by arthur Weinreb, associate Editor,
april 26, 2004
When U.S. President George W. Bush announced that he was endorsing Israeli Prime Minister ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza and most of the West Bank and scuttled the right of Palestinians to return to Israel proper, the anti-american, anti-Israel network got to take shots at both Bush and Sharon. In an article that appeared on CBC’s website on april 15, CBC gave its typical one-sided view of the proposal. Yassir arafat’s position was given as well as a lengthy quote from Palestinian Prime Minister ahmed Qureia who, needless to say, was against the proposal. No quotes from the Israeli government were provided, nor was there even a mention of Israel’s security concerns. The CBC characterized Sharon’s plan as it always characterizes Israel’s position on the West Bank and Gaza--as a pure land grab.
Even the left-wing Toronto Star mentioned Israel’s security concerns when it reported Bush’s endorsement of the proposed unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
It is simply amazing how CBC flaks like Tony Burman can appear on television and, with a straight face, deny the CBC is ever biased.
Meaningless bit of news
The new and debatably improved Toronto Sun is making greater use of exceptionally brief items in columns such as "World briefs" and "Sun briefs". The following brief appeared in the april 18 Sunday Sun:
Torso suspect
LONDON — Daniel archer, 53, appeared in a British court yesterday charged with murdering a Somali woman, Nasra Ismail, 27, whose torso was found in a suitcase floating in a canal.
While many of these short items are interesting little clips, many, like the above, provide more questions than they do answers. Of all the murders that take place in the world on a daily basis, what makes this one worthy of inclusion in a Toronto paper? Did the suspect and the victim know each other? More importantly, what is the relevance of the fact that the woman was Somali? Was she killed because she was Somali or black or was this just a gratuitous description? Extremely short tidbits like this are nothing more than space-fillers. Is this what the Toronto Sun means by "newsier"?
Svend Robinson update
Immediately after Svend’s confession of "pocketing" an expensive ring at an auction, the media overflowed with articles from doctors psychiatrists who attempted to explain why Robinson, and other people like him, do what they do. Some articles went so far as to attempt to diagnose the British Columbia MP.
aside from diagnosing a person whom they had never met, the media rushed to publish these articles after Robinson’s confession without any effort at all to make sure they had all the facts. The basis of these articles relied only on Svend Robinson’s version of events.
after the articles were published, a B.C. jeweller came forward to say that Robinson had been at his store shortly before the Good Friday theft and said that he wished to buy either an engagement ring or a wedding ring for his partner, Max Riveron whom he intended to marry once same-sex marriages became legal. The jeweller designed a ring and told Robinson of its approximate $10,000 cost. Robinson then left the store.
Surely the fact that Robinson was looking at expensive rings and wasn’t willing, at least initially, to buy one, is relevant to his theft of an even more expensive ring. It would have been better for the media to have waited to make sure that they had all the facts in before publishing articles in an attempt to minimize the actions of the controversial NDP MP.
CBC gets 2 for 1
When U.S. President George W. Bush announced that he was endorsing Israeli Prime Minister ariel Sharon’s plan to withdraw from Gaza and most of the West Bank and scuttled the right of Palestinians to return to Israel proper, the anti-american, anti-Israel network got to take shots at both Bush and Sharon. In an article that appeared on CBC’s website on april 15, CBC gave its typical one-sided view of the proposal. Yassir arafat’s position was given as well as a lengthy quote from Palestinian Prime Minister ahmed Qureia who, needless to say, was against the proposal. No quotes from the Israeli government were provided, nor was there even a mention of Israel’s security concerns. The CBC characterized Sharon’s plan as it always characterizes Israel’s position on the West Bank and Gaza--as a pure land grab.
Even the left-wing Toronto Star mentioned Israel’s security concerns when it reported Bush’s endorsement of the proposed unilateral withdrawal from Gaza.
It is simply amazing how CBC flaks like Tony Burman can appear on television and, with a straight face, deny the CBC is ever biased.