Reporting on the dead
Why did neither of Canada’s two major all-news networks — CTV and CBC — for the first time fail to cover, live, the Dec. 16 repatriation ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Trenton for three more Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan?
“… it takes less than a half-hour to unload the coffins of three young servants of Canada from the airplane, solemnly march them one by one to waiting hearses and have them met by various huddles of their weeping and stricken relatives,” noted Christie Blatchford in the Globe and Mail, adding: “It doesn’t seem too much to ask of the networks that they air each of these ceremonies.”
So far 103 soldiers have died during Canada’s mission in Afghanistan. In my opinion, few or no news events should trump the return of their bodies. Canadians need to share this grief — and know the repercussions of our actions as voters and policy-makers.
Why did neither of Canada’s two major all-news networks — CTV and CBC — for the first time fail to cover, live, the Dec. 16 repatriation ceremony at Canadian Forces Base Trenton for three more Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan?
“… it takes less than a half-hour to unload the coffins of three young servants of Canada from the airplane, solemnly march them one by one to waiting hearses and have them met by various huddles of their weeping and stricken relatives,” noted Christie Blatchford in the Globe and Mail, adding: “It doesn’t seem too much to ask of the networks that they air each of these ceremonies.”
So far 103 soldiers have died during Canada’s mission in Afghanistan. In my opinion, few or no news events should trump the return of their bodies. Canadians need to share this grief — and know the repercussions of our actions as voters and policy-makers.
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