I stumbled on this article by Peter Worthington today. The story line is a bit old but I thought Mr.Worthington had a few good points.
Thu, December 21, 2006
CBC's war coverage is indefensible
By PETER WORTHINGTON
The CBC's Peter Mansbridge and the Globe and Mail's TV critic John Doyle are embroiled in one of those "I know better than you do" imbroglios that celebrities sometime indulge in, to the entertainment of the rest of us.
Doyle started it by writing he thought it was "creepy" how the CBC's coverage of the war in Afghanistan and its treatment of the military "give the appearance of an obedient press corps, placating the government." To some, this startling assessment of the CBC's view of the military was worthy of questioning whether Doyle's employers should not require him to take a saliva test.
Mansbridge responded in such a way that suggested perhaps he, too, should undergo a saliva test. While declaring the war in Afghanistan was a "crucial public policy issue" that warranted CBC coverage, he added: "Not only has CBC News been covering this conflict . . . for several years before this current government was even elected, the CBC has been reporting on Canadian troops in war and conflict zones for 67 years. War coverage is part of our network's heritage." Good gracious!
From a military point of view, the CBC has not only been negligent in its coverage of our military, it's been downright hostile -- not overtly criticizing, but loaded with "nuance" (a favourite word), eager to depict the military as unnecessary and bumbling.
CBC coverage is at its most lavish when things go wrong.
Despite Peter's boast of 24/7 coverage in Kandahar today, CBC excels in covering the dead -- body bags coming home, coffins being loaded on and off aircraft, funerals, the pain and fears of military families. The CBC is a charter member of "the death watch crowd," obsessed with the fallen. Little on roads, bridges, schools being built. Best of all, when Americans inadvertently kill Canadian soldiers.
Forty-four dead soldiers over three years is extrapolated in the public's mind to the World War II ratio of casualties. Why? Not to honour the military, but to create concern about the military's mission, and the futility of soldiers.
When Canadian soldiers were in Somalia, CBC coverage was minimal until a prisoner was tortured to death.
Courts martial and inquiries dominated CBC coverage until a regiment was disbanded.
The CBC was nowhere to be seen, except for photo visits, when Canadians were in Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo. Peter talks of 67 years of CBC coverage of conflicts. When I was a soldier in the Korean war, the only journalist visible was Canadian Press' Bill Boss.
CBC? Forget it.
Objectively, the CBC's coverage of Canada's military is one of the great shams and shames of our country.
What CBC documentaries exist of Canadian soldiers on foreign missions? None.
The paramount TV documentary-maker of Canadian soldiers overseas is Garth Pritchard, an independent Calgary film producer, every one of whose documentaries (Burma, Somalia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia, Afghanistan) has won important awards, but who is blacklisted by the CBC because he tends to be outspoken.
For Doyle to suggest that CBC News "may have leaned too far in covering the government's lead" is as nonsensical as Mansbridge's 67 years of CBC covering wars and conflicts. (CBC declined to be embedded with troops invading Iraq and quit Baghdad before the bombing began, preferring to use American TV footage and adding their own selective commentary.)
Not brave -- but no personal risk.
Doyle is the TV critic who dislikes Fox News coming to Canada and mocks those whose politics he disagrees with -- like Bill O'Reilly -- while remaining uncritical of CNN commentators who work for Democratic candidates.
What's intriguing in this in-fighting is Mansbridge is a good guy defending the indefensible, while Doyle's scolding what doesn't exist -- the CBC's objectivity.
