The testimony of a former journalist at the National Citizens Inquiry on COVID-19 went viral on Twitter thanks to a tweet by Robert F Kennedy Jr..In his testimony, former CBC and CTV correspondent Rodney Palmer exposed how the CBC transformed from news gathering to propaganda..Shortly after 9 am Wednesday, Kennedy tweeted, “Everyone needs to watch this devastating dissection by one of Canada’s leading journalists of how global media icons were transformed into slavish government propagandists during COVID crisis. This testimony should be mandatory in every journalism school.”.The contestant to be the Democratic nominee for US president provided a link to a video prepared by Odessa Orlewicz who hosts “Liberty Talk Canada” on the Librti.com website. .In a follow-up tweet, Kennedy wrote, “The process of government-media propaganda coordination is not limited to Canada, nor to COVID issues.”.Within 10 hours Kennedy's tweet had more than 1.2 million impressions, 20,700 likes and more than 8,000 re-tweets..Palmer said he was testifying about the CBC, but added it applies to most news media in Canada. During a second appearance at the NCI, Palmer shed light on the CBC's use of "chosen experts" who receive government grants, leading to potential biases in reporting. .When former CBC journalist Trish Wood heard Palmer's testimony, she tweeted, “As a former CBC journalist, watching Rodney Palmer's evidence about the corp's fall into absolute corruption was heartbreaking. I knew every word was true but he was so eloquent — I was broken-hearted about my old profession, yet again.Bravo to the #NCI @Inquiry_Canada.”.The inquiry also heard other media-related testimony. Marianne Klowak, a former CBC reporter of more than 30 years, testified about the deterioration of journalistic standards within CBC following the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic. .Former actor/comedian Cathy Jones, who starred on the CBC's This Hour Has 22 Minutes candidly shared her experiences in the work environment and her decision to retire early from CBC. Cathy also expressed her views on media censorship and the lack of investigative journalism over the past three years..In addition, former CBC employee Jean-Philippe Chabot shared his personal journey of losing his job due to his decision not to disclose his vaccine status. Anita Krishna, a former control room director at Global News in Burnaby, BC, described the events that led to her job termination.
