleeping habits,social life, family life, etc. To me this is so unprofessional. Sure, the details of the Pickton trial are awful but imagine having that followed by the news reader laughing it up with the show host. The rule at CBC should be "no personal chit chat after the news" Please Tony, stop this madness.

I agree, we need to know nothing other than he is guilty or innocent and that he received corresponding punishmentif he is.

I think it is obscene to spent that much money on lawyers, two for the prosecution and two for the defense is enough.

I wish you commit your sparse resources to other stories and spare us the day by day commentary about the trial.
I hope your primary motive is not to provide a venue to your staff for getting paid overtime and other perks.
There is no newsworthy, educational or entertainment value in this, except for those with a need and appetite for morbid and gruesome details. They can satisfy it by renting appropriate movies.
He was caught, brought before the court and might be sentenced. Let me know when it happens. That's all the details I need to know.

I can't see what benefit there is to anyone who is not a pervert in hearing the details of the brutality from the Pickton trial. It certainly doesn't make the women any more real to me. It merely exploits them once again to satisfy the unhealthy, degrading interest some people have in horrorific abuse of women for sexual gratification. As others have said, tell me whether or not he is found guilty. Otherwise, it is a repeat of the Bernardo and Holmoko trials when grown men were salivating about the rape and murder of young girls.

I don't want to hear the facts. I don't need the details. Just tell me when the verdict is in and how much time he gets. Why not just string him up and do away with all the expense and fuss? What happens if this trial ends the same way the Air India one did? Will I want to know the facts then? Unfortunately life is not as simple as we all would like it to be. Does everyone think the perpetrator of these crimes acted alone and in a vacuum, slaughtering numerous innocent victims? This story is about more than one man and who knows how many victims and I, for one at least want to know about all the grisly details and how they were presented before the jury before they reach their decision.

There is a point where the news becomes the news. I like to be in the know but not to the point where it takes over my day. 911 taught me that I need to know but I don't need to know every 15 min.
Here in Vancouver CKNW is trying to make almost everything into a 'world event' playing it over and over trying to get people worked up. It didn't work. Keep the calm and keep the news, you're setting a good example.

Thanks to CBC I now can see why vigalantes hung many people in the past.. the media makes a person guilty just because they are arrested.
No wonder many wagon train attacks made by whitemen dressed as indians attacked the wagon trains.. and left the impression that it was indians. So all people that worked at escorting the wagon trains west.. couldn't even go into town, but had to sleep with the wagons outside of town.
Doctor barbers (the original doctors in towns were the barber shop keepers) couldn't heal people with lice and blood letting, but, women with herabal remedies could.. so the "do gooders" hung them as witches.
Let justice prevail... this man just - just might be innocent... but, if his treatment by the media is any indication.. his trial won't even last another week.. til we hang hiim.. and he hasn't even had a chance to defend himself.
Looks like history hasn't improved on democracy and justice. So lets see just how inconsiderate the media can be at handling an even handed look at the justice system. He wouldn't be the first to get the max treatment as an innocent person... just shows how barbaric we are in the western world.

Re: The Pickton Trial
Society has a right to know the basic fact about this horrid situation. Innocent or Guilty!

However, I do not think we need all of the gruesome detail that journalists use to fill air time.

On the belief that this case will remain before us for a year, I think society will grow very tired of hearing so much about it.
It will become synomous with the OJ Simpson case.

CBC, I would hate to imagine you joining the category of CNN, Fox News, etc. You are much above that. Keep your repuation in tact, please.

Virginia.

I hear the concerns of those who feel they would be upset by detailed coverage, and that kids who should not yet get such information might be exposed. But there does not have to be "on or off" only coverage. It would be easy to provide summary coverage that leaves out the details to those who want it, or when kids might be listening, but still make the details available to those who want it, such as via links with warnings on a website. Some may ask: Why would anyone want to see this? There are reasons that are just as valid as the reasons why some may not want to see it. It is important to the process that it be open, and that evidence be made public. If the media ignores or fails to report on trials, there will be the potential for wrongful convictions, or worse, trials behind closed doors. That doesn't happen in Canada you say. Now it does not, but it is only through the vigilance of the media and citizens that we can ensure that it never does. Secondly, these women were so easily lost because they were marginal members of society, and no one cared about them. If the resulting horrors of that indifference are shown, then their surviving sisters will remain in danger. As for the victim's families, I would not want to hear how my loved one was brutalized. Nor would I want them to be just a statistic that no one cares about. If the story helps someone else, then I could take some comfort in that.. Others may not be able to find that comfort. To them I can only offer my deepest sympathies, and hope that they can understand that some things transcend the individuals involved. Finally, it should not be the media who decides what adults can or should read, hear or see. If you accept the premise that individuals should be free to make their own choices, then making the information available to them, with some appropriate warnings so that no one accidentally stumbles into things they would rather avoid, is the only route that is compatible with our free society.

