{"id":13789,"date":"2016-08-27T20:32:01","date_gmt":"2016-08-28T00:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/?p=13789"},"modified":"2016-08-27T22:00:48","modified_gmt":"2016-08-28T02:00:48","slug":"who-is-brent-stafford-what-is-regulator-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/archives\/13789","title":{"rendered":"WHO IS BRENT STAFFORD &#038; WHAT IS REGULATOR WATCH?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been interviewed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/shakyegg?fref=ts\" target=\"_blank\">Brent<\/a> in the past. \u00a0I remember the first time I met him, he came up to me at an event and shoved a mic in my face. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42 \u00a0I had no idea who this guy was and I typically don&#8217;t like to do interviews like this because you never know how the interview will be spun and if the interviewer is pro vaping or not. \u00a0(remember how Samantha Bee made us look on Full Frontal?) A couple nods of approval from the folks around me got me talking and I was instantly impressed by the professionalism, mannerism, and questions being presented.<br \/>\nRecently, he interviewed me again for his Canada based online program called &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/regulatorwatch.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Regulator Watch<\/a>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s the latest interview:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/180395563\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Before I go any further, hey Mitch&#8230; is THIS what you call &#8220;sensible &amp; reasonable&#8221;? \u00a0AH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAA HAA HAAA HAAAAAA. \u00a0Oh my God, my side hurts. \u00a0Your &#8220;protecting the public&#8221; with the &#8220;sensible &amp; reasonable&#8221; (I still can&#8217;t stop laughing) regulation is going to create a WILDLY\u00a0UNSAFE black market (You want to talk about wild wild west? \u00a0Get ready!), drive a percentage of vapers back to smoking, and prevent many smokers from discovering vaping in the first place&#8230; not to mention the American jobs and businesses that will come to an end. \u00a0So much for &#8220;protecting the public&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Ok, sorry&#8230; back to Brent&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Brent has a unique style and is a true pro&#8230; you go through the interview with him and he later transcribes everything, looks for the most pertinent responses and he&#8217;ll re-record himself asking more concise\u00a0questions and then use the original interview responses.<\/p>\n<p>I wanted to know more about Brent, where he came from, why he does what he does and share it all with you, especially since he&#8217;s COMING TO THE US!!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><em><strong>RegulatorWatch.com is launching dedicated U.S. vaping coverage this fall<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13794\" src=\"http:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/U.S.-COVERAGE_IMAGE_REGWATCH-YT.FINAL_.jpg\" alt=\"U.S. COVERAGE_IMAGE_REGWATCH (YT).FINAL\" width=\"485\" height=\"353\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/U.S.-COVERAGE_IMAGE_REGWATCH-YT.FINAL_.jpg 797w, https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/U.S.-COVERAGE_IMAGE_REGWATCH-YT.FINAL_-300x219.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/U.S.-COVERAGE_IMAGE_REGWATCH-YT.FINAL_-768x560.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I\u00a0sincerely believe he can help our cause. \u00a0At this point, we need all the help we can get.<\/p>\n<p>First, let&#8217;s learn more about &#8220;Regulator Watch&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>RegWatch is the only broadcast quality television news show covering the issues, controversies and impacts of vaping regulations from a pro-vaping point-of-view<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>RegWatch has made a real impact landing exclusive interviews with top scientists and researchers, leading vaping advocates and industry trailblazers. Our content is seen by government, politicians and public health officials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>In under a year, we&#8217;ve produced dozens of videos covering issues on vaping: the science, legal &amp; legislative, advocacy &amp; action, industry &amp; stakeholders and the battle to ban the vape.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><em><strong>With well over a million video views on facebook, we are officially launching our YouTube channel dedicated to our American audience.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>We need your help to get this vitally important vaping coverage out to the U.S. audience. Please head to our channel, watch, learn, subscribe and share our vaping videos.