Who owns the Parliament buildings?  
Who owns the space in it? 
And who gets to give media credentials to an MP?

Halton MP Garth Turner, who is not shy with words, has been running a fairly popular vid-blog (video blog) for his constituents along with his text blog. The vid-blog is called MPtv. The two times I’ve chosen to watch it, it’s been really interesting, timely and gave me the information I wanted.

Now it appears someone in the Parliamentary Press Gallery has taken exception to the concept. I suppose the Gallery doesn’t want every Tom, Dick, Harry, Jacque and Pierre with a blog and video camera romping around Parliament Hill and press conferences. But then again, every Tom, Dick, Harry, Jacque and Pierre probably doesn’t care to romp around Parliament Hill and blog about it. I doubt Tom Dick, Harry, Jacque and Pierre have 70 thousand dollars to throw into video blogging anyway.

I think it would be great if my MP was this innovative, but he isn’t, and I doubt the 303 307 other MP’s in the House are likely to be either. 
I do have a problem shutting out the one who is.

This complaint falls under the jurisdiction of the Speaker. I don’t see any point in writing him (Peter Milliken) until he makes a decision.
There has been a case regarding a blogger, police and the legislature etc. in NB (the judge dropped the charges) 

It’s inevitable, and someone has to break the mold. Debates about old/new/citizen/traditional media can go on forever. Here is how Garth Turner sees it:

At the McVety media conflab this morning, our MPtv guy tried to ask a question along with all the other reporters, and was shut down (very rudely, I might add) by the press gallery poohbah running the show. Not content with embarrassing us in front of the national media, the gallery guys then threatened to kick us out of the scrum area in front of the House of Commons – you know, where the MPs stream out after QP.

In fact, a week ago I was doing a standup in the foyer and was asked by the Parliamentary Press Gallery president to move along. He suggested we relocate our operation into an area full of coat racks down the hall. Yeah, coat racks. Now, I am told, the same media meanie is writing to the Speaker of the House to have us blackballed.

Hey, maybe the people who populate Parliament just don’t know how to handle us. Maybe the MSM guys are nervous about the power of the web, the unfiltered nature of this broadcasting and the potential of this content. Maybe the whole damn place just doesn’t like this effort of mine to take you as deep inside our political system as possible. Maybe it’s the awesome power of two middle-aged guys with a second-hand camera, some used TV lights and an old-fashioned microphone with two yards of black wire attached.

MPtv - Charles McVety; Defend Marriage Canada, Joseph Ben-Ami; Insititute for Canadian Values The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada Public Policy Director Doug Cryer
Media and the Prime Minister - background