I for one want to know the details. Do not take sound bites and head lines to garner information but read everything and then come to your own educated decision. If this man is found innocent then a lot of taxpayer time and money has been wasted, either in pursuing the wrong person, or the legal system failing us. Either way, Innocent means there is a terrible serial killer on the loose.
As a country we just tried two men for the worst mass murder in Canadian history only to find them innocent. What information does the legal system have on Robert Picton to justify this trial? If the legal system has strong evidence that results in a gulity verdict then I don't begrudge them one cent. If it doesn't then a killer is still walking among us.
I expect the CBC news to give me the news. Let me make up my own mind. Not sanitized sound bites because life isn't sanitized sound bites.
Those who say they only want to know Guilty or Innocent are the same people who vote on election day based on headlines and sound bites. The only way to protect our children is through information and knowledge.

Enough already! Cease and desist in this reprehensible reporting every bloody hour on the hour.
We don't want to know the filthy details of this heinous crime.
You at the CBC Mr.Burman should have more sensitivity towards your listeners. Shame on you!
Val

Why are Canadians trying to be news editiors? If the media had more coverage on the missing women, it is possbile the number of dead and missing women would have been reduced. Why when media is used as a forum to change public opinion there is no out cry for the social change news creates. EG; Child abuse, kidnappings, drin ing and drving etc. I get tired of the media bashing that goes on when the real culprit is Robert Willy Pickton. Listen up viewers and listeners you have choice, shut it OFF! For those of us who would like to know whats going on during this Historical trial you "do gooders" are pushing the media to reduced coverage. I wish we were like the US and have daily coverage like the Simpson trail.

Good job CBC don't let a few narrow minded poeple stop the rest of Canada find out the horor of what happened on that farm.

I expect, indeed demand that those working in the position of editor in this country have the forsight and the ethics to use a more informed set of standards then the ones shown in the first week of the "Missing Womens Trial".

Hiding behind public opinion or outrage to determine content is completely unacceptable and unprofessional!

I would hate to think what today's coverage would look and sound like if public opinion was clamouring for more ugly details.

Jeffrey

I am surprised that the entire population is not more upset about how hungry the media is for this Robert Pickton mass murder case. The media simply supplies the demand for the gory details so there must (sadly) be a demand from the public. I fail to see any common sense in this entire matter. I am embarrassed at how the Canada’s justice system is handling it. How is it that such an obvious case of multiple 1st degree murder should take five years to investigate then over a year for the trail process, when there were parts of several women found all over Pickton’s property and he even admitted to 49 murders stating that he planned on killing only one more to stop at 50. Millions of tax dollars have been spent on gathering and maintaining over 200,000 exhibits in this case. Common sense should have prevented this from being the largest and most expensive police search in Canada’s history. I agree that he must be entitled to a fair trail but why provide this maniac with such a public stage? There remains is a very remote possibility that a guy like this could somehow help mankind learn or confirm what creates these monsters anywhere in the world (Which I doubt!) but just in case we could learn something from him, let’s allow every psychiatrist in the world total access to question him to satisfy that vague possibility.
I think that, even if we could have Adolf Hitler back for analysis we would not be able to prevent the next like-minded maniac. There has always been human parasites and unfortunately, there always will!
Despite all our claims to understand human mind we are still in the Stone Age in that respect. We should be redirecting all this interest, passion and money on the study of human mind and the betterment of mankind rather than in grand-standing this particular animal. Ross Tylor

Canadians, for the most part, seem to be much less interested in "Tabloid Journalism" than some American, and German markets appear to be. We provided a backlash to coverage of "The O.J. Simpson circus" and the Bernado trial, and others. The thought of a whole year of coverage, repeating sound bites, etc. is not something I wish to be part of.
If there is an audience for it, why not air a summary once a week -- after The National AND GIVE THE REST OF US LOTS OF WARNING, so we can turn it off!!

