Just like Stephen Harper, CTV’s word is worthless

Below is an article in which CTV attempts to justify saying one thing and doing another, namely playing an out-take of a flubbed interview with Stephen Dion it promised it would not. What does that tell you about CTV’s journalistic ethics?

I had a similar experience with CTV on the campaign trail, albeit on a different scale, but every bit as revealing about CTV’s ethics.

CTV had arranged to have a televised Virtual Town Hall meeting with all the candidates in Whitby-Oshawa. It had been confirmed and agreed to. About one hour after the first debate in Whitby Oshawa at Sinclair Secondary School had not gone too well for Jim Flaherty, my campaign manager received a phone call saying that the arrangedVirtual Town Hall meeting was being cancelled because “ a couple of the candidates weren’t able to make it”. Never being one to accept things at face value, I then phoned the other candidates to confirm whether this was in fact true. Whereupon O learne that what CTV had said, was not true.

I then called CTV and had them repeat their original lie, for why they said the event was being cancelled, at which point I caught them in their bold faced lie. I should have recorded the conversation. It would have made great gotcha journalism.....just like CTV seems to favour in the case of breaking their word with Stephane Dion.

Perhaps CTV’s total lack of ethics and breaking of promises is an organizational thing that derives from its owners, BCE and Teachers’, who seem to have no problem about concealing bids that they received from Catalyst Asset Management as part of their so-called "public auction process" or reneging on some $1 billion of dividends that had been promised to BCE shareholders as an integral part of the “winning bid” in the LBO of BCE.

BTW how is that “winning bid” doing these days?

I have been slightly out of touch doing that past five weeks, trying to bring some honesty to Canadian politics, only to find that CTV is in bed with the Harper government, just like BCE and Teachers’ themselves. If not, what government in their right mind would ever have approved a deal that turned its major telecommunications carrier into a junk bond basket case or would have allowed a pension fund to brazenly break its own Federal Pension Regulations by acquiring 50% of a company when its regulations are very clear that it can not exceed 30% ownership of such a company? Only takes a corrupt government in Ottawa to make possible the impossible, or to brazenly say one thing and to do the exact opposite?

CTV airs defence of its decision to broadcast Dion's fumbling interview
Canadian Press
9 hours ago

HALIFAX — CTV News broadcast a defence Thursday of its decision to air the stuttering start of an interview it did last week with Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.

Three executives at CTV News told Thursday's 6 p.m. newscast in the Maritimes that it had a responsibility to show the public the pre-recorded interview with Dion on Oct. 9, five days before election day.

"We decided that it was important that CTV News not hide anything during an election campaign," said Robert Hurst, president of CTV News.

The interview, which was restarted four times because Dion didn't understand a question about the economy from anchor Steve Murphy, was originally broadcast in the Maritimes, although it was later seen across the country.

On the news that night, Murphy said the network had indicated to the Liberals that it would not broadcast the fumbling start of the English-language interview.