People Vote For A Rex Change And His Name is Humberto DaSilva

rabble.ca "not Rex Murphy" contest winner creating an alternative commentary.

TORONTO, March 23 /CNW/ - rabble.ca visitors have spoken and elected union activist Humberto DaSilva as the winner of the "Not Rex Murphy" contest. The contest was launched to provide some balancing voices to Rex Murphy's contribution to CBC's The National and to have fun while raising serious issues.

Mr. DaSilva is a union representative and a writer born and bred in Toronto. His first video commentary, Greek Shock (http://tiny.cc/SoZGW), can be found on rabbletv (http://www.rabble.ca/rabbletv) and explores how the debt crisis in Greece is connected to Wall Street, which has been profiting from Greek debt for years.

"Being selected to be Not Rex Murphy is an honour and a therapy for me," said DaSilva. "I'm honoured that real people voted for me as an alternative to Rex's retrograde commentary. It's therapeutic to have a safety valve for stress that builds up from right-wing drivel and uncritical journalism that pollutes the ostensibly public airwaves."

"The response to the contest was fantastic," said Kim Elliott, rabble publisher. "We had great applications, lots of people checking out the application videos and voting, as well as a lot of activity on Twitter and a Facebook fan club. Clearly this contest has struck a chord with people that want to hear more diverse views on The National."

Judges for the contest were new-media journalist, consultant, video podcaster and web 2.0 guru Amber MacArthur, journalist, broadcaster, author and rabble guest senior contributing editor Murray Dobbin, rabbletv coordinator Tor Sandberg, rabble director of emerging technology Wayne MacPhail and rabble publisher Kim Elliott. Judges narrowed down the applicants and visitors voted for the final winner.

Humberto DaSilva's next commentary will appear on rabble.ca on March 25th.

rabble.ca is Canada's most popular source of independent news and views, and features original news, opinion, book reviews, podcasts and live and pre-recorded video exploring issues facing Canadians. rabble.ca is in its 9th year of providing 100% free news content to Canadians. rabble is a non-profit, community-supported organization.

For further information: Kim Elliott, rabble.ca, Publisher, [phone]; Wayne MacPhail, Director of Emerging Media, [phone], [email protected]; Murray Dobbin, rabble.ca, Contributing Senior Editor, [phone]