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/regulatorwatchtv\" target=\"_blank\">www.youtube.com\/RegulatorWatchTV<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>RegWatch is the only pro-vaping media outlet that Facebook and YouTube allows to advertise and promote content. Why? Because we are a true news media outlet. This is HUGE! We can and do reach people outside of the vaping community with our paid promotions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>We have some incredible U.S. focused content lined up, starting with a feature interview with Phil Busardo (coming this week) and an exclusive two-part series with Dr. Stanton Glantz, the man who beat big tobacco and then turned his ire towards vaping! And, more is on the way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Viewers can help us make this possible by supporting videos and promotions on YouTube and Facebook through a donation at: <a href=\"https:\/\/regulatorwatch.com\/regwatch-donate\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/regulatorwatch.com\/regwatch-donate\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>DONATED! Thank you Brent and keep it up!<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>RegWatch is created and produced by Brent Stafford. He is a 25-year veteran television news broadcaster that got fed up with the constraints of so-called &#8220;objective&#8221; news. He produces fact-based, incisive content that intends to counteract the misinformation promoted by the mainstream media.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Maybe at some point I&#8217;ll get to video interview the interviewer, but until then, here&#8217;s some more information for you about Brent himself and how Regulator Watch came into existence:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I&#8217;m 46, and born and bred in Vancouver B.C. True BC kid. Was called a surfer dude\u00a0until almost 30. Got lucky and started making television in high school in the mid\u00a080&#8217;s. When the first consumer cameras came out. I was a total creative nerd, yes\u00a0they exist. I was a drummer in a rock band, played live shows etc\u2026 But also ran\u00a0around my high school with a video camera and shot a video yearbook my senior year\u00a0and sold it to students. Made 5 grand! Was a total computer nut (nerd). I had an\u00a0Apple II+ when it was brand new (I&#8217;m old) and shot my first TV show when I was 15 was\u00a0called &#8220;Let&#8217;s Talk Computers&#8221; in 1985. My mom would drive me to the local cable\u00a0station and I hosted a three camera live show (huge nerd). Was lucky after high\u00a0school to get a job at a CBC-TV affiliate (think NBC affiliate) and I started in the\u00a0studio operating the camera and the teleprompter. Within a couple of years I was out in\u00a0the community shooting news (called ENG &#8211; electronic news gathering) and doing my\u00a0own interviews. I would bring back the footage, write the story and edit it. Often I\u00a0was the only person that touched a story from start to finish.<\/p>\n<p>For 7 years I worked the daily television news grind. Shot, wrote, reported and\u00a0edited news. I&#8217;ve hung out of helicopters, been in the middle of forest fires, shot\u00a0footage from a hot air balloon as we crashed and have been shot at while filming at\u00a0a hostage scene. Oh, been in 4 world class riots 2 of them the Stanley Cup riots and\u00a0was live on the air for one of them. \u263a And, I&#8217;ve interviewed several Prime Ministers\u00a0of Canada and managed to get a response from Bill Clinton in a media scrum on one of\u00a0his trips to Vancouver in the 90&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p>By 1995 I was fully set into my career in broadcast news. But I was missing\u00a0something, an education. Since I started in news out of high school I felt that I\u00a0needed better grounding. So I went to university and in 3.75 years I did an\u00a0undergrad AND graduate degree in advanced communications theory. My Master&#8217;s thesis\u00a0was a book and documentary called &#8220;Insert Coin: The Culture of Video Game Play&#8221;.\u00a0Yes, my grad work was on video games (nerd). Up until about 5 years ago I was still\u00a0one of the leading North American experts on video game and their impact on our\u00a0culture.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/shakyegg.com\/videogames\/insert-coin-biography\/insert-coin-biography.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/shakyegg.com\/videogames\/insert-coin-biography\/insert-coin-biography.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I finished my MA and started my marketing\/media company Shaky Egg Communications. I\u00a0moved to Los Angeles and went into the world of branded entertainment. Quite\u00a0literally when you see Star Wars or Lord of the Rings on a can of Pringles that&#8217;s my\u00a0deal:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/brentstafford.com\/pringles\/pringles-star-wars\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/brentstafford.com\/pringles\/pringles-star-wars\/<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/brentstafford.com\/pringles\/pringles-lord-of-the-rings\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/brentstafford.com\/pringles\/pringles-lord-of-the-rings\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve also done North American brand deals with the Super Bowl, Daytona 500, the\u00a0GRAMMYs. I also did the brand deal that launched the G4-TV television network. Whew!<\/p>\n<p>Then, the U.S. burned me out. Lol. There is only so much red carpet access a man can\u00a0take before a trip to Betty Ford becomes a priority lol.