Stanley trial highlights colonialism of Canadian media
Indigenous community members are doing the work to situate Colten Boushie’s life and death within the colonial context. Continue Reading Stanley trial highlights colonialism of Canadian media
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Journalists see 17 per cent jump in public trust
While many journalists will be seeing the trust figures as a Valentine’s Day gift from the Canadian public, it isn’t all hearts and roses for the beleaguered business in this survey. Continue Reading Journalists see 17 per cent jump in public trust
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Colten — Our relative, our warrior
“And when they ask, ‘Is that your relative?’ I will say, ‘Yes.’” (Sarah Rain) I remember the day Colten died. It was a hot summer day in Regina, Saskatchewan and I had enjoyed a leisurely summer, free of journalism work. I had decided to take a year off from reporting after my mother and sister…
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CBC Ombudsman: Accuracy in headlines and photos
The complainant, Mike Fegelman, the Executive Director of HonestReporting Canada, made two requests for reviews. One concerned a headline dealing with the sentencing of an Israeli soldier and the other questioned the use of an old photograph for a news report. He was concerned that the story behind the photo made it inappropriate, and he…
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Using freedom of information to assist whistleblowers and those under duress
Some of my most challenging and rewarding access to information work has involved filing access requests with the consent of whistleblowers and individuals under tremendous duress. By way of background, Canada lacks strong whistleblower protection laws that give public (or private) sector workers free speech rights, adequate recourse to the courts, sufficient remedies against retaliation…
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CBC Ombudsman: Seeing is Believing
CBC Ottawa ran a story about a programme to match homeless people to rental housing. It documented a case where it went wrong, leaving the landlord with a trashed apartment. The story showed the damage, but focused on the gap between the promises and the delivery of the sponsoring agency. The complainant, Lorraine Cohen, questioned…
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CBC OMBUDSMAN: Reporting the Facts
The complainant, Diane Bederman, objected to a report by Derek Stoffel who was at a protest in Ramallah on the one-hundredth anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. She thought that by reporting the Palestinian position, he was implying Israel did not have a right to exist. He attributed the statement to the views of the Palestinians.…
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CBC Ombudsman: The challenge of sizing up crowds
The complainant, Anthony Nolan, wrote to say that a report on an anti-white supremacy rally at Queen’s Park distorted the crowd size, and deliberately so, in his view. I agreed that reporting how many people expressed interest in coming, rather than the number of attendees, lacked clarity. COMPLAINT You took issue with a report about…
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CBC Ombudsman: Fixing facts on Facebook
The complainant, Jyothi Jayaraman, was one of 9 who objected to the explanation of the process of medically-assisted death. In the course of taking questions live on Facebook, the interviewee gave wrong information. CBC admitted fault and despite best efforts, came up against the limitations of making corrections on a platform they don’t control. It’s…
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CBC Ombudsman: The Pit Bull Controversy
The complainant, April Fahr, is the Director of Education and Advocacy for the HugABull Advocacy & Rescue Society. She was concerned that a Fifth Estate episode on whether pit bulls should be banned was biased and cherry-picked data and information. The documentary featured the highly polarized views of both the dog and the evidence about…