The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 9, 1983, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and annran Wi igu m u A)n.d-. .--- ,.. . iblished every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, whitby. ()nt. P.O. Box 206, Whitby, ont. Registratoon No. 5351 LESLIE BUTLER Community Editor ELIZABETH NOZDRYN - Advertising Manager second class Mail Registration No. 5351 Sexual vio lence iss ue was spirited away in the night The silence which has accompanied .pay tele- vision's Playboy debut turns out to be the biggest anticlimax since Pierre Trudeau's re-election in 1980. What has happened to ail the spitting and gnashing of teeth that preceded the airing of the Playboy series on Canadian pay TV? Have ail the opponents just given up the ghost now that the thing Is a "fait accompli"? Or is It a case of they're now realizing it was a big to do about noth- lng? But it lsn't likely that the vehement opponents of televised sex have been beaten down so easily. What is far more likely, is that the news media now consider the issue stale. There is an esoteric term peculiar to women's institutes and journalism schools called "agenda setting". In journalistic terms, agenda setting (also called gatekeeping) is the process by which raw news events are filtered through the news- gathering bureaucracles down to the final product that the masses gobble up like so many news gluttons. (At least that's the way the news barons would like to view this apparently insatiable appe- tite.) Agenda setting determines what the public news mentality is. From the cigarette smoking editors in the upper echelons of the business (the news services: Canadian Press, Associated Press, Reuters) through the middle echelons (the daily newspapers) and right down to the community newspapers, the public news agenda ls set on the whims and wisdom of editors and reporters. There's nothing deader to an editor than yester- day's news. The Playboy series and the related issue of sex and violence in the mass media has apparently been laid to rest without a backward glance. What was for one brief moment so vital and volatile an issue is gone, literally ovèr night. Ob- viously the issue has not been resolved, and yet because the news media have dropped it like a hot potato, we somehow feel It has been resolved. The point is, Canadians should seriously ques- tion how their view of the world, their country and their community is affected by this "agenda set- ting". We may trust that the information we are getting is accurate, but what about the informa- tion we never get because sorleone doesn't con- sider it newsworthy? The ongoing issue of sexual violence in the media will die a natural death until it is resurrect- ed by another "breaking" news event that the will pounce upon. In the words of Peter Trueman, that's not news, but that too is reality. but that too is reality. LETTERS TO THEEDITOR By-law doesn't reflect needs: resident Dear Sir: Speaking as a tenant on Cochrane Street, I can honest- ly say that the pro- perty I rent is as well kept and clean (if not better) as any of my neigh- bours' regardless of the number of peo- ple living in a build- ing. If you do not believe this, I welcome you to see for yourself. I do not see why it is NOW so import- ant "to get them (the people) out" of decent housing when living acco- mmodations are so hard to find. I am not "just about any- body" but rather I am "somebody" who is a good per- son just like my neighbours. This is why I chose to live in this area. People should not be judged on generalities but rather individually. They should be judged on facts and not feelings. People being found guilty before they are tried is what is making a "laughing stock of our system". Laws were made * to meet the needs of we the people. Obviously this zoning by-law should be amended to meet the needs of this changing world. I believe that in sone instances people are forced to be "just about any- body" because they are openly told they are not welcome in a neighbourhood because "gener- ally" people like you are bad and we want to "get you out". They are for- ced to live any- where they can whether It be in a car under bridges or in a parking garage. If people have to live like this and have no choice, I can see how they would feel like a no- body and act ac- cordingly. Is this what peo- ple really want to happen in their town? I certainly hope not because it would lead to your own defeat in having a nice place to live. I think if people are given half a chance and treated as equals, they will act accordingly and take pride in who they are - just like you and me. Audra DeCarlo, 513 Cochrane St., Whitby. Thanks to Durham police Dear Sir: I would like to take this opportuni- ty to express my sincere apprecia- tion to the Durham Regional police for their moral support and reassuring manner when I lost my 3-year-old son for several hours on Dec. 13, 1982. I was shopping at Miracle Food Mart in Whitby when my 3-year-old decided The Whitby Free Press welcomes its readers to express their views In our edi. torial section. All letters must be signed and malled or dropped off at the Whitby Free Press, 131 Brock Street North, Whit- by, Ontario, L1N 5S1. to wander. Through the com- bined efforts of our police force, my son was finally located, safe and sound, at the White Oaks apartment complex. Again, my grati- tude cannot be ex- pressed enough. Sincerely, Mrs. B. Fowler, Whitby. lppqri aloru uy vynituy resiaents for Whîtby residents. m m