Well I doubt it will change anything overnight. But if we all did this….
One of our eager beaver readers (there really oughta be a name for the small army of quiet, busy, ingenious good, right-thinking folks out there who help me and all us here at ProudToBeCanadian with their chunks of info and effort and activism…. let’s work on that…) took exception, as I did, to a story the Globe and Mail ran yesterday, as written by Canadian Press.
My blog entry, which regarded a “news story” about Premier Ralph Klein indicating he’d help out Conservative leader Stephen Harper in the election, was headlined “…And “some [other] observers suggested they were” each trying to save Canada”. In it, I showed you how the story ended with this, oh, com-pal-eeetely unbiased, not-at-all anti-conservative, fair and balanced sentence from our liberal media:
Some observers suggested Mr. Klein and Mr. Harper were working together to destroy medicare.
Reader Mark-Alan Whittle took it upon himself to write to Canadian Press to complain. They wrote back and admitted to some culpability, stating in part:
…I agree with you that the reference was vague. While that is certainly not ideal and while all CP reporters and editors strive to include as much detail as possible in stories, it must be noted that this moved as a “QuickHit,” which is designed to quickly give our readers the nuts and bolts of a story. A much fuller – and bylined—story moved later …
While I would have preferred to have seen a much more specific reference initially, I can assure you that the information was not fabricated. During the 2004 election campaign a number of individuals – including politicians, commentators and citizens – made such claims.
Still, we obviously did not handle this as well as we might have initially, and I will be discussing it with the reporter and editor involved. Thank you again for bringing it to my attention…
Just to show you the tenacity that’s typical among our talented readership (smoooch!), here’s what he wrote to Canadian Press:
Do you have a code of conduct that your writers abide by? I was reading a story penned by one of your anonymous writers in todays edition of the Globe and Mail and I take exception to the last paragraph of the story.
“Some observers suggested Mr. Klein and Mr. Harper were working together to destroy medicare.”
Writers using unsubstantiated nonsense like this should not be overlooked. I challenge you to produce one verifiable source to this comment used by your unidentified writer.
It’s unethical to make up stuff like this, to say the least. Fear mongering of the worst sort.
Since the writer is not identified, could you please ask him/her where they got this destructive notion, who told your writer these two individuals were out to destroy medicare in Canada? Personally, I think your writer made it up. I demand that you verify a source or print a retraction for the reporter lapse of judgement and lack of integrity. I have scoured the internet and can find no other reference that would substantiate your writers false claims. This isn’t the first time I have read an unattributed story to your organization that is disseminating false information.
Please write back and explain this lapse in judgement and example of bias.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
Contact Mr. Johannesen about this article using this form. Please refer to article's title.
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