CBC political contributions to politicians

Episode six of the CBC Follies - Political contributions to politicians

CBC Exposed presents: Fifth Estate Follies

The CBC was ordered to pay close to $1 million in damages to medical scientist Dr. Frans Leenen of the University of Ottawa because of a story that ran on the investigative program the fifth estate. 

It was also told to pay another $200,000 in damages to a Toronto cardiologist, Dr. Martin Myers. 

The two doctors had sued the CBC over a story about the safety of heart medication that had been broadcast in 1996. 

They accused the investigative report of being malicious, unfair, defamatory and sensationalized.

CBC News accused of spreading disinformation and mistruths

A non-profit preventive medicine company founded by Calgary Flames co-owner Allan Markin is suing the CBC for what it claims is a series of defamatory articles.

Pure North S’Energy Foundation is seeking $6 million in damages from the national broadcaster and two of its reporters, Charles Rusnell and Jennie Russell.

In its statement of claim, filed in Calgary Court of Queen’s Bench, True North says it has repeatedly asked the CBC to remove from the Internet what it says are inaccurate articles.

“Pure North’s reputation and work has been severely damaged as the result of an unrelenting broadcast campaign by the CBC and the reporters through various media which has had the result of damage to Pure North by spreading disinformation and mistruths about Pure North’s operation and practices,” it states ...

Read the full story here.

CBC Fails to Identify Dead Palestinians as Terrorists

Yesterday evening Israel time, a gunfight erupted when undercover Israeli special forces had their cover exposed by Hamas terrorists when carrying out an intelligence gathering mission in Gaza.

In the ensuing battle, six Hamas terrorists were killed, including a senior commander of the group’s tunneling operations. The seventh Palestinian who was killed was a member of the Popular Resistance Committees according to AFP. An Israeli solider was also killed in the raid. Subsequently, Palestinian terrorists fired over 80 rockets and mortar shells at Israel, several which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

In covering the violence which many fear may put Israel and Hams on the brink of war, CBC Radio and TV produced news reports which failed to mention that the seven dead Palestinians were all terrorists. Accordingly, CBC viewers and listeners may have come to the wrong conclusion that Israel killed seven presumably innocent Palestinian civilians.

Read the full story here.

CBC Ombudsman says CBC journalists were wrong

The complainant, Jean-Paul Murray, Secretary of The Gatineau Park Protection Committee, thought there were errors and omissions in two CBC Ottawa pieces concerning the impact of bylaw changes on the integrity of Gatineau Park. He thought they downplayed the potential dangers and were biased in favour of the private landowners. There were an unacceptable number of errors and a lack of context.

Precision of language and informed and adequate context, all contribute to the accuracy and fairness of a piece. There were three errors in two pieces on the same subject. I acknowledge one was a live radio interview and the other was an article. Nevertheless, I consider that a disappointing outcome. It concerns me that there was not a broad enough understanding to be able to interpret the information gleaned from the National Capital Commission, which was a source for the numbers. Ms. Zowdu (Managing Editor for CBC Ottawa) agreed that in the case of the date when acquisition of property began, the location of one property and the issue of right of first refusal, CBC journalists were wrong. Committing this number of errors undermines the integrity of the work and does not meet CBC standards.

That brings my comments back to where I started - I think this story was under-researched and failed to meet CBC’s standards of accuracy and provide the necessary clarity to help citizens understand the facts.

Read the full report here.

CBC Fifth Estate film found at fault

Fifth Estate film found at fault for unfounded facts and false impressions

If you thought that headline was a mouthful, try swallowing a damages award of $950,000 and a costs award over $800,000 as the CBC had to in the libel lawsuit brought by Dr. Frans Leenan. 

After winning his case in Ontario's Superior Court, Dr. Leenen said, 'Four years ago we proposed to settle this law suit for $10,000 and an on-air apology. It was refused...The Fifth Estate persisted and took me through 10 weeks of trial.' 

The trial judge awarded very high damages for libel against The Fifth Estate and the CBC as well as individual reporters and producers. The CBC appealed.

Read the full story here.

Why was CBC reporter hired by National Defence

NDP MP Charlie Angus is asking CBC’s ombudsman to review its policy for protecting confidential sources, given the situation around the government’s hire of the journalist at the centre of the criminal case against Vice Admiral Mark Norman.

“I urge you to examine this case and consider policy options to firm up confidence in the Corporation and ensure that protections for sources are maintained even after a journalist leaves their post,” says Angus’s letter, dated Oct. 26.

CBC reporter James Cudmore wrote stories in the fall of 2015 that contained leaked cabinet confidences, including a crucial story on Nov. 20, 2015, revealing that a cabinet committee had decided to delay a naval project with Quebec-based Davie Shipbuilding.

Mere weeks after his story on Vice Admiral Mark Norman, CBC reporter James Cudmore joined the Defence Minister's office as an adviser.

Read the full story here.

CBC executive vice-president term has been turbulent

On Monday, when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced that Heather Conway, its executive vice-president of English-language services, would be stepping down next month after five years on the job, it deployed the bureaucratic boilerplate that she was leaving “to pursue other opportunities.”

She may just be seeking an opportunity to regain her equilibrium.

Every media organization these days is tempest-tossed: Global TV’s chief programmer left last week and will not be replaced; the head of Rogers Media’s sports division left the week before, and that company is in the midst of shedding its magazine division. But even though CBC is sheltered from most of the economic effects of the industry upheaval, Ms. Conway’s term has been an especially turbulent one, characterized by falling TV audiences, staffing cuts and an avalanche of human resources crises triggered by the Jian Ghomeshi scandal four years ago.

Read the full story here.

The CBC Fifth Estate’s Efforts Demolished

Please join us for the book launch of I Was a Teenage JFK Conspiracy Freak.

There will be a short 20-minute video, followed by a lecture on the book. There will also be a Q&A session, and food and drink.

Fred Litwin recounts how he became a JFK conspiracy freak at eighteen, and then slowly moved to believing that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin. This book demonstrates how the left and the right have used the JFK assassination to drive home myths about power in America. There is also the incredible persecution of a gay man prosecuted for conspiring to kill Kennedy, the ugly story of Oliver Stone’s film JFK, an exposé of conspiracy nonsense on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, how the Soviets tried to influence American public opinion into believing the CIA was behind the assassination, and the secret reason why JFK documents must remain locked up forever. And a whole lot more.

“As a young man growing up in the heyday of Kennedy assassination theorizing, Fred Litwin believed a conspiracy killed JFK. And then he grew, and he studied and he researched. The result is this volume, a thorough, cogent and meticulously argued case for a lone assassin. A seasoned conspiracy skeptic will learn new things here, and a conspiracy believer open to looking at the other side could do no better than this volume.”

- John McAdams, Associate Professor of Political Science at Marquette University and author of JFK Assassination Logic: How to Think about Claims of Conspiracy

"This is a great book for conspiracy buffs—and, more important, for those who debunk such theories. Fred Litwin does a terrific job in blowing up the myriad JFK assassination scenarios, not least in completely demolishing The Fifth Estate’s decades-long efforts to “uncover” the truth. The CBC’s lead investigative show is revealed here to be more than slightly unhinged.”

- J.L. Granatstein, Author of Who Killed Canadian History?

Get your tickets here.

CBC Scandal: Alleged NDAs and Hush Money

The media in Canada has known about this for over a year. I was recently let go from a contract with the National Post after my reporting prompted Peter Mansbridge's lawyers to file a cease and desist letter. This story is not about Mansbridge having inter-office flings. Nobody has said those affairs were not consensual. What's important is that it looks like those affairs are protected by non-disclosure agreements that include paying the women involved with Mansbridge hush money. This is an open secret, but lawyers and crisis management firms are not letting the story break. Hopefully this video can quicken the process.

Copied from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11eRKZCGy_Y

CBC News Fails to Substantiate Claim

On September 26, HonestReporting Canada (HRC) asked CBC News to substantiate a claim they aired by a Palestinian “militant” who said that an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sniper shot and paralyzed his sister.

We asked CBC News if it could substantiate the claim that an Israeli sniper shot and paralyzed Raji Sebteen’s sister and if the CBC could provide context about the alleged incident?

The only information relied upon by the CBC are subjective and partisan claims made by a self described Palestinian “militant” who says he’s involved in “non-violent resistance”. An allegation of this variety, must be backed up by facts. CBC News has not sourced any evidence of any kind: no news reports, police reports, IDF or Palestinian Authority investigations, medical reports, legal documents, insurance reports, and testimony of potential eye witnesses. CBC doesn’t know the exact date the incident is alleged to have happened, nor the exact location. What was the name of the soldier in question? CBC doesn’t know. What is Raji Sebteen’s sister’s name? Has the CBC interviewed her? Has the CBC confirmed that she is in fact paralyzed?

Read the full story here.

CBC needs money but money doesn't buy smarts

You don't have to be Canada's Smartest Person – something CBC decides for us – to know that CBC/Radio-Canada needs more money to do its job, fulfill its mandate. 

But it's not just money the CBC needs. It's a dose of common sense and it needs a reminder that, while it's a special service, it cannot be remote from the principle that it is indeed a service. It's not an institution to be exploited by those it employs to fulfill their most base instincts.

But while CBC is in a better relationship with this government, it is not necessarily in the best phase of its relationship with the paying public. 

CBC needs money but money doesn't buy smarts any more than it buys class.

Read the full story here.

CBC fans can't explain this riddle to themselves

With So Many Scandals, Why Should We Save the CBC?

The Pandora's box of bad behaviour has damaged the CBC brand. It is still unclear what barometer the public broadcaster utilizes to discern which lines can and can't be crossed. 

The CBC struggles to reach younger audiences, and to remain competitive. These scandals in of themselves won't sink the CBC. But they erode confidence in the national institution.

The CBC brass need to pay attention to the general public's growing apathy towards an institution too often in the news for the wrong reasons. Uncomfortable corporate silences. Lingering questions. Unanswered inquiries. CBC fans can't explain this riddle to themselves, much less to lukewarm listeners.

Read the full story here.

Why is CBC paying huge royalty fees?

Stephen Maher, columnist for Postmedia, noted that CBC was moving into his line of work, paying for columnists to pontificate on national affairs. Responding to a column posted online by Mark Critch, one of the mainstays of This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Maher asked on Twitter, “This is good, but why is CBC hiring online columnists? I don't see that in the broadcast act. What is the mandate?”

Why indeed.

Unfortunately this is not the first column by Critch, or anyone else, on the CBC website, nor will it be their last foray outside of their mandate.

CBC is required by Parliament to provide television and radio services across Canada. Somehow along the way they have veered off of that mandate into many different areas. Political columns, one of the real draws for media websites fighting in a sea of headlines, don’t belong on the CBC website, but then again neither does the massive collection of news stories, purchased from Canadian Press and other wire services with your money and given away for free on CBC.ca.

Speaking of giving things away for free, why is CBC paying huge royalty fees to operate a series of online radio stations that compete with streaming services from Google, Apple, Rdio or Songify?

Read the full story here.

CBC host accused of smear job

Maxime Bernier is furious after being interviewed by the CBC — and he may have a point.

After a CBC interview aired Sunday, Maxime Bernier’s Twitter account launched into an angry rant, accusing host Wendy Mesley of a “smear job.”

The tweets linked to the video, arguing that Mesley fabricated a story “about a libertarian conspiracy funded by US billionaires, and implies with her repeated questions about it that I violate Canadian electoral laws.”

Read the full story here.

