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NDP polls Soo on MCTV cuts

Two months after MCTV's cutbacks at its northern news bureaus, Soo MPP Tony Martin says it's time to find out what the community thinks. Speaking at a news conference Monday morning at his Sault Ste.
TonyMartin

Two months after MCTV's cutbacks at its northern news bureaus, Soo MPP Tony Martin says it's time to find out what the community thinks.

Speaking at a news conference Monday morning at his Sault Ste. Marie constituency office, Martin announced an Internet poll aimed at determining public opinion about MCTV's retooled news format.

"Bell Globemedia promised Northerners that deep cuts to MCTV's northern news bureaus would improve service. Have they?" Martin inquired. "I say we we put that question to the people and let them have the final say."

At times during the conference (see photo above), Martin helpfully handled a microphone for an MCTV videographer in attendance.

He told reporters that MCTV continues to show up every time he calls a news conference, but his Soo constituents complain about the quality of local coverage.

The poll is on the website of Gilles Bisson, MPP for Timmins-James Bay and the NDP's northern issues critic.

Under the headline "Help save news programming in the North," poll participants are asked five questions:

- Has MCTV's local news coverage become better or worse since the cuts?

- Has MCTV's local sports coverage become better or worse since the cut

- Has MCTV's commitment to public service announcements become better or worse since the cuts?

- Do you watch MCTV News more or less since the cuts?

- Has the closure of our local station changed your opinion of CTV and its commitment to local programming? Yes or no?

Martin is also distributing a print version of the survey to Soo businesses.

Voting continues until Feb. 17, after which results will be tabulated and released to the public.

Copies of the poll results will also be sent to MCTV, Bell Globemedia, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, and to Heritage Minister Sheila Copps.

To vote in the NDP poll, go to: www.ontariondp.on.ca/mctvsurvey

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David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
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