Pubdate: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 Source: Surrey Now (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc., A Canwest Company Contact: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/crackass MASSIVE MANIPULATION OF MEDIA HURTS CAUSE To all our readers: We apologize. On Wednesday, we brought you a story about Surrey man Marko Perkovic (if that's really his last name) making an apparent documentary called Crackass: The Surrey Movie. Perkovic claims the movie, highlighting Surrey's drug problems, will be released in September. He still claims this is true. However, at least one part of this story wasn't real. Guildford resident Jim Eaton was a fabrication, according to Perkovic. Eaton is actually an old friend of Perkovic's, apparently, and was cast in the role of antagonist in order to create media hype prior to the film's release. This character also appeared in a handful of television newscasts, in the Province and on the Bill Good Show. Perkovic told one reporter he's come forward with this information because he feels badly. He told another reporter he wants to create further hype. So which is it? If it's hype he wants, we would like nothing better than to ignore him completely. But readers of this newspaper and others, television viewers and radio listeners need to know that Perkovic is a scammer. And he's doing absolutely nothing to fix the city's drug problems. Anyone who sees this movie, if there is a movie, will wonder if they're watching actors for whom Perkovic bought lunch, or real addicts with real problems that need real solutions. We don't know how much of what Perkovic says is true. One thing's for sure: We know who puts the ass in Crackass. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin