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Sunday, December 18, 2022

Links - 18th December 2022 (2 - CBC Media Bias)

Canada's establishment media reveals its bias again | The Post Millennial - "The Canadian Press Gallery has revealed its partisanship again today. They refused to create a mandatory disclosure for their federal grants and subsidies that they sought from the Trudeau government. Blacklock's Reporter sponsored the motion that would've forced these outlets to become more transparent with the Canadian people, but they naturally rejected this. Democracy may die in darkness, but our establishment media thrives... Before the invention of the internet, the Canadian Press Gallery would become misty-eyed at the mere thought of journalistic independence. Yet, as soon as Canadians could get their news from elsewhere, they saw no issue in taking millions from a program that only the Liberal Party supports. In other words, Canada's mainstream media now has a direct conflict of interest when they report on Canadian politics. Their jobs may not survive a Conservative victory."

CBC Watch: Anti-Israel activists masquerading as journalists should get off the tax-funded payroll - "Watch out, Al Jazeera, the CBC is on your turf. When it comes to presenting a particularly one-sided view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the controversial Qatari network will have to work to keep up with the platoon of CBC activis… er, journalists, who think their taxpayer-funded network (and all news organizations) must become even more negative toward Israel than they already are... Beyond the shrill and direct attacks on Israel for being guilty of “violence against innocent civilians and children” and Palestinian “dispossession”, along with a wild stab at trying to make a Semitic conflict into something about “state sanctioned racism,” the letter is about what you would expect from the wokest activists working in journalism today: nods to diversity, the “impact of colonialism,” and the obligatory Newspeak.   On covering “issues of human rights” with more “diversity and nuance” in the wake of George Floyd and other racial issues, the Young Pioneers assert, “The work has just started.” Clearly. And while claiming that the Middle East situation is not, and should not be presented as “complicated” — since it’s plain to see how guilty Israel is — the letter-signers also demand “historical and social context.” But how much? Do we start with the 1917 Balfour Declaration, where Britain first supported renewed Jewish statehood in Palestine? The 1920 Jerusalem riots? The 1929 Hebron Massacre? Or perhaps the Arab League’s 1967 Khartoum Declaration, with its emphatic Three Nos: “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it”? Rather than nuance, the text smacks of sophomoric simplicity.   These casual observers, steeped in the percolating leftism of journalism faculties, apply the Marx-lite, oppressor-oppressed narrative as easily to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as they do to everything else. Of course, to be fair, if you have upwards of 8,000 employees, as the CBC does, some are bound to do or say some wacky things. Amongst several notable cases, long-time radio host Michael Enright once referred to the Catholic Church as “the greatest criminal organization outside the mafia.” Little nuance there. And CBC Radio One news was always good for a few items on Nicaraguan agricultural yields or the zany antics of the Castro brothers... CBC employees who signed the open letter eventually complained to Vice news that they “were advised that they could no longer cover the (Israeli-Palestinian) issue because they signed it.” One asserted that they had signed to protest “a concerted effort within Canadian media to ‘both sides’ the conflict, despite the disproportionate power dynamics favouring Israel.” Telling both sides of a story is simply not the way it’s done in the new world of activist-journalism.   To the chagrin of some CBC staff, management appears to have been stirred into action by the kerfuffle. Vice quoted a CBC spokesman as saying that “confidential conversations” occurred with staff who signed the open letter “better (to) understand their thinking and to help them understand the impact and implications of their actions.” The CBC apparently recognizes that the journalists took “a public stand” that “has created the perception of a conflict of interest among some members of our audience.” No kidding. Despite the talking to, letter signers were reportedly not disciplined. Sources within the CBC alleged to the National Post that a couple of letter-signers even continued to be involved in overseeing coverage of Gaza afterward, despite what Vice reported...   As Gaza violence flares up again, CBC’s coverage may again be under the microscope. If their staff can’t take the heat, maybe Al Jazeera is hiring. Activist-journalists fully liberated to go after Israel, and shrinking the tax-funded payroll: That’s a win-win."

CBC journalist appears to celebrate news that Trudeau's Liberals are in 'majority territory' thanks to pandemic | The Post Millennial - "In a bizarre tweet on Thursday, CBC journalist Rosemary Barton exclaimed "Huzzah!" in response to the news that Trudeau's Liberal Party has surged in polls due to the coronavirus pandemic... Barton has  been at the centre of other controversies regarding her bias. She famously took a selfie with Justin Trudeau that was roundly mocked around the country, and she was a plaintiff in a lawsuit by the CBC against the Conservative Party during the last election."

CBC features author who writes about blowing up and gassing white people during 'race war' | The Post Millennial - "Ben Philippe appeared on Q where he discussed his newest book and racial issues in North America."

CBC cancels Alexander Graham Bell for teaching deaf kids how to communicate - "The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) published an article on Sunday accusing Alexander Graham Bell of trying to "assimilate" deaf kids by teaching oralism, a method which looks to teach deaf people to communicate with lip-reading and speaking rather than sign language... The great-great-grandson of Bell, Jim Grosvenor Watson, who works as an auditory-verbal therapist in the field of deaf education, slammed Booth for "cherry picking" facts from historical documents to back circulating theories on Bell... Watson advocated for the success of those that learned spoken language with the aid of cochlear implants, which are implanted into the inner ear and require extensive training to interpret spoken language. The group that used the implants and learned spoken language "had not only greater speech recognition and skill with spoken language, but also reading, compared to the group who solely used sign language""

CBC embarrasses itself with bizarre column by woman afraid of white voters | The Post Millennial - "An article written by an Elections Canada info officer was edited by the CBC in wake of receiving massive backlash, after author Zeahaa Rehman wrote that she lived in fear of white voters potentially hating her because she is of Muslim faith. In the article, Rehman writes that she had an interaction with an elderly white woman with a walker, with whom she had a pleasant experience with—but was struck by fear when she remembered that this old woman could, potentially, be a vehement racist... Rehman continues on to acknowledge that though this view of the world is "unhealthy," the fact that she is a visible Muslim and a South Asian woman means she sometimes needs to worry about being hated... Later, the article would be stealth edited, with Rehman's comments tweaked by the CBC"

Tara Henley: Why I quit the CBC - "For months now, I’ve been getting complaints about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where I’ve worked as a TV and radio producer, and occasional on-air columnist, for much of the past decade. People want to know why, for example, non-binary Filipinos concerned about a lack of LGBT terms in Tagalog is an editorial priority for the CBC, when local issues of broad concern go unreported. Or why our pop culture radio show’s coverage of the Dave Chappelle Netflix special failed to include any of the legions of fans, or comics, that did not find it offensive. Or why, exactly, taxpayers should be funding articles that scold Canadians for using words such as “brainstorm” and “lame.” Everyone asks the same thing: What is going on at the CBC?  When I started at the national public broadcaster in 2013, the network produced some of the best journalism in the country. By the time I resigned last month, it embodied some of the worst trends in mainstream media. In a short period of time, the CBC went from being a trusted source of news to churning out clickbait that reads like a parody of the student press. Those of us on the inside know just how swiftly — and how dramatically — the politics of the public broadcaster have shifted. It used to be that I was the one furthest to the left in any newsroom, occasionally causing strain in story meetings with my views on issues like the housing crisis. I am now easily the most conservative, frequently sparking tension by questioning identity politics. This happened in the span of about 18 months. My own politics did not change. To work at the CBC in the current climate is to embrace cognitive dissonance and to abandon journalistic integrity.   It is to sign on, enthusiastically, to a radical political agenda that originated on Ivy League campuses in the United States and spread through American social media platforms that monetize outrage and stoke societal divisions. It is to pretend that the “woke” worldview is near universal — even if it is far from popular with those you know, and speak to, and interview, and read. To work at the CBC now is to accept the idea that race is the most significant thing about a person, and that some races are more relevant to the public conversation than others. It is, in my newsroom, to fill out racial profile forms for every guest you book; to actively book more people of some races and less of others. To work at the CBC is to submit to job interviews that are not about qualifications or experience — but instead demand the parroting of orthodoxies, the demonstration of fealty to dogma.  It is to become less adversarial to government and corporations and more hostile to ordinary people with ideas that Twitter doesn’t like. It is to endlessly document microaggressions but pay little attention to evictions; to spotlight company’s political platitudes but have little interest in wages or working conditions. It is to allow sweeping societal changes like lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and school closures to roll out — with little debate. To see billionaires amass extraordinary wealth and bureaucrats amass enormous power — with little scrutiny. And to watch the most vulnerable among us die of drug overdoses — with little comment.  It is to consent to the idea that a growing list of subjects are off the table, that dialogue itself can be harmful. That the big issues of our time are all already settled.  It is to capitulate to certainty, to shut down critical thinking, to stamp out curiosity. To keep one’s mouth shut, to not ask questions, to not rock the boat. This, while the world burns.  How could good journalism possibly be done under such conditions? How could any of this possibly be healthy for society?  All of this raises larger questions about the direction that North America is headed...   I have been a journalist for 20 years"
Another whistleblower the left hates

GOLDSTEIN: Former CBC journalist lowers boom on its 'radical agenda' | Toronto Sun - "Henley’s complaints about the CBC have been made by conservative critics for decades. What’s different is a former CBC employee who says she’s on the political left is saying it...   Many CBC critics will not agree with Henley’s argument that when she joined it in 2013, “the network produced some of the best journalism in the country” and only recently has gone from being, “a trusted source of news, to churning out clickbait that reads like a parody for the student press.” Many would argue the CBC has been biased in favour of the federal Liberals for decades."

BREAKING: CBC producer quits, slams woke broadcaster for failing to cover issues important to Canadians | The Post Millennial - "Henley isn't the only one who has sounded the alarms over CBC's content. In an October interview with The Globe and Mail, longtime broadcaster Peter Mansbridge gave insight on where his old network has fallen short in recent times."

Jesse Kline: CBC's 18 words you can't say is the dumbest thing I've ever heard - "Top of the list: anything that includes the root word “black.” According to the CBC’s “readers and some of our journalists who are Black, Indigenous and people of colour,” words like “blackmail” and phrases like “black sheep” should be placed on the proverbial blacklist — except we can’t use that term, either. Never mind that the origins of these words don’t have anything to do with Black people. “Blackmail,” for example, originated in 16th-century Scotland, when those living on the border with England were often forced to pay money in order to avoid being raided and pillaged. Legitimate rent was paid in silver, also referred to as “white rent” or “white money,” whereas the bribes were often paid in goods or services, hence the opposite term “black rent.”  Likewise, the phrase “black sheep” simply refers to the less-common sheep with black wool, which stick out in a herd of white ones. It has nothing to do with Black people and no one who uses it in common parlance is intending to disparage those with darker skin. But none of that matters. According to professional anti-racism trainer Joseph Smith, black is more than just a shade; it “connotes evil, distrust, lack of intelligence, ignorance, a lack of beauty — the absence of white.”...   Even terms that were once staples of the left-wing lexicon are now lingua non grata. Like “first-world problem,” a phrase commonly used on the left to imply that none of our problems really matter because there are people starving in Africa and being slaughtered in the Middle East. It’s “classist,” so it has to go. So does “spirit animal,” something I’ve only ever heard come out of the mouths of hippies, and which was common among progressives just a few years ago. Turns out it’s cultural appropriation, so it’s out, too. As is anything else that could refer to Indigenous cultures. Like “lowest on the totem pole.” That’s “culturally appropriating the totem pole,” you see. Or “savage,” a word that was used to describe the Indigenous peoples of the Americas by European settlers, but means something completely different when I say that Teofimo Lopez took a savage beating in the boxing ring last weekend.  Even the word “tribe” is on the list, even though it’s part of the official names of many Indigenous bands, and was used to describe the Twelve Tribes of Israel long before Christopher Columbus set foot in the Americas. As a Jew, I guess I should be offended by this term"

CBC-TV a 'make-work project' that taxpayers 'don't take to,' Senator says | Toronto Sun - "CBC-TV has become a $1.3-billion-a year “make-work project,” producing programming Canadian taxpayers are not watching and don’t want, according to a senator. The remarks from Senator Leo Housakos were made to the Senate chamber Wednesday after reports emerged the national broadcaster was facing program cuts due to a plunge in TV ad revenues. A second quarter financial report showed ad revenues dropped 19% in six months... "At the same time, the Trudeau government is siphoning out of the pockets of taxpayers billions of dollars and showering it into that corporation"... “The role of government is to fill voids and not take taxpayers’ money and put it into make-work projects that clearly, when you look at the ratings and the ad revenue, Canadian taxpayers and the Canadian public don’t take to,” Housakos said, as reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.  “Will the government agree it’s high time and critical in the spirit of transparency to call a parliamentary inquiry and a review of CBC operations?”"

CBC objects to classic children's songs as 'racist' and 'harmful' | The Post Millennial - "A CBC provincial affairs reporter based in Edmonton has attacked the government's planned music curriculum for second grade students, asserting that many of the songs included are "racist" and "harmful."  Janet French published an article in which she asserted that "1 in 5 songs has 'racially-charged content.'" She later took to Twitter to defend her position that songs such as "Jingle Bells," "I've Been Working on the Railroad," and "Do Your Ears Hang Low" are "Eurocentric, exclude other cultures, sexist, outdated, and divorced from research." The journalist even expressed that the song "Kumbaya," a song originating from enslaved African-Americans in the antebellum South about God's salvation, may "sound harmless now" but "can be potentially harmful."... French suggested that "I've Been Working on the Railroad" should be removed from the curriculum due to its association with minstrel performances, whereby white actors would dress up in blackface to mock African-Americans, over 120 years ago. She cited an article from self-posting blog site Medium which explains that the original lyrics of the song were making fun of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) at a time when African-Americans lacked basic rights.  The article also asserts that African-Americans "arguably still lack basic rights as Americans today." The lyrics have changed since the song's original composition, and all Americans are equal under the law.  French asserted that the song "Do Your Ears Hang Low" is also racist because it's melody, although not the lyrics, originates from the 1838 minstrel song "Zip Coon." She also claimed the nursery rhyme "A Tisket, A Tasket" is racist because one early iteration of the song included a reference to a "little darky," a derogatory reference to African-Americans. Similar to "I've Been Working on the Railroad," the racially charged lyrics are not used in modern iterations of the song. Lastly she claimed that the song "Clementine" is racist, citing a Blogspot post which alleges that it has origins in minstrel music.  The CBC journalist praised the government's removal of the song "Dixie," which she falsely described as the "anthem of the Confederacy." The Confederate States of America had no official national anthem, and the song Dixie was a popular tune on both sides of the battlefield. The song, in fact, was a favourite of President Abraham Lincoln, who played it at political events as well as at the official surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.  It is unclear why French took issue with the songs "Jingle Bells" and "Kumbaya" as "potentially harmful," although it may have to do with their religious themes... French also complained that most of the songs are English and American in origin, and that there are no Indigenous songs on the curriculum list."

Rex Murphy: CBC loses farcical lawsuit against the Conservatives, but secular moralizing will continue - "CBC management and their chief correspondent (named in the suit originally, but after very predictable embarrassments, her name was removed) sued one of Canada’s two main parties. To end your suspense, it was the Conservatives. Startling, I know.  They sued, even more startling, and this time I’m not being sarcastic, during a federal election... You do not send out your reporters in the morning to cover a politician, and then send out your lawyers in the afternoon to harass him in court. It goes against — what is that term? — the doctrine of impartiality in news coverage. They sued because the Conservatives used a fragment of a news item in one of their election ads. Political parties have been using quotes and film clips almost as long as they have been making promises and breaking them...   The main argument CBC put up, and argument in this context is a charity word, was that they launched the suit “to protect the trust Canadians have in the independence of their public broadcaster?”  Well, that’s a whole lot of icing for very little cake. If trust can be measured by ratings, Canadians are not nearly as saturated by trust in the independence of their public broadcaster as that statement presupposes. Indeed, to choose a neutral term, very many Canadians see the CBC as tendentious, absorbed in social justice issues to the exclusion of other equal concerns, as too focussed on the centre of the country, and in particular Toronto-centric to an unfathomable degree. In particular, I would argue the CBC in these latter days seems to think its “mission” is not to report on Canada, but to improve it. There is a high degree of what I’ll call secular moralizing that drives their news selection, and that moralizing enters the reporting itself... leave all the American political stories, from judicial nominations, to the “insurrection” in Washington, and anything wildly anti-Trump (recall the interviews with the one-time, Trump-slayer Michael Avenatti’) — leave all those stories to the Americans."

CBC quietly deletes interview with author who wrote about bombing and gassing white people in a race war | The Post Millennial - "CBC Radio's Q has quietly deleted their interview with Canadian author Ben Philippe, whose newest book "Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend" contains a half-page description of the author's vision of gassing and bombing white people during a race war... "When this race war hits its crescendo, I'll gather you all into a beautifully decorated room under the pretense of unity. I'll give a speech to civility and all the good times we share; I'll smile as we raise glasses to your good, white health, while the detonator blinks under the table, knowing the exits are locked and the air vents filled with gas."  Schlanger then tells Philippe that she is Jewish, and apologized to Philippe that his experience made him feel that way... Philippe also told the interviewer that his race war fantasies were originally much longer, saying, "fun fact: that section used to be so much longer, so thank you to my editor for, like, condensing it.""

CBC defends Pride's call for censorship of local library over book on gender dysphoria | The Post Millennial - "Halifax Pride severed its ties with the Halifax Public Library because the library would not bend to demands to remove a book from their shelves. The book is Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier, and a petition was circulated to have it removed from the library. The library refused... The CBC spoke to activists with Halifax Pride, but they did not reach out to Shrier. They did, however, include a tweet in their original story that compared Shrier's book to a book by notorious racist and KKK member David Duke. "The original CBC article compared me to neo-Nazi David Duke," Shrier told The Post Millennial, "without ever having asked me for comment. Then they quietly edited that part out without even noting the change. This is the opposite of journalistic integrity or truthfulness."... Activists who spoke against the book include trans-identified individuals who go by the monikers Poison Ivy and Neovagina Evangelion on Twitter. They say that the presence of a book on a shelf makes them "no longer feel fully safe" using the local library. Just to be clear, they feel they are personally harmed by a book... "The notion that a grown adult wouldn't 'feel safe' in a library of tens of thousands of books because of a single book is just ludicrous," Shrier told The Post Millennial. The CBC fell into the same trap that so many trans rights activists and their acolytes have: They assume that any question of the trans narrative is bigoted, that any debate about what makes a human being, any concern over trans ideology positing fully that there is a split between mind and body, any worry broached about the effect of what's called "trans affirming" medical procedures, such as voluntary and cosmetic mastectomies and castrations, calls into question a trans person's "right to exist."  Chris Cochrane, identified as the vice-chair of Pride's board of directors and transgender and non-binary committee lead, told CBC that "(As a) trans person, I'm not going to debate my existence, and this book is definitely debating the existence of trans people."... Vice reported that McKay, "who identifies as transgender and non-binary," said that "When it comes to the library, they don't have an obligation and they don't have the space to house every book in the world. They especially don't have the obligation to house a book that contains debunked science and very politically charged hateful content." Shrier's book has come under attack by trans rights activists since it was released. After a few complaints on Twitter, Target pulled the book. Amazon employees made a stink and tried to get the book pulled, but eventually the massive online bookseller declined to give in to those demands."
Weird. Liberals like to bash the "right" for "banning" books. But of course the books that they want to ban are "harmful" and so they should be banned

