The CBC's Ombudsman is cautioning the CBC reconsider how it reports news that portrays the government’s critics as being very extreme or untrustworthy..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the advisory comes after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's attempt in the 2021 election to serve as a political fact-checker..“I will take this opportunity to stress to programmers at CBC they assume a great responsibility when they choose to use terms such as ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ in their stories,” wrote Ombudsman Jack Nagler. .“When they do so, they had better be right because if it turns out, down the road, the information proved to be correct, they can do great damage to their reputation.”.CBC News should reconsider the use of the term “far-right” in stories, added Nagler. Simple presentation of facts is preferable so “readers can judge for themselves who is reasonable and who is extreme rather than declaring it for them.”.“Labels should be employed with great caution,” Nagler wrote in a notice Theory Or Conspiracy Theory? .“Sometimes it would be safer to say there is no evidence for something rather than proclaiming it to be false.”.The Ombudsman’s comments followed complaints over an August 25, 2022, story by CBC Montreal reporter Jonathan Montpetit..The online article was headlined, Canada’s Convoy Movement Waved the Dutch Flag, then Conspiracy Theories Swirled About Fertilizer and Bugs. It purported to document “deliberate attempts to sow confusion about government policies” by “far-right media” and “conservative politicians.”.The article named Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew-Nipissing, ON), Alberta Transport Minister Devin Dreeshen, the Toronto Sun, the Western Standard, Rebel News Network, Farmers Forum, and the Counter Signal..None were asked for comment. “Didn’t CBC have an obligation to go interview people who support the convoy?” wrote Ombudsman Nagler..The labels on articles came after Facebook Canada chose CBC News as a fact checker during the 2021 election..Radio Canada, the French language part of the network, would comment on how other media outlets covered the campaign..“When a fact-checker rates a piece of content as false, we significantly reduce its distribution so that fewer people can see it,” Facebook wrote in its 2021 Canadian Election Integrity Initiative. .“We notify people who try to share the content or previously shared it that the information is false and we apply a warning label that links to the fact checkers’ article disproving the claim.”.In 2019 Commons Heritage committee hearings, Catherine Tait, CEO of the CBC, said the Crown broadcaster became a “beacon for truth” in a stormy sea of disinformation. .“How do we protect and defend our citizenry from this unbelievable tsunami of disinformation? In a sense, we become a beacon for truth,” said Tait. .“We need the public to feel safe, that we are a beacon for that truth.”
