It’s embarrassing to see what the CBC has become.
Readers of this blog have become well aware of my own criticism of what I see as the declining standard of journalism and impartiality that has beset the CBC for some time now… reflecting more and more an activist, far left radical point of view.
I have even repeatedly referred to the CBC The National news program as “the unofficial voice of the NDP”.
And now, a Jewish media monitoring organization, Honest Reporting Canada, has levelled even more serious charges against the CBC in the case of an “interview” done by Gloria Macarenko on the CBC Vancouver radio program On the Coast.
On April 17, the program featured a 12-minute interview Macarenko did with Yipeng Ge, whom Honest Reporting has described as a “leading anti-Israel propagandist.”
Now, I see nothing wrong with featuring such an interview IF the normal standards of journalism apply: not letting the guest just rant, but challenging their statements, assertions and calling out or at least questioning apparent lies or misstatements.
But HRC contends … and I agree with them … that did not happen at all in what I would call a terrible interview done by Macarenko.
”During the interview, Ge accused Israel of executing Gaza doctors, stated at least eight times that Jerusalem was committing genocide, and claimed Israel was intentionally starving Gaza. He was not challenged a single time by his host,” HRC stated.
”In November, Ge was suspended by the University of Ottawa for posting on social media ‘from the river to the sea’, a statement that is widely seen as calling for the destruction of Israel and, as such, can be reasonably viewed as calling for genocide against Jews,” HRC contended.
The Jewish media monitoring group called Ge, an Ottawa doctor who briefly volunteered in Gaza in February, a “leading advocate for the destruction of Israel”.
Yet … and what made this broadcast most deplorable as HRC has complained .., is that for 12 minutes Ge was allowed “to spew venomous anti-Israel disinformation with no pushback at all.”
I agree.
I listened to the “interview” Sunday and must say I believe it failed miserably, in terms of journalism and just plain fairness.
Macarenko just let Ge rant completely unchallenged, make all kinds of outrageous accusations … several not borne out by any proven official findings … without a single question, critical analysis or even a raised doubt of anything he said.
HRC concluded Ge “made accusations so extreme that listeners could be forgiven for thinking they were listening to official Hamas propaganda, and not a publicly funded broadcaster.”
I believe Macarenko should be ashamed of herself: her 12 minute say-anything-you-want offering to this anti-Israel hate monger on the CBC’s public airwaves was not only a journalistic disgrace, for not challenging ANYTHING he spewed, but in my view is exactly the kind of unchecked hate speech that has fostered the growth of anti-Semitism in Canada.
(The entire broadcast is available on the Honest Reporting Canada website: I urge anyone really interested in seeing how journalism has descended into just one-sided propaganda at the CBC to give it a listen.)
Does the CBC not have ANY standards of fairness or impartiality anymore?
This broadcast MUST be investigated for breach of CBC broadcast standards; any unproven statements, charges and accusations that were spewed out by Ge over the public airwaves MUST be delineated and identified openly by the CBC; and Macarenko’s failure to do her job as a real journalist in this puffball piece of anti-Israel hate propaganda, MUST be repudiated by the public broadcaster.
Harv Oberfeld
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