Campaign Life Coalition is a national Pro-life Organization which works in the political
arena to obtain protection for all human life from conception to natural death.
We believe that the news coverage offered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is
biased against pro-life people of Canada. We have isolated just a few very recent examples
of what we consider to be this type of reporting and ask you to look at them with us and
examine the role the CBC plays in influencing Canadians with presentations which incorrectly
portray the pro-life message and unfairly depict pro-life individuals.
October 24, 1998
After the shooting death of Barnett Slepian, Campaign Life Coalition issued a press release
in which President James Hughes stated, “We condemn the shooting of the Buffalo abortionist
and all acts of violence against those involved in the abortion industry.”
The CBC newscasts that day, at 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. had a clip with Mr. Hughes as he decried
the violence, and commented upon how we might comprehend the anger of those who are injured
by abortion.
In later broadcasts of 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. his declaration against violence was omitted, and
it was made to appear that Campaign Life Coalition sympathized with the murderer(s). Not
only that – one well-known pro-abortion picketer screaming outside Campaign Life Coalition
offices held a Campaign Life Coalition sign. In the clip it was left to look as if she was
a pro-life protester.
Sins of omission can have deadly results – in this case a twisted, inaccurate, damaging
report.
November 13, 1998
CBC Radio, on November 13, 1998, at 9:30 a.m., discussed “anti-abortion” violence for one
hour. Chief among the witnesses was Will Offley of Vancouver. Mr. Offley has made a career
of trying to label the Canadian Pro-Life Movement as violent, while hiding his own ties to
the violent pro-abortion group in the US called “Refuse and Resist.” The radio program
failed to offer opportunity for rebuttal against the incredible charges put by Mr. Offley.
This program represented one-sided, unbalanced and unfair reporting.
January 19, 1999
A documentary was aired in connection with the shooting of abortionist Barnett Slepian. It
was on the National Magazine and entitled “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” The program was composed
of reactionary, biased coverage using film clips crafted in such a way as to make peaceful
pro-life demonstrators in Canada appear to be violent, cursing mobs.
An attempt was made to connect Canadian pro-life organizations to a radical American group. The Canadian film clips were out of context and in one case showed a pro-abortion “rent-a-mob” and gave the impression that these were unruly pro-lifers. The sign in the crowd, “Keep Abortion Legal” gave away the true origins. To quote one TV watcher, “It is telling that the only video clip that could be found showing frenzied, hating, screaming agitators (was one of) pro-abortion demonstrators (listen to the words). Brigid Kane, Sillery, Quebec.
It has been suspected that Will Offley, the radical BC pro-abortion activist and media type
was involved with this program, and indeed on January 15th, in a widely distributed E-Mail,
he cackled at the “expose” to be aired which he said would show, “…the connections between
mainstream Canadian anti-abortion groups and some of the most dangerous of their
counterparts in the US”. He revealed generally unknown details of the program scheduled for
January 19th on the CBC.
The show did indeed attempt to establish such links, although there was not one instance of
violence by Canadian pro-lifers mentioned on the program. There has been no major act of
violence by pro-lifers in thirty years.
“Thou Shalt Not Kill”, we believe, is an insult to the Corporation and an insult to CBC
watchers. It is an affront to all people who are inclined to believe what they see on
television and reveals discrimination against pro-life people of Canada.
February 3, 1999
CBC News Magazine with Carol Off, interviewed Maria Cursillo, manager of a Toronto abortion
site, who, the reporter said, had been, “harassed for years by elements in the anti-abortion
movement in Canada. She had death threats.” This claim was never substantiated and none of
the accused (the whole pro-life population of Canada) were interviewed concerning these
accusations.
If the CBC is looking for violence, we ask them to look at the violence of an abortion.
This particular news item stands as a prime example of biased, one-sided work. Ms. Off’s
story followed on the heels of her earlier work “Thou Shalt Not Kill.”
March 5, 1999
CBC The National at 12:18 a.m. (March 6) with Adrienne Arsenault had the same theme as the
February 3rd item – that “anti-abortion” individuals are harassing abortion providers and
in this case, staff at the Hamilton Spectator. The news story provided no evidence and did
not have any interviews with individuals who could correct or respond to these allegations.
Wherein can one find balance in this kind of reporting?
April 25, 1999
CBC Radio News, 9 a.m. reported on a pro-life event in New York and said that sixty thousand
invitations were sent out but the numbers were way down. The reporter failed to tell the
number who did attend – forty thousand. Is it objective to ignore a gathering of forty
thousand people on any issue?
May 6, 1999
On As It Happens there was a long interview by Mary Lou Finlay with a writer from Esquire
Magazine concerning James Kopp, wanted at that time for questioning in the murder of
Slepian. The reporter referred to pro-lifers as those who, “…think those in jail did the
right thing. Those in jail are folklore heroes for killings or damage to clinics.”
Did the reporter ever speak of those in jail like Linda Gibbons, prisoner of conscience, who
has served most of the last five years for peacefully praying at an abortion site? Not at
all!
May 14, 1999
We have a Media Search Report from Bowdens Media Monitoring for the day of May 14, 1999.
Bowdens is a well-respected service and does a thorough job in radio and TV monitoring. On
May 14th, called “Canada’s Day of Infamy,” two thousand five hundred people from every
province in Canada joined the March for Life to Parliament Hill to demand protection for all
human life. There were as well the most wonderful visuals on “The Hill”, over 400 hand made
Precious Life Quilts arrayed on 8 foot scaffolding and totally surrounding the green lawn.
It behooves us to wonder why there was a total of 95 seconds coverage of this event by the
CBC when another large private broadcaster could give excellent coverage totaling as high as
five and one half minutes? This was a national event, speaking to federal lawmakers, with a
large national attendance in the national capital of Canada and the national broadcasting
service couldn’t find time to give a decent report of something that was happening right
under its nose!
Conclusion:
We are not saying only that the CBC lacks a balance in reporting on certain issues. We are
saying that when it concerns the matter of abortion, the killing of a child in the womb, the
CBC has a strong pro-abortion bias. To maintain that bias is morally wrong, unfair and an
example of the poorest of journalism. Is the CBC afraid of truth? We have to believe so.
To retain its licence, the CBC must correct the bias and present fair and honest and
balanced coverage relating to the issue of abortion.
Presented by Karen Murawsky
National Director of Public Affairs, Campaign Life Coalition