Calgarian Arthur Kent has won yet another battle against big media, this time settling the suit that he launched against Universal Studios earlier this year for unauthorized use of his voice and images in the movie Charlie Wilson's War. Earlier in his career as a journalist, he sued and later settled with NBC over the network's refusal to air his stories about the worsening situation in Afghanistan in the early 1990's. He went on to chronicle the experience in a book titled Risk and Redemption.
Kent, who earned his nickname by reporting from the 1991 Gulf War conflict with Scud Missiles firing in the background, tried his hand at politics earlier this year. His campaign ran into trouble, however, when Premier Ed Stelmach canceled an appearance at a campaign breakfast for Kent. That set off a firestorm of criticism, with Kent firing off most of the shots. The Calgary-Currie riding, which has acted as Alberta's protest vote against the provincial government's rural-partisan agenda, was going to be a tough race for the PCs regardless. In the end, Kent might have been more successful had he run against Stelmach.
But no matter - I have a feeling this isn't the last we've seen of Arthur Kent. It's also no surprise that Kent works best without a boss. He continues to report through his site, SkyReporter, and we find him from time to time hanging out at local barcamps. Stay tuned for more.
Big media is good!
Posted by: steveballmer | September 30, 2008 at 06:45 PM