CBC story recklessly false

THIS CBC STORY IS RECKLESSLY FALSE (UPDATED A RECORD THREE TIMES) 

The story simply does not back up the shocker of a headline, that the federal government is “threatening” critics of Israel with criminal charges. The screed is loaded with phrases and words like “could,” “would be,” “if,” “appears,” and so on. There is no proof, anywhere, that Ottawa has charged a single person or group.

That’s not all. The CBC piece even alleges that groups and individuals are under illegal surveillance, without offering an iota of proof.

Read the full story here.

CBC series is pure bunk

CBC’s fictional Mennonite mob drama “Pure” wrapped up its initial run this week, and Mennonites who’ve seen the show won’t be shedding any tears if it doesn’t get picked up for a second season.

Barb Draper, editorial assistant at Canadian Mennonite Magazine and member of Floradale Mennonite Church, says there’s a sense of dismay from modern Mennonites at the inaccuracies in the show.

She’s heard from those who’ve watched the full season that it’s disappointing to see them get the accents, clothing, buggies and even the church’s architecture wrong.

And there’s concern those who are unfamiliar with Mennonites here in Ontario will believe what they see on TV.

Read the full story here.

CBC slapped with with a $282 million defamation lawsuit

Subway’s Chicken Is Still Half-Fake: TV Network Stands by Its Investigation.

In March, all of North America collectively cringed when an investigative media report found that the chicken served in Canada’s Subway sandwiches and salads was made of only 50 percent chicken (along with 50 percent filler and additives). Since then, Subway has slapped the Canadian Broadcasting Company with a $282 million ($210 million USD) defamation lawsuit and vehemently denied all claims, counteracting the damning laboratory results with lab tests of their own.

Read the full story here.

CBC Fake News latest example

CBC is supposed to be a public service. We all pay for it through our taxes. That means the CBC is supposed to represent all Canadians.

Of course, CBC regularly puts forth a massively biased, pro-Trudeau agenda. The coverage is often fawning and weak, and seems less like the media and more like Trudeau’s own personal propaganda service.

You could even call it Fake News.

The latest example of this CBC Fake News is the preview of Canada: The Story of Us.

Considering the majority of Canadians don’t support Trudeau, it’s hard to imagine how CBC could rationally justify using him as the front-man for their upcoming documentary.

CBC putting Trudeau front and centre turns a preview for something that could be positive into a foolish propaganda piece. It shows that CBC is less interested in acting like a public service, and more interested in serving the agenda of the state.

CBC pushes a politically correct, pro-big government agenda, while sucking up over $1 billion in taxpayers money.

Read the full story here.

CBC does fake news on purpose

When word got out a few weeks ago that Quebec was lowering its drinking age to 14 (12 if the youngster is with a parent), there was outrage - and, in some circles, glee. People took to Twitter and other online forums to express their strongly held opinions. If the story seemed unbelievable, the fact that the original interview on the topic linked back to a CBC Radio Web page - and sounded very much like a CBC Radio interview - seemed to lend it some credibility.

The story, of course, wasn't true. It emerged from an upcoming segment on CBC Radio One's satirical current affairs show This Is That.

In its first season last summer, the parody - which undeniably sounds a lot like other CBC interview shows, mirroring that tone of objective, earnest inquisitiveness and story choice with uncanny accuracy - got the phones ringing at the CBC.

To make the spoof work, they work hard to match the feel of a CBC Radio interview show, from the content to the tone to the music stings.

"In some ways, because that tone of the CBC is such a recognizable tone, you can get pretty outrageous with a story and people will still often kind of think: 'Well it's the CBC, so it must be true,'" ...

This raises the question: Does such a show belong on the public broadcaster, whose flagship programs are based on the news and current affairs?

Read the full story here.

Fake News CBC Quietly Changes Article Headline

CBC has been known to publish biased left wing content which officials now call fake news.

The Canadian taxpayer funded media quietly changes their headline to a less aggressive one after Trudeau went on air to comment on the child separation problem at the Mexican border.

See full story here.

