Being a journalist…in training, one of the essential habits I need to develop is paying attention to the news. I’m working on it. When you do, you realise that there is a lot going on in the world, and it is fucking crazy.

One big thing that occurred was an issue dubbed “Ticketgate”. As you might be able to tell from the name, it was a political scandal.

It all started with a big announcement: Elton John is coming to Sudbury!!! One of two Canadian stops. Apparently he likes playing small venues. Me and my classmates first heard about it from our coordinator on The Cambrian Shield, Chris. One of my classmates, Shaun, was assigned to the story and Chris tried to get him an interview with the man himself…no such luck…apparently Elton don’t talk to the press. Chris tried mentioning that we were not mainstream media…and outing Shaun (he’s not actually gay, which is why it’s so goddamn funny), didn’t work. I guess one wouldn’t expect that to work, but at least he tried. I guess Elton had some bad experiences and he hates us now or something…just like Steven Harper.

But I digress. The journalist on the city hall beat for the Sudbury Star, Denis St. Pierre (I think that’s his name, I’m workin’ off of memory here), broke the story that after people waited outside in the freezing cold (this was in winter by the way) for several hours, some leaving empty handed because of how quickly they sold out, 100 tickets were reserved for city council members…I’ll repeat that…100 tickets were distributed among 13 people before being released to the general public…100…divided by 13…that’s a little under 8 tickets each. Continue reading →