OTTAWA, May 26, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – “How many gatherings of twenty-two Members of Parliament, and a massive crowd of 3,500 people demonstrating on Parliament Hill would fail to get coverage from the national public broadcaster?” asked Karen Murawsky, the Public Affairs Director for Campaign Life Coalition. Murawsky told LifeSite that the failure of the CBC to cover the event, especially in light of smaller and less significant events which did receive coverage, “had to be intentional”. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was sent press advisories about the May 14 March for Life on May 9 and then a follow-up press release about the march on May 12. LifeSite did a scan of various demonstrations that were given CBC coverage and found many demonstrations of much less significance garnering CBC coverage. Moreover, a LifeSite search of CBC news items from the day of the March for Life and the following day revealed that there were no major stories which could have totally overshadowed the March for Life. A protest against the national gun registry on Parliament Hill on January 2 this year garnered over 2 minutes of coverage on CBC television with only 150 to 200 participants. Two days prior to the March for Life, CBC television covered a cod fish demonstration in Badger’s Quay which was joined by Premier Roger Grimes and had about 300 participants. On May 14 and 15, among other things CBC news devoted coverage to: – “Parliament is delaying plans to decriminalize marijuana until after parliament returns from a one-week break May 26th” – “Health Canada has issued a warning about a popular toy. They’re called yo-yo balls” – “new survey of Canadian drivers suggests the least aggressive drivers are in Quebec.” – “Our panel looks at what didn’t happen in parliament this week”
The March for Life received no coverage on CBC television despite the presence of 3,500 people, 22 Members of Parliament, two Roman Catholic bishops. See the CBC coverage of the cod fish and gun registry demonstrations: https://www.cbc.ca/clips/ram-lo/calvert_fish030513.ram https://www.cbc.ca/clips/ram-lo/kagan_gunreg030101.ram To express your concerns: Office of the Ombudsman P.O. Box 500, Station A Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6 Tel. (416) 205-2978 Fax (416) 205-2825 [email protected]