I cannot believe the negative response here. News sources provide the public with ALL news both good and bad. I do not believe that news should be filtered because if it is, it is no longer the truth. And I would hate to know that Canadians are being fed news that is not only biased (which it would be because someone would be choosing which side of the story is the least offensive) but also full of holes where details should be. Be happy that news stations are offering a warning… and also appreciate that instead of shying away from risky news the Canadian media is risking ratings to deliver unfiltered news… which is what journalism is all about.

I am disturbed to see the coverage of the Robert Picton trial has been cut back. Not all of use feel the same way about the coverage. I for one want to see, hear and read good reporting. I need to stay informed. This is my way of dealing with these crimes. Information is power and I need to hear what is going on. Instead, once again I fear we are all sentenced to a 'cleaned up' version of the news instead of what we should be able to have, actual factual reporting.

I find it extremely disturbing to be constantly bombarded throughout the day with so called news of this trial. I do not feel the media should be involved or even allowed in the courtroom. How would you like to be one of the jury? News coverage is in the papers, on the radio, and on television. It seems to me that it will only be a matter of time before the jury ends up sequestered for the remainder of the trial. Can you imagine being kept away from your loved ones and all media for up to a year, perhaps even longer. I don't listen to the coverage by choice. I feel it would be psycologically damaging to have to listen to the gory details. Why does the media feel it is their right to publish such tripe? This is real life horror show. Leave the women who died, their parents, siblings, and children, with some dignity. It will be enough to know the results of the trial, be it guilt or innocence. Let the jury do their job without media influence so no one can cry mistrial. Leave the courts alone to do their assigned duties for the people of this country.

We turn to CBC for quality entertainment and enlightenment. We do not need to hear - every hour on the hour - the repeated sordid details of the endless courtroom saga that is going to drag on for ages. Please limit it to one particular broadcast a day and let anyone who needs more seek it out and read about it on your website.
And while on the topic of what we need to know, the same goes for the unfortunate case of the sextuplets. Please curb the temptation to repeatedly make public the personal trials and human tragedies.
Thank you. CBC is our lifeline. Please hold the standards high and respectful.

The media have a responibility to cover the news - granted - but too often the media gets caught up in the singular vision that sensationalism sells!
How often have we seen or heard the beginning of a news item and never the end, simply because the 'media' deems the details wouldn't sell?
Reporting the beginning and conclusion of a news item would, in my estimation, be more responsible reporting than every detail in between.
The public is not brainless and can search for more detail if they want it.
The public reaction to the Picton trial is a perfect illustration that sensationalism does not necessarliy sell!

Why must the CBC sanitize the news? Who gave you that right?
I agree that there is no need to sensationalize or drone on about the gore à la CNN, but don't hide the facts. Doing that only lets people draw their own conclusions, no matter if they are right or wrong (I am referring to a post wherein someone wrongfully stated Pickton confessed -he did no such thing. He agreed police found the women's bodies and DNA on his property, nothing more).
I doubt the outcry and backlash would be of the same nature if these victims were secretaries and school teachers instead of women who made some bad choices and had their lives cut short for them in such a horrific manner.
Do not muzzle their stories.

I don't know about everyone else but I remember all too well what the coverage of the Clifford Olsen case was like as I lived in Vancouver and I really don't want a repeat of that!
I'm not so squeamish that I cannot 'handle' the details but I don't think we all need to hear or read them. I appreciate that this site at least has separated the degree of detail. If you really want to know, you can find out but if you don't then just the facts will be sufficient for most.
Thank you.

You cover Pickton extensively, but ignore the ongoing killing of Canadians with sensitivities who are being unnecessarily killed in the health care system due, in part, to misconceptions promulgated by your own journalists.

You gave exceptional coverage to one man, Maher Arar, who was tortured for a year. However, you ignored the people with undiagnosed sensitivities that were supposed to be protected by measures Health Canada implemented prior to 1993, who are being killed daily.

Where's your balance?

When will you help end the injuries and deaths your sloppy reporting on sensitivities has contributed to?

I am a long-time, committed CBC radio listener. I grew up with CBC radio, and I always have it on. However, since the Pickton trial has started, it is too risky for me to even have it on. I simply can't take the chance that the news will come on and I will hear about the daily horrors that are uncovered in the courtroom - I can't handle it. This tragic situation is being dealt with in a court of law, as it should be, and I want to hear the verdict, but I'm not on the jury, and I simply can't bear the daily details.

See you in a year, CBC.