<\/p>\n<p>Moved back to Vancouver and said ok, I need to get back into creating content not\u00a0just doing deals. I dove back into the hands-on. I taught film and television\u00a0production for 6 years while working in the .com world. I slowly started investing\u00a0in my own broadcast gear. Then my own studio, then started making my own passion\u00a0projects. Under my own terms.<\/p>\n<p>I created a series call &#8220;Aftermath of Murder Survivor Stories&#8221;. It was a two-year\u00a0project that had me doing sit-down interviews with people who have lost loved ones\u00a0to murder.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aftermathofmurder.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.aftermathofmurder.ca\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve interviewed family members from the biggest murder stories in Canada. The worst\u00a0of them. The goal was to bridge the way mainstream media covers murders into new way\u00a0that honoured the experience of the survivors.<\/p>\n<p><em>From there, I built RegWatch. With a similar purpose. In that, the mainstream media\u00a0(which I have been a part of for so long) had lost any claim to objectivity or truth\u00a0for that matter. It is as you know all biased. And it&#8217;s always been biased. And I\u00a0felt so strongly that the very tenant of objectivity in news is THE problem. It&#8217;s a\u00a0myth. There is no such thing as objectivity and we would all be better off if the\u00a0veil was stripped away and media was upfront about their bias. Bias isn&#8217;t bad,\u00a0pretending that there is no bias is bad. It&#8217;s destructive. You can be fact-based and\u00a0still acknowledge bias. So RegWatch is upfront with the audience. We are probably\u00a0one of the only news organizations that publishes our news values. If you want to\u00a0know why we cover some stories and not others. Or why we are say pro resource\u00a0development over saving the little fishy&#8217;s in the stream, you can find out on our\u00a0out page:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/regulatorwatch.com\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/regulatorwatch.com\/about-us\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>When it comes to vaping, it&#8217;s simple. Government should not be allowed to infringe\u00a0on an individual&#8217;s liberties unless it can be proven that their actions causes\u00a0serious harm to others. If you can&#8217;t then you can&#8217;t ban it. We all have the right to\u00a0put whatever we want in our bodies. We all have a right to manage our own health and\u00a0make our own choices. So when the bans started happening and the excuse was well we\u00a0don&#8217;t know but just to be safe we are banning it. Well that got me pissed off. I\u00a0have a weekly political column in a top paper in Vancouver and I started writing\u00a0about it. When RegWatch was up and running I sought out people in the industry and\u00a0began covering it. <a href=\"http:\/\/premiumlabs.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\">Premium Labs<\/a> and the <a href=\"http:\/\/canadianvapingassociation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Canadian Vaping Association<\/a> are our top\u00a0Canadian supporters. <a href=\"http:\/\/flavourart.com\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\">FlavourArt<\/a> is coming on for the U.S. and we are looking for one\u00a0more.<\/p>\n<p>Whew! Hope that wasn&#8217;t too much.<\/p>\n<p>I almost feel like I was just at a counselling session.<\/p>\n<p>Cheers<\/p>\n<p>b\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Here&#8217;s all of Brent&#8217;s information again should you want to contact him:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ca.linkedin.com\/in\/shakyegg\" target=\"_blank\">Linked In<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/shakyegg\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC1oVxQf3SyK3YC9_n1e1Jwg\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/regulatorwatch.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Regulator Watch Website<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/brentstafford.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Brent Stafford Website<\/a> (work in progress)<\/p>\n<p>Thanks very much for the information and a look at where Brent comes from! \u00a0I sincerely appreciate what you&#8217;re doing and look forward to having you as a resource to spread the truth here in the US as well.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;oh, and if the counseling session helped at all, I&#8217;ll sent you my Paypal address!<br \/>\nRock on you Old Surfer Dude Nerd! \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>THANK YOU BRENT!!<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/dot.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Reddit\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"WHO%20IS%20BRENT%20STAFFORD%20%26%20WHAT%20IS%20REGULATOR%20WATCH%3F\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been interviewed by Brent in the past. \u00a0I remember the first time I met him, he came up to me at an event and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent_news","wpcat-15-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tasteyourjuice.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}