And here we see, in real time, a Canadian reporter attempting to smear government MPs. Ms Walsh is not the only one, but the example handy. She links the MPs with a notice from the ethics commissioner's office. No explanation.
It implies the MPs are in trouble with the ethics commissioner. They are not. Nevertheless, conservative trolls are already squawking on social media about another Liberal ethics violation, where there is none. This is very poor journalism.
This is using omission of an explanation to cast shade on innocent people. I have no doubt that Canadian media know that most people will not read past the very first couple of lines. They are planting the suggestion of malfeasance by omitting any detail.
Mercedes Stephenson, of Global news, simply retweets the announcement from the Ethics Commissioner which is also incredibly misleading and suggests the Liberals were guilty of something. 
And, most egregiously, @CBC @PnPCBC posted an alert saying outright that these ministers were guilty. 
I am sure Canadian journalists also know full well that misinformation spreads much faster than a retraction or correction. Which seems to have been their intent. Deleting a misleading tweet does not undo the damage.
This is totally unacceptable. This is our press deliberately trying to undermine our duly elected government. And they do it all the time. This was just another example. I call on the @CBCOmbud, the @CRTCeng and whomever oversees the Ethics Commissioner...
To take a close look at this. From the Commissioner's office on down, this news was worded and presented in such a way as to allow the reputation of these ministers to be impugned. This is not what the press is supposed to do. This violates journalistic integrity and ethics.
The thing which actually happened was a former US Ambassador was found in violation and these Ministers have agreed to not interact with him for a year. 
And yet, CPC fans are racing around announcing 9 Liberals have been found guilty of an ethics violation and they are all criminals. Because such people grab any information that fits their worldview, and also, they don't seem to actually understand how any of this works.
The wording used by the Ethics Commissioner's office, & the way the real information was buried in a fine print document is very suspect. One might almost think Dion was channeling his predecessor, Mary Dawson. Someone needs to remind him he is supposed to be non-partisan.
But our journalists, actively misleading Canadians about this instead of looking into why the ethics commissioner's announcement was so vague as to suggest the Liberals had done something wrong.... Well, that is unconscionable. And decidedly not in the public interest.
Update: The CBC noon hour radio news just did a piece on Eric O'Toole's complaints about waiting in line for hours for a COVID test. He blames the federal government, even though it is provincial jurisdiction. CBC did not correct him.
• • •
No comments:
Post a Comment