Frances Bula header image 2

The media storm over homelessness and Downtown Eastside never happened. What now?

March 5th, 2010 · 33 Comments

For years before the Olympics arrived, we routinely saw commentators warning that when the media arrived here and saw the scene on the Downtown Eastside and the homelessness situation, there would be a firestorm of negative coverage.

That never happened. There was the odd piece here and there in the bigger newspapers, but it never really picked up steam. It just became one of the deck of predictable stories that media outlets did about Vancouver. The great restaurants? Check. Vancouverism? Check. Downtown Eastside and homelessness? Check.

There was coverage of the tent city camp and the various protests, but except for the window-smashing at the Bay on the Saturday after opening ceremonies, it was pretty perfunctory.

I talked to some of the usual suspects about why they think that was and what that means for the future.

Categories: Uncategorized