CBC should engage in some fact checking in world of Fake News

Environmental filmmaker Andrew Nisker who calls himself an environmental activist, probes the manicured world of golf seeking answers to his many questions about the cause of a particular cancer and the source.

On Thursday March 2, 2017 at 8 PM on CBC-TV a documentary from The Nature of Things with David Suzuki called “Dad and the Dandelions” questions a connection between playing golf and cancer.

In the promotion of the show Nisker states “at a golf industry trade show he sees the array of chemicals on offer to achieve that championship perfection. To his surprise, he hears at the show that golfers have consistently shown resistance to caring about any health or environmental impacts of their sport”.

Cancer and the causes are very complex and to target golf courses specifically in a world where anything can be toxic is a stretch. In this world of “Fake News” CBC should engage in some fact checking to ensure the accuracy and truthfulness of a story before going to air.

Read the full story here.

CBC Investigation Much Ado About Nothing

I can think of few criminal cases that exposed Canada’s racial divide more than the Colten Boushie case has.

On Tuesday, the Civilian Review & Complaints Commission for the RCMP announced they have initiated an investigation of the RCMP’s original investigation to determine if it was conducted reasonably and whether race played a role.

That afternoon CBC published an online report with the headline, “RCMP ‘sloppy’ and ‘negligent’ in investigating Colten Boushie’s death, say independent experts.”

The report quotes several “independent” experts who concluded the RCMP investigation was seriously flawed and the organization “needs a lot more training.”

Were there errors and oversights made during the Colten Boushie shooting investigation?

Absolutely.

Did those errors impact the result in the Gerald Stanley murder trial?

“The experts CBC consulted agreed that errors were made, but did not conclude it would have changed the outcome of the trial.”

Not likely.

So what was the point of the CBC article?

Retired Winnipeg Police Service Homicide Sergeant Tom Anderson thinks he knows.

Just another example of race baiting by Canada’s Federally funded news agency says the retired Homicide Sergeant.

Read the full story here.

CBC Fake News - Trump Win Crashed Site

As expected, the nonsense fake news story from Canada's state broadcaster (CBC) about President-Elect Trump's election victory crashing Canada's immigration web site is crashing on its own.   Why did the CBC run with the fake news story?

  Quote

An immigration website that was supposedly overwhelmed by Americans wanting to flee to Canada because of a Trump presidency was more likely brought down by foreigners scrambling to get a basic travel document before a deadline.

CBC News has learned that the website for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada was already in trouble hours before Donald Trump's victory became clear on Nov. 8, the day of the U.S. presidential election.

That's because foreign travellers faced a Nov. 10 deadline to obtain so-called "electronic travel authorizations" online before they could fly into Canada. They apparently flooded the website before that deadline to pay $7 online for electronic delivery of the mandatory travel documents, known as eTAs.

... In fact, a CBC investigation showed that the website itself had design flaws and wasn't properly tested before going live.

Read the full discussion here.

Protest against CBC’s editorial policy

Equipped with signs featuring statements made by Canadian imams on wife beating and killing the non-Muslims, the protesters walked through Bay Street to CBC building at Front Street where they chanted the slogans “CBC – fake news” and “defund CBC”.

The organizers told CIJnews that they wanted to protest against CBC’s editorial policy that according to them intentionally ignores expressions of hatred by Canadian imams, such as statements that publicly condone wife beating, marital rape and prayers to Allah to give victory to Muslims over the disbelievers and to “slay them one by one.”

Read the full story here.

The CBC is a great source of fake news

Surprisingly there may be more fake news in Canada than in the USA. In Canada, a few corporations control all the news. There is very little competition to force them to be honest. So, Canadian news media report their own bias and prejudices, including their own self interest.

The CBC is a great source of fake news. The CBC controls the news across Canada. “CBC/Radio-Canada’s reach is 87%… of Canadians (who) watch or listen to something from their public broadcaster every month.”

