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 a rally against white supremacy held at Queen’s Park in Toronto on October 15. You said the story “claimed 6,600 people attended this Hate Fest (sic) at Queen’s Park.” You thought this was a deliberate attempt to mislead people, and to create the impression that was intended to frighten the public.
You also believed the report did not properly point out what you considered hateful in the message of those organizing the “Unity Rally to end white supremacy.”
Racists & Anti Semites cannot be allowed to make a Home for themselves at the national Broadcaster. I and my Family have been condemned to Death {because of the colour of our skin} by those attending this hate fest & the CBC makes a deliberate choice not to report those threats.
MANAGEMENT RESPONSE
Dayna Gourley, the acting Executive Producer of News in Toronto, replied to your concerns. She told you that there was an error in a Twitter headline which stated thousands attended the rally. She added that the story on the website was accurate in reporting that 6,600 people had indicated on Facebook they were going to attend, not that they had. In order to be clear, the story was updated to mention the size of the crowd. She told you the confusion was inadvertent:
There was no willful attempt to mislead the public. CBC makes every effort to ensure our reporting is factually correct. You should be able to count on us and we will endeavour to be more diligent.
Continue reading this on the CBC website, where it was first published.
