CBC runs baseless story with no regard for facts or truth
Published Saturday June 6th, 2009
SAINT JOHN - On May 12 the Telegraph-Journal published a story about a group of professors at the University of New Brunswick who were upset about the fact that Premier Shawn Graham was receiving an honorary degree.
The story, written by a summer intern named Matt McCann, contained a number of factual errors - the misspelling of university secretary Stephen Strople's name, his title and the full slate of degrees held by Premier Shawn Graham. In addition, the story did not adequately portray both sides of the story.
"These kinds of errors of fact and judgment don't constitute acceptable journalism at the Telegraph-Journal. We must cover stories with integrity, clarity and absolute accuracy," Shawna Richer, the newspaper's editor, said.
In a conversation that day with Richer, McCann acknowledged the errors but "did not seem to fully grasp the seriousness of them," Richer said. "He was not a first-year intern. He worked here last summer. We expected more of him."
Based on his performance, a decision was made to terminate his summer employment, and he was informed of that decision the next morning, on May 13.
Subsequently, in the days following, McCann's dismissal was a news item on the CBC Saint John morning show, followed by a commentary by former Telegraph-Journal editor Mark Tunney, who said that McCann must have been let go, not because of mistakes in his story, but because the story made the governing Liberals upset and they in turn complained to the Irving family, the newspaper's owners.
Tunney said that Irving business interests depend on a good relationship with the provincial government, and he suggested that the newspaper was pressured to fire Mr. McCann.
"The allegation is untrue," Richer said. "Mr. McCann was let go because he didn't perform to expectations. This is a personnel issue."
In the past two days, McCann has appeared on the CBC television and radio news, saying only that he doesn't believe he was fired for reasons given by the editor, but not speculating further.
Tunney has repeatedly called McCann "a scapegoat."
The Telegraph-Journal stands by its decision to fire McCann for the performance reasons outlined.
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Comments (34)
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Last week the Moncton Times and Transcript ran an editorial stating New Brunswick has no full fledged CBC station. The only problem is we have...since 1994. Based on Ms. Richer's statement the entire editorial staff at the TnT now must be fired because of their poor fact checking and less than absolute accuracy. The McCann issue has dealt another serious blow to the Telegraph's credibility.
As a frequent news-reader, I see many clarifications posted in this paper and in the Times and Transcript and DAily Gleaner. These clarifications cover a wide variety of errors - from misspelled names, to out and out mistakes.
People understand that mistakes happen. It's impossible to believe that every story that runs will be 100 percent accurate, because people make mistakes. The peopel who speak to reporters make mistakes. Reporters make mistakes. Editors make mistakes.
From what I've read about McCann's experience, this response seems slightly bogus. There's more here than meets the eye. I think this is another example of the great power wielded by institutions like the provincial government and the University of New Brunswick.
I hope somebody else doesn't lose their job over this. ;-)
"In addition, the story did not adequately portray both sides of the story." And this paper does this when the name Irving is involved, yeah right!
The buck stops with the Editor, in my mind.
You know what. The Editor and Irving should be waterboarded for crimes against intelligence. Pathetic. Simply pathetic!
The Mad Ape
These guys have a team of lawyers who are tasked with milking the public treasury of as much money as they can get.
The Mad Ape