But the CBC is our champion you say, an honest source of news in a commercialized world. Let me give you an example of how the CBC reports Fake News.

How could the President of the CBC cheat on his expense claims and CBC printed just two stories exonerating him.

Here’s what happened. The CBC President claimed the same $30,000 in expenses twice. He tried to hide the facts but the story got out. CBC barely covered the story twice, using their own reporters who would be easy on their boss.

With the help of sympathetic big media, the story died.

At the same time, when it served their purpose, the CBC went all out to report the phony $90,000 expense scandal of Senator Mike Duffy. I say phony because the judge at trial said it wasn’t true. Despite the lack of evidence, the CBC broadcast story after story painting Mike Duffy as a greedy, evil person who cheated Canadians.

Mike Duffy-as-crook fake news stories became a daily fixation for the CBC. They disparaged him for his weight, heart disease, his cottage on Prince Edward Island. The CBC dug up every old story and rumour and piled it on.

After a long and sensationalized trial, the court exonerated Mike Duffy. He was innocent of all charges.

The CBC never apologized.

Read the full story here.

CBC continues to spread disinformation

The Canadian Shooting Sports Association did a superb point-by-point takedown of a CBC video on gun laws packed with errors, misleading suggestions and possibly a wrongful confiscation by law-enforcement officers.

The “Guns in Canada 101” video in a CBC series on Keeping Canada Safe shows conservation officers saying falsehoods about several parts of the law as they inspect shooters and seize gear. In addition, the state broadcaster’s graphics and captions are either incorrect or paint a picture of gun owners and recreational shooters that many of us wouldn’t recognize.

“The CBC, that government mouthpiece funded by 1.5 billion taxpayer dollars, continues to spread disinformation about Canada’s gun laws,” the CSSA said today in its newsletter.

Read the full story here.

Update: CBC temporarily removed the video on April 12 after a complaint to its ombudsman.

CBC's biased journalism spreads fake news

On Friday, June 8, 2018 Toronto Police issued a press release advising the public of “an arrest in three Hate-motivated Assault investigations.”

CTV News, Global News, 680 News, CP24 and Toronto Star reported on this story in an informative manner. Their news stories included the basic facts provided by the police, such as the name of the suspect, the allegations against him and the Police appeal to the public.

The CBC, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation that is available from coast to coast to coast and is funded by the Canadian tax-payer, reported on the Police press release but omitted the name of the alleged assailant.

Why would the CBC leave out the name of the alleged assailant when it was available to all media outlets?

The name, which appears to be Muslim, would indicate that this may not be a hate crime toward the Muslim community. Giving the name could have reduced fear of anti-Muslim bigotry.

Why would the CBC let Canadians from coast to coast to coast believe that this was an anti-Muslim attack? Does this not intentionally create a false impression in the minds of the readers that is tantamount to spreading fake news?

Isn’t the omission of the name of the suspect in the hijab attack an example of FAKENEWS that only encourages “identity politics” and promotes the narrative that the Muslim community is under attack?

Read the full story here.

CBC News Sets the Standard for Crackpot Conspiracy Theories

CBC Hires Alt-Left Conspiracy Theorist To Produce "The Weekly".  Ezra Levant of The Rebel reports on CBC's Wendy Mesley giving airspace to alt-left conspiracy theories and fake news.

CBC News story was misleading

CBC’s The National ran a very touching story this week about the hard choices faced by three Toronto men holding down minimum wage jobs. It was both empathetic and sympathetic. Good. We shouldn’t skimp on either for people who are worse off than we are.

But, though not actually fake news, as insight into the minimum wage debate, the story was misleading. At one stage, reporter Nick Purdon, moved by the plight of the three men, reflected on how eight per cent of Canadians live like this.

No, they don’t. Eight per cent of Canadians may earn the minimum wage (in fact, the StatsCan report I’m going to rely on here says 6.8 per cent, though that was for 2013). But very few are middle-aged men relying on their minimum wage job for their entire income.

Read the full story here.