Amanda Lang Blasts 'Haters' Amid Criticism Of Speaking Gigs

CBC News correspondent Amanda Langhas continued to do paid speaking engagements for companies that "lobby or otherwise influence public policy" after the broadcaster introduced a guideline that banned its journalists from doing so.

And in the middle of criticisms of the gigs, she blasted the "haters" on Twitter.

The prominent CBC personality is the subject of stories by two journalists who say she carried out paid speaking gigs for companies that lobby the federal government, and in a number of cases, that she has covered herself as a reporter.

But the public broadcaster insists the speeches were "grandfathered" — they were booked before the new policy came down in April.

Lang posted this tweet on Monday, the same day that Canadaland's Sean Craig, one of the two journalists, posted a story about her.

Twenty years of credible journalism speaks for itself. But your public broadcaster can't. It's time to voice your support. The haters hate.

— Amanda Lang (@AmandaLang_CBC) December 23, 2014

CBC started a review of its on-air personalities' speaking engagements after it emerged that Rex Murphy had made an oilsands-friendly speech in Lake Louise andPeter Mansbridge had been paid to speak by an oil and gas lobby.

The public broadcaster subsequently announced new policies around paid speeches.

Following that announcement, Lang carried out two paid engagements as a moderator for seminars organized by insurance company Manulife in July and August, Canadaland reported.

Just a short time later, Lang interviewed Donald Guloien, Manulife's president and CEO, and gave him an "uncritical platform" to talk about its asset management business, without disclosing her paid engagements on the air, Craig said.

He went on to show that Guloien is registered as a lobbyist for Manulife Financial Corporation by the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada.

CBC spokesperson Chuck Thompson told Canadaland that Lang's Manulife engagements had been "grandfathered" because they were booked before the broadcaster came up with its new policy.

But Craig noted that Lang had another speaking engagement with insurance company Sun Life on Nov. 24, just over a month after she interviewed CEO Dean Connor on the air, in what he called "ridiculously positive" coverage.

Connor is also a registered lobbyist.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.ca/
Author: Jesse Ferreras