Jamie Sarkonak: CRTC diversity quotas trample journalistic independence at CBC - "Diversity quotas are coming to the CBC’s programming budget in 2023, thanks to a decision by Canada’s broadcast regulator to give itself the green light to intrude on journalistic independence — as long as it’s in the name of identity politics. New requirements imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) mandate the CBC to dedicate at least 30 per cent of its spending on independent English programming (television shows and documentaries commissioned by the network) to producers who self-identify as Indigenous, official language minorities, visible minorities, disabled or LGBT. This will rise to 35 per cent in 2026.  The CBC’s French side will have lower diversity spending thresholds, starting at 6.7 per cent in 2023 and scaling up to 15 per cent in 2026.  The CRTC is also requiring that the CBC track the identities of new hires and promotions of staff. Demographics of showrunners, producers, directors, writers, cinematographers and editors will have to be tallied. Community groups for the above identities will also have to be consulted for programming feedback. If the CBC doesn’t appeal this decision successfully, it will be bound by the new conditions for five years, ending in 2027.   The changes are happening because the CRTC modified the conditions of CBC’s broadcast licence when it was renewed in June to have programming “reflect contemporary Canada.”  In the past, questions of reflecting “diversity” in broadcasting focused on geography and language. In 2013, the regulator decided to not impose regional quotas on news programs because this would violate the CBC’s journalistic independence — as well as the freedom of expression protections protected by the Broadcasting Act... the word “diversity” was mentioned 10 times in the 2013 decision to renew the CBC’s licence. In 2022, it was mentioned 114 times. The Broadcasting Act does say that one of the CBC’s duties is to “reflect the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canada,” but this wasn’t the foundation for an identity-based spending quota until CRTC’s radical move in June. Now, the CRTC implies that minimum program expenditures are a way to reflect contemporary Canada, and that programming should reflect the census and — invoking critical theory — take intersectional identities into account.  The CRTC’s own diversity policy doesn’t suggest that identity-based program spending quotas be included in broadcast licences... It would have been helpful to clarify why regional quotas unlawfully infringe on journalistic integrity, while setting funding programming according to demographics does not.  Canadians shouldn’t take solace in the fact that these changes are at least limited to the CBC. For private broadcasters, Bill C-11 (the Online Streaming Act) would bring in a number of specific identity-focused goals for employment and providing programming for certain groups. It’s a bit of a slippery slope between the two, but given the CRTC’s eagerness to use the census to design budgets and quotas, it’s possible that a similar approach would be taken with private broadcasters in addition to the CBC. Forced DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) budgeting is a logistical nightmare. Between report writing, dealing with potentially fraudulent self-identifiers, committee meetings and possible executive bonuses, overhead costs are likely to add up.  It’s unclear if these requirements will cause much change beyond the extra overhead. The CBC has used census data to inform programming and hiring decisions since at least 2018, according to corporate plans, but whether this offered any improvement to program quality is hard to say. Impacts could even be negative: A report card system was also in the works to show teams “how they scored on diversity of guests, key creative roles, experts, host, location of the story, topic and reporters,” echoing reports by former CBC staffer Tara Henley of identity accounting in the newsroom. Henley’s report gave fuel to critics who believed the CBC had embraced identity politics too tightly; additional requirements from the CRTC could do the same.   A new swath of DEI goals is now in the works at the CBC, including community advisory boards for certain groups and a database that sorts experts by identity. If its dedication to DEI hasn’t worked to engage audiences yet, I doubt that even more budgetary constraints will help the cause... Mandated funding for self-identified diversity candidates places immutable characteristics before ideas and merit — and in media, the latter needs to come first."

