Posted at 5:00 p.m.
François Cardinal asserts, in his Notebook of the assistant editor of September 25, that “CBC is considering lifting the obligation of impartiality, but for certain journalists only: those who come from a minority background”.
It is absolutely false.
Impartiality is one of the principles at the heart of our Journalistic Standards and Practices1 (NPJ). That hasn’t changed.
Let’s be clear, the NPJ are the same at CBC/Radio-Canada, whether you work in English or French Services. They apply to all our journalists, regardless of their race, origin or identity.
It is the very foundation of our work and both our Chief Information Officers place equal emphasis on it.
You should know that it is impossible for CBC or Radio-Canada to unilaterally modify the JPS, while a formal and joint review process is planned every five years. Any change must necessarily be approved by the CBC/Radio-Canada Board of Directors.
In the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Plan2 launched recently, we clearly express our ambition to become a more inclusive organisation.
We made a commitment, among other things, to make our newsrooms more inclusive and representative. This involves rigorous internal discussions about how we interpret our journalistic principles through the prism of inclusion. We are proud and grateful to the many journalists and employees of CBC and Radio-Canada, including Black, Indigenous and racialized employees, who are helping to move our organization forward.
However, this does not change the values and principles on which our NPJs are based, namely accuracy, fairness, balance, impartiality and integrity.
Mr. Cardinal’s assertions simply do not reflect reality.
Response from Francois Cardinal
Reading your reply, I should be delighted that you are defending the impartiality of journalists, regardless of their origin.
But on the contrary: what you confirm is that you want to “interpret journalistic principles through the prism of inclusion”. In other words, you do want to grant journalists from minority backgrounds the right to express their opinion.
At the origin of this story, there is a guide that is fundamental to you, the famous “Journalistic standards and practices”.
You write that there is no question of rewriting them, which I know and have never written.
But I also know that CBC has been working for two years to get the NPCs to say what they want.
You acknowledge this in your reply: there have been “rigorous internal discussions” on how to interpret the journalistic principles so that they are more inclusive.
Exactly what I wrote on Sunday. And precisely what Brodie Fenlon, editor of the CBC, wrote two years ago.
In the wake of George Floyd’s death, he said on his blog that “we have heard complaints that our interpretation of Journalistic Standards and Practices is so rigid that it can muzzle voices.”
Mr. Fenlon then wondered whether “our insistence that journalists not express personal opinions runs counter to our goals of inclusion? »
CBC therefore began “an examination of NPCs through the prism of inclusivity”, which has since helped to remove “the obstacles that limit our journalism by excluding perspectives, points of view or lived experiences”, as has said CBC public relations chief Chuck Thompson last June.
In short, you are right to write that the sacred rules of journalism have not been reviewed. What has changed, however, as I wrote in my text, is your interpretation of it.
François Cardinal, Associate Publisher and Vice-President Information, The Press