The management of CBC/Radio-Canada has created a malaise in its Ottawa-Gatineau station. Newsroom employees were invited to participate in a march memory of the victims of residential schools for Aboriginals on Thursday, despite their duty of reserve written black on white in the Journalistic Standards and Practices (NPJ) of the public broadcaster.
“I’m not questioning the value of this day, but from a journalistic point of view, there is an obvious discomfort in being invited to participate,” said an employee of the station’s newsroom. ‘Ottawa/Gatineau, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal from his employer.
All of the station’s employees, in all sectors, received an email on Tuesday – including The duty got a copy — inviting them to participate in the “orange shirt march” in recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Organized by the Equity and Inclusion Department of CBC’s Indigenous Bureau and the Diversity and Inclusion Department of Radio-Canada, the event was intended to “raise awareness of the legacy of residential schools and pay tribute to the thousands of survivors”.
‘Not a protest’
At the stroke of noon Thursday, about twenty people marched in downtown Ottawa, led by the big boss of CBC / Radio-Canada, Catherine Tait, dressed in an orange sweater. . Questioned by The dutythe latter refused to answer our questions, contenting herself with indicating that it was “not a demonstration” and that it was on her “lunch hour”.
” I see [cette invitation] as a lack of consideration or a lack of understanding of journalistic work”, indicates for his part the employee with whom The duty entertained. He recalls that impartiality is one of the fundamental principles of the NPJ.
Several of his colleagues in the newsroom share his criticisms. One of them, however, said he was divided on the situation. “I understand the discomfort in the middle, but it does not shock me”, drops the one who also requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.
She admits to having been surprised when she discovered the invitation to the march, but explains that she then “realized that it’s part of this new tendency, stronger on the English side at CBC, to be without embarrassment in relation to the mission of the public broadcaster to represent Canadian diversity”.
She gives as an example the fact that the CBC logo now takes on the colors of the rainbow flag, a symbol of LGBTQ + people, during Pride Week. “We are in the idea of pride, of representation, and not in the demonstration. There is a nuance, I believe. Recall that under the leadership of President and CEO Catherine Tait, the Crown corporation has accelerated its diversity and inclusion shift since 2018.
“I see above all a clumsiness on the part of the management, she continues. I think we wanted to warn all employees of the organization of this march, but we could have done it without inviting the journalistic community to participate. »
Questioned once again on the fact of having invited its journalists to take sides by participating in this event, the management of CBC/Radio-Canada replied, through its spokesperson Leon Mar, that “journalists an integral part of CBC / Radio-Canada and that is why they receive these communications. Their status as journalists requires them to take our Journalistic Standards and Practices into consideration before deciding whether or not to participate in such an event. »
Journalistic neutrality
“If office or service employees, or even Mme Tait, wish to support certain causes, good for them But that we encourage the employees of the information service to do it, there it is another thing ”, comments the former director of information of Radio-Canada , Alain Saulnier.
In his eyes, this invitation to the march marks a “break in the history of the application of the NPJ at Radio-Canada”. Traditionally, journalists can neither campaign nor give their opinion either through their reports or on their social networks. They have this duty of reserve, which consists in not displaying publicly what they think.
“At the same time, these are increasingly delicate questions because some causes are more universal than others. There is a difference between demonstrating to demand more social housing and marching to affirm a relationship of equals with indigenous peoples. But where do we stop in this case? Which cause becomes more acceptable than another? We are opening Pandora’s box, in my opinion,” says Mr. Saulnier.
Wouldn’t this be precisely the opportunity for the journalistic community to seriously consider the question, launches for his part the president of the Professional Federation of Journalists of Quebec (FPJQ), Michaël Nguyen. “Can it be acceptable for a journalist to participate as an individual and not as a journalist, in certain apolitical causes or movements, for example? »
He understands that the subject remains very delicate and issues a warning to journalists. “Our actions have a greater impact than on our own person because we all represent our profession. It’s important to be careful to preserve our neutrality and our appearance of neutrality,” he says, especially in a context of growing distrust of the media.
With Boris Proulx