Rex Murphy: On climate change, the CBC has crossed the line from news agency to PMO mouthpiece - "The statement is a perfect mirror image of the Liberal government’s climate change position, which is as all know Trudeau’s very No. 1 issue, higher than all else — more than feminism or reconciliation — and the one on which he has spoken more frequently and more intensely than any other. Prime Minister Trudeau however did not write the document or have it written. It is from the publicly financed national news organization, CBC, and was issued by its chief reporting authority, its editor in chief and executive director of daily news. It is meant as an illumination on its reporting on climate change, and particularly the upcoming mass convocation in mandate-exempting Glasgow.  My first question about it is: if it cannot be distinguished from the government’s own position, if it could very easily be seen as a bulletin from any activist, global warming advocacy or activist group, how can it seriously be considered a statement about “journalism” or proper news coverage? Indeed it is so intimately close to the current government’s position, and the government the source of CBC funding, it could without much stress of mind be said to be, at least, an apparent conflict of interest. CBC is all in, not to the hips, but to the shoulders and ears, on one side of this multi-variant, contested, massively disrupting and potentially economically ruinous internationalist issue. It “out-Herods Herod;” it is more IPCC than the IPCC.  Another easy question is whether the editor in chief of the CBC, or its management or its board of directors can, or care to distinguish between pure and confessed advocacy and activism from its news division. If the CBC wishes to be a branch of the Sierra Club, or a sub-partner of 350.org, or an ally of Extinction Rebellion, then it should clearly say so. This statement is not a statement of journalistic practice: it is a statement of doctrine, a proclamation, with all the air of infallibility and the impossibility of error that the churches, in the days when they held sway, proclaimed their doctrines. Will it be necessary for any new hires at the CBC to sign a declaration of their full belief in global warming? Will the CBC ever interview anyone, anyone at all, who might offer counter-arguments to this tendentious issue? Will they encourage counter-voices, of authority and expertise, to express the requisite hesitation and alternative understandings of this extremely complex subject?  Why have a news service spouting without the slightest questioning everything the government of the day espouses? Would it not simply be cheaper to have the news anchors provide dramatic readings of PMO press releases every day and night?... Has the CBC abandoned both curiosity and the responsibility to question, which are the very essence of journalism? For emphasis, let me make the absolutely simple point — the first duty of journalism is to ask questions, to inquire, to challenge. Where in that statement above is there even a breath of the need to question, inquire or challenge?  On global warming the CBC is acting far more like a Vatican Council attempting to ward off heretics than a news agency. It is so deeply imprisoned in the woke, or progressive, or social warrior mentality that it has forgotten its function. And lost the Canadian public it still fantasizes it serves."

FUREY: Chinese Canadian dissidents are under attack, and the CBC has joined the pile-on | Toronto Sun - "Some of the first voices to sound the alarm about the coronavirus coming to Canada were people of Chinese descent living in Markham, a northern GTA city with a significant ethnic Chinese population... Parents in Markham were so worried that they circulated a petition asking the York Region district school board to require students returning from Wuhan to quarantine at home for 14 days. Looking back, it all seems rather quaint. Of course that’s what the students should have done then and it’s what everybody returning from another country is doing now. Yet that didn’t stop others from twisting their words and claiming the many signatories to the petition, mostly Chinese names, were somehow motivated by racism. “Situations such as these can regrettably give rise to discrimination based on perceptions, stereotypes and hate,” wrote Juanita Nathan, trustee chair of the York Region district school board, and Louise Sirisko, director of education, in an open letter.  Now, a similar scenario is playing out, where those of Chinese heritage are being maligned for daring to warn their fellow Canadians about looming danger.  “’Racist and inflammatory’: Canadians upset by Epoch Times claim China behind virus, made it as a bioweapon” is the headline CBC Twitter accounts used on Wednesday to promote their mess of a story that caused a stir online and was in turn denounced by its subject matter... Those unfamiliar with the publication would be forgiven for thinking, based on this description, that it is some sort of white nationalist publication peddling anti-Asian sentiment. It’s not. The Epoch Times is run by Chinese immigrants... That the paper has an editorial position that is opposed to the Chinese Communist party leadership in Beijing is undeniable, but to malign it as racist and conspiracy-theorist is just ignorance of the facts. But despite the sensationalist headline, the story — a version of which was made into a segment on CBC’s flagship news show The National — only cites two people who claim to find it offensive... Epoch Times publisher Cindy Gu has written a detailed response to the article and what she explains are its “simple factual errors” and has included her original correspondence with CBC reporters prior to the story going live.  “The headline focuses on a small part of our eight-page special edition, a commentary article that discusses the history of top CCP officials talking about developing bioweapons,” Gu writes. “But this opinion article did not state that the Wuhan lab was developing bioweapons, contrary to the claim in the headline.”  Gu adds that the “CBC purposefully omitted that our media organization was founded by Chinese immigrants, which was stated in the email to the reporter.”   There are three credited authors behind this story and one of them, Katie Nicholson, is described as CBC’s “COVID-19 fact-checker”. So much for that.  “We began to report on the Wuhan virus on Dec. 31 and reported on the coverup of the real numbers in early February,” Gu writes. “If more people had been reading the Epoch Times, our country could have been prepared. In our opinion, there is not enough truthful reporting about China and the nature of its ruling communist regime.”  What’s even worse is it looks like when Chinese Canadians do step forward to report on the regime in Beijing with anything other than praise, they get attacked."

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