Backbench independent MP Peter Goldring (formerly a Conservative) has a problem with the CBC. Specifically, Goldring said it’s time to consider “whether the CBC is with Canadians or against” in light of a report it aired last week regarding a military skit poking fun at Osama bin Laden.
Last week, the CBC reported on a video some members of the Canadian Forces created that featured one soldier painted in brown face pretending to be Osama bin Laden’s “brother.” The video was recorded in 2010. As the CBC also reported, the video was immediately recognized by the military as offensive. Those who took part in it were reprimanded, and the target of the skit was issued an apology.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Thursday that, “I know the contents of this video do not represent the wider military community and its leadership.”
Goldring appears to agree with that, and in a statement released Tuesday, blames the CBC for “inciting hate and hurting the Arab community worldwide by blasting this video out through national media to be picked up internationally.”
“This video was meant as nothing more than a little black humour intended for a private audience,” Goldring said in his statement released to reporters Tuesday afternoon. “The Canadian military didn’t make this video public, The CBC did. (sic) The CBC, who did the right thing to report it to the Canadian military, then had the opportunity to do the next right thing and simply put this video in the garbage can without the rest of the copies where it belongs.”
Instead, he said, by “engaging in yellow journalism and irresponsibly disseminating it for the world to see, the CBC hurt Canada’s image, our military’s image, and unnecessarily offended Arab’s (sic) around the world.”
The CBC, Goldring alleges, was “propagating racism.”
Goldring then goes on to point the finger at Shaun Majumder, an actor on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, who the MP said “has portrayed bin Laden as an Arab himself. The CBC attempted to detonate a racist scandal where there simply was none to be found.”
Majumder was asked for reaction.
“What were they thinking?” he said. “Of course people are going to be offended at that… You know what, when you are in the workplace, and especially it’s the military, you’ve got to have some sensitivity to the current world that we live in.”
Majumder pointed to the black face paint as a point of concern.
“To me, I’m personally not offended,” he said. “For me, in the world of standup, nothing is necessarily sacred, it’s more about y’know, being aware of who your audience is.”
To put his remark about Majumder “in perspective,” Goldring said Tuesday that late Canadian comedic actor Leslie Nielsen also portrayed Osama bin Laden on film. “Does that make him decidedly racist or insensitive? No, in fact he is recognized on Canada’s Walk of Fame and has also received an Order of Canada,” Goldring said.
He wraps up his statement by calling on the prime minister to “call up the CBC to issue a sweeping apology to not only our military but our entire country…. It’s time to consider whether the CBC is with Canadians or against.”
While Goldring’s statement is the first from an MP on the matter, it isn’t the first public rebuke of the CBC’s coverage.
Sun News’ Ezra Levant struck a very similar tone in a column on Monday, saying it was “obvious” why the CBC held on to the video after it received it, and only – he said – reported the story later “in order to release it as a big, breathless exclusive right before Remembrance Day.”
“It was the CBC’s way of showing what it thinks of our Canadian Forces,” Levant wrote. “That they’re a bunch of racist pigs.”
Still, even Levant notes that before it aired the video, the CBC “called the military police to come watch the video at the CBC offices.” Levant alleges that this was an attempt to pitch the story to the police in the hopes that charges would be laid.
Levant also had a problem with the CBC’s apparent “editorializing”.
“The most common word in the CBC’s report was ‘offensive’,” Levant wrote. “But that’s not reporting. Reporting is telling the facts. Saying, again and again, that a video was offensive, is offering opinion.”
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Colin Horgan
Last week, the CBC reported on a video some members of the Canadian Forces created that featured one soldier painted in brown face pretending to be Osama bin Laden’s “brother.” The video was recorded in 2010. As the CBC also reported, the video was immediately recognized by the military as offensive. Those who took part in it were reprimanded, and the target of the skit was issued an apology.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Thursday that, “I know the contents of this video do not represent the wider military community and its leadership.”
Goldring appears to agree with that, and in a statement released Tuesday, blames the CBC for “inciting hate and hurting the Arab community worldwide by blasting this video out through national media to be picked up internationally.”
“This video was meant as nothing more than a little black humour intended for a private audience,” Goldring said in his statement released to reporters Tuesday afternoon. “The Canadian military didn’t make this video public, The CBC did. (sic) The CBC, who did the right thing to report it to the Canadian military, then had the opportunity to do the next right thing and simply put this video in the garbage can without the rest of the copies where it belongs.”
Instead, he said, by “engaging in yellow journalism and irresponsibly disseminating it for the world to see, the CBC hurt Canada’s image, our military’s image, and unnecessarily offended Arab’s (sic) around the world.”
The CBC, Goldring alleges, was “propagating racism.”
Goldring then goes on to point the finger at Shaun Majumder, an actor on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, who the MP said “has portrayed bin Laden as an Arab himself. The CBC attempted to detonate a racist scandal where there simply was none to be found.”
Majumder was asked for reaction.
“What were they thinking?” he said. “Of course people are going to be offended at that… You know what, when you are in the workplace, and especially it’s the military, you’ve got to have some sensitivity to the current world that we live in.”
Majumder pointed to the black face paint as a point of concern.
“To me, I’m personally not offended,” he said. “For me, in the world of standup, nothing is necessarily sacred, it’s more about y’know, being aware of who your audience is.”
To put his remark about Majumder “in perspective,” Goldring said Tuesday that late Canadian comedic actor Leslie Nielsen also portrayed Osama bin Laden on film. “Does that make him decidedly racist or insensitive? No, in fact he is recognized on Canada’s Walk of Fame and has also received an Order of Canada,” Goldring said.
He wraps up his statement by calling on the prime minister to “call up the CBC to issue a sweeping apology to not only our military but our entire country…. It’s time to consider whether the CBC is with Canadians or against.”
While Goldring’s statement is the first from an MP on the matter, it isn’t the first public rebuke of the CBC’s coverage.
Sun News’ Ezra Levant struck a very similar tone in a column on Monday, saying it was “obvious” why the CBC held on to the video after it received it, and only – he said – reported the story later “in order to release it as a big, breathless exclusive right before Remembrance Day.”
“It was the CBC’s way of showing what it thinks of our Canadian Forces,” Levant wrote. “That they’re a bunch of racist pigs.”
Still, even Levant notes that before it aired the video, the CBC “called the military police to come watch the video at the CBC offices.” Levant alleges that this was an attempt to pitch the story to the police in the hopes that charges would be laid.
Levant also had a problem with the CBC’s apparent “editorializing”.
“The most common word in the CBC’s report was ‘offensive’,” Levant wrote. “But that’s not reporting. Reporting is telling the facts. Saying, again and again, that a video was offensive, is offering opinion.”
Original Article
Source: ipolitics
Author: Colin Horgan
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