by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
June 18, 2004
In a segment of "Backstory" on The National, Susan Ormiston took a look at media bias as it pertains to coverage of the federal election campaign. In a condescending giggly tone, Ormiston showed opinions from three people who said respectively that the CBC is too far to the right, too far to the left and just right. She then giggled some more while explaining that bias is in the eye of the beholder. Susan is obviously a team player who helps disseminate the myth that there is no such thing as bias in the network’s coverage and since people can be found with different opinions, to talk about bias at the CBC is just silly.
Having a CBC reporter examining bias in the media is akin to having Saddam Hussein investigate past human rights abuses in Iraq. Unlike Ormiston, Saddam would at least understand the irony.
Susan Ormiston either doesn’t understand bias or didn’t think that it was important to distinguish between fact and opinion. The problem of bias arises when the media expresses its opinions disguised as straight news. at the conclusion of the segment that dealt mainly with newspapers, Ormiston haughtily explained that the CBC tracks the amount of time that is given to each political party, implying that somehow the content of that coverage was not particularly relevant. Fairness it seems, is nothing more than equal time given to all parties.
Ormiston interviewed Professor Stuart Siroka of McGill University, who is conducting a media study. Siroka used two newspapers, the Calgary Herald, and the Toronto Star as examples of his research. Professor Siroka found that the pro-Conservative editorial bias of the Herald made its way into news stories. He also found that a similar pro-Liberal bias at the Toronto Star also made its way into hard news stories.
Following Siroka’s observations, the segment moved to the Star’s Managing Editor, Mary Deanne Shears, who denied that her paper had a bias in favour of the Liberal Party. Shears said that the Toronto Star was a small "l" liberal newspaper, interested in social justice, blah, blah, blah.
While Mary Deanne Shears appeared twice in the segment, Ormiston did not bother contacting the Calgary Herald to allow that newspaper to respond to the results of Professor Siroka’s study. If she did contact the Herald and they refused to respond, she should have said so. The Conservative leaning Calgary Herald was not afforded the same right to respond to Siroka’s findings that the left wing Toronto Star was given. The segment on bias was itself overtly biased. Is it asking too much to expect that a report on bias not be biased?
Susie seemed to enjoy the unfair and one-sided segment--she certainly giggled enough.