Why we have FOMO because of FOVO
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- Published on Friday, 05 October 2018 11:40
- Written by editor
"We could become memes" is a legal argument now
When The Narwhal first learned that efforts were being made to keep a recording of Site C hearings from reaching the public, we were perplexed.
It was already unusual that a webcast version of the case was going to be made available online — court proceedings in B.C. are not usually filmed.
So it seemed unreal that — in today’s era of digital media — journalists were being denied the right to share and rebroadcast footage of court proceedings on the most expensive infrastructure project in B.C.’s history.
Carol Linnitt, managing editor of The Narwhal, decided to jump into the fray and actually wrote her first legal affidavit to submit to the B.C. Supreme Court (you can read that scintillating doc in this story).
“I could not believe lawyers for the federal and B.C. governments and BC Hydro were arguing that media should not be able to share snippets of the footage on Facebook or Twitter,” Linnitt said.
But here’s the thing, when asked what harm could come of allowing the hearings to be broadcast, a lawyer for the federal government argued he feared — get this — viral opportunities.
“We could become memes, if you’re aware of what memes are,” he laughed. “I’m just trying to think off the top of my head if you’ve seen videos of certain things being songified or raps being made.”
Here at The Narwhal, we’ve taken this opportunity to coin a new phrase: fear of viral opportunities, henceforth known as FOVO.
Well, that lawyer’s FOVO has become our FOMO (fear of missing out, as the kids say these days). Because the judge ultimately ruled that he’d allow CBC exclusive rights to rebroadcast the footage if CBC paid for half the estimated $30,000 livestream costs. CBC declined.
Read all about this modern era clustercuss in Sarah Cox’s raucous story.
Read on for more of this week's top stories.
Emma Gilchrist
Editor-in-Chief, The Narwhal
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