I find myself having nightmares of the scenes that are being described from the farm. I am especially horrified at having my alarm clock go off and hearing the grisly details of the case before I've even gotten up. I can't deal with it.

I want to be a well-informed citizen. I want to know what's happening in my city and province but this trial has put me on a news sabbatical. Tell me a DNA expert talked about the problems collecting samples, but don't tell me about people being skinned. I can find out more if I need it.

I think that the only thing more horrifying than knowing the "disturbing" details is living in a society that prefers euphemisms, denial, and ignorance over personal responsibility. Please, CBC, give me the news raw and unsweetened.

And in response to Mr. Hanlon's comment of January 23, nicely done.

I can understand people not wanting to see the atrocities committed by this freak.
However, one must wonder, would Willie have gotten away with this for as long as he did, had people NOT turned a blind eye to the issue to begin with?
This is but one *sad* issue people would rather not see.

I strongly believe that information on the pickton trail NEEDS to be provided to the public. Some people have a need tO hear a minmal amount of information on topics that causes them to struggle with their feeling, which are important. However i do not believe peoples discomfort with content broadcasted is NOT a reason to silence CBC from broad casting information that is informative and has potenial to change the strucures with in are cANADIAN systems due to how offended/viloated the general public feels/thinks. Must the public want to silence the names and face of women who have a right to life, identiy and dignity because a public a discomfort over information of the last moments of thier lives. The discomfort of any one person listening to information on the pickton trail details could use thier enerfy from thier discomfort to take action to change issues for womens safety in soctiey, instead of turing off the news. TAKE ACTION TOWARDS MAKING CHANGE IN SOCIETY AND NOT AVOIDING REALITY.

My sympathy goes out to all the families of these poor unfortunate victumes of this tragedy.

It’s true that people are going to be traumatized by the gruesome details revealed in this trial – in my opinion, the more traumatized the better. The women whose bodies were found on Pickton’s farm were more than just traumatized. They were murdered because we, as a society, have failed to deal with the deplorable conditions in which they eked out an existence. This trial has put the lives of sex workers in the downtown eastside in the headlines and minds of people around the world. If it takes something as horrendous as this to arouse discussion, so be it. Let’s not now turn our heads and fail to accept some measure of collective responsibility – to do so would be another tragedy altogether. Publish what happened so we know what can happen and we can stop it from happening again.

I think there should be complete access to the details for those who want to follow the trial. However these details should be accessible online or in other ways than the main newscasts. People who can't take the disgusting and horrible truths about this person and his crimes shouldn not have to have it forced on them.

I grew up in Port Coquitlam and remember riding my bike past the once picturesque back roads in and around the pig farm. Having no idea at the time what was only meters from where I once stood haunts me. People that don't want to hear about the realities of the world shouldn't have TV's or access to the web in there homes. Let's hear just how horrible it was rather than pretend something like this never happened. By the way, American syndicates are reporting what isn't being reported here. Do you really think our kids won't come across this story on the net? If you think they don't...think again.

Hi,
I am probably the only person working for my company that even remembers that this happened. Like a lot of other Canadians it's just much too "negative" so better to just forget what these poor girls went through for so long before anyone started to pay attention long enough to investigate. Are we ashamed as Canadians that something so horrific could happen in our "good" country? Personally I will read anything I can get on this and certainly not because I enjoy the gory details but they unfortunately are part of it. I can only hope we find the ones responsible as I, like many others I'm sure, am beginning to wonder about Mr. Pickton being the murderer; were there others? It's easy to forget the disenfranchised and people who have no real voice of their own to speak for themselves and who's really listening anyway? Having said that, media of course need to be sensitive to the survivors but censoring of all details as they are revealed, not re-hashing of them, should not be an option. We should never forget that this happened to so many simply because it offends some people.
Thanks for asking. Carol F.

I'd like to know everything about the picton trial.

Having read most comments on Pickton trail,I must shake my head.Most people dont want to hear about the gory details??? All I can say about those people,you are a well groomed WALT DISNEY generation (no gory details,no blood and guts,how brutal life realy is for animals and human alike!!!)So get your head out of the SAND because only your REAREND is exposed to real LIFE.What I cannot get over,is how the criminal "LOOPHOLE"hunters(DEFENCE LAYERS)getting very RICH from TAXPAYERS money, getting MUERDERS (scum)off the HOOK and can SLEEP at night!!!Well done CBC ,tell it the way it realy is.