Saturday, October 11, 2008

The CTV - Mike Duffy Boycott...Join in the Fun!

As I've said...We get letters.

-I am organizing a boycott of CTV programming following their decision to air three outtakes of a Halifax news interview with Stephane Dion.

An outtake is discarded 'tape': you've probably seen them at the end of movies -- actors laugh at themselves and each other as they flub lines or miscue. They are standard in all broadcasting, yet these have been strung together by CTV to be used to discredit Dion's knowledge of the issues. (This despite Halifax anchor, Steve Murphy's standard assurances to Dion that the outtakes would be discarded.)

This is not news and is, frankly, a blatantly partisan spin to mispresent a person's abilities and discriminate against their first language and hearing impediment -- and to distract us from real issues.

The airing of these tapes has been objectively condemned by journalist professors such as Stephen Ward (media ethics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Paul Knox (of the Ryerson School of Journalism).

Regardless of your politics, this type of journalism must not be encouraged in Canada, and probably would not even be acceptable in the US. I urge you to speak out against it.

You may send your response to duffy@ctv.ca or newsonline@ctv.ca

Here is a copy of the letter that I sent to CTV. You may adapt it to your purposes (and enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend!)

Susan

I believe your decision to air the Dion outtakes is one of the worst displays of corporate journalism in this country. As a Canadian I was embarrassed by this example of news coverage.

As a consequence, I will be boycotting all CTV programming, and will be organizing a boycott as well. This boycott will be in effect until Mike Duffy apologizes for airing these tapes on his show. The Dion tapes were not news-worthy, and they were obtained through dishonest means.

I am tired of francophones being cut up for their efforts to use the English language. In addition, you have insulted all people with hearing challenges.

This does nothing to ease the tensions between Quebec and the rest of Canada, or help people make a thoughtful, wise decision on how to vote.

17 comments:

Oxford County Liberals said...

I say we start a Facebook Group.

Shawn said...

Why don't you submit a request to the Canadian Broadcaster's Association and file a complaint for bias reporting

Pale said...

I personally stopped looking at CTV network news and their news channel years ago. ( I occasionally watch clips which are commercial free) But let me know if I can do anything to help.
The Corporate owned media needs to be taken down a few pegs.

:)

A Eliz. said...

Good for you! CTV endorsed the Conservatives, so I think this goes further than Duffy,...the war room had this faily fast, so Harper could see it.

cyberwanderer said...

Maybe we can create a logo or ribbon thing to put on our blog.

James Curran said...

These are all wonderful ideas and I will post link all things on this blog if anyone develops some of these ideas.

Chrystal Ocean said...

Like cyberwanderer's idea of creating an image to place on blogs.

Re CTV, which is part of CanWest Global Media group, I haven't a TV but if I did, I'd not watch any of their channels. Don't read any of CanWest's newspapers either - which leaves me slim but still decent pickings. I.e., I go to the independent and alternative online news sites instead. 'Course, the online version of CTV also is taboo in this household.

Never fear that doing this will leave you out of the loop! There's always an obliging blogger or two or three or ... who will keep you abreast of the latest. I just watch that I don't click links which will take me to CTV.ca. :-)

sharonapple88 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sharonapple88 said...

These people obvious have no shame. It would probably be better to send a letter or a petition to the program's sponsers.

Kim_in_TO said...

Before I found the link to your blog, I had already decided to boycott CTV - probably permanently.

Deb Prothero said...

Sent a letter off today.

Ames Way said...

We need to boycott CTV's advertisers. You have to hit them in the wallet otherwise they will ignore you.

Deb Prothero said...

Hi Jim;

One of your readers came over to my blog: http://seeingredinthesouthwest.blogspot.com to ask me what I wrote in my letter to CTV. I said I'd post it in here.

A little sheepish about it though because I was writing something else so I quickly borrowed the words above from Susan and added a couple of sentences.

"Mr. Duffy;

I believe your decision to air the Dion outtakes is one of the worst displays of corporate journalism in this country. As a Canadian I was embarrassed by this example of news coverage. As a former journalist, I am appalled to see how low the standards have fallen.

As a consequence, I will be boycotting all CTV programming, and will be organizing a boycott as well. This boycott will be in effect until Mike Duffy apologizes for airing these tapes on his show. The Dion tapes were not newsworthy, and they were obtained through dishonest means.

I am tired of francophones being cut up for their efforts to use the English language. In addition, you have insulted all people with hearing challenges.

This does nothing to ease the tensions between Quebec and the rest of Canada, or help people make a thoughtful, wise decision on how to vote.

Your obvious glee in this moment of "gotcha" journalism was disappointing to witness. Possibly a return to a journalistic ethics professional development program would serve you well. There are several excellent programs in Canada. One can hold out hope that you can learn what ethics in journalism are."

James Curran said...

Can I blog your letter Deb? I think you've said it all for many of us.

John W said...

Don't forget that CTV and the Globe and Mail are now virtually one, under the same ownership.They are sharing research, reporters, and commentators. They are intertwined and the Globe should not be able to pretend they are at some different level.

Duffy is the poster boy for the operation the dean of Globe/CTV Journalism with the possible exception of Lloyd Robertson.. But Jeffrey Simpson for example should not be able to pretend he is somehow not part of it. Certainly Jane Taber, Brian Laghi, Gloria Galloway, and several other top Globe journalists are all part of the Duffy team.

The two outlets constantly cross promote and cross reference each other.

The total cave-in on the sweater ploy show how all the media are
in the same basic pro Conservative uncritical mindset.

Unknown said...

Here's mine!

Mr. Duffy,

I wanted to let you know that I think it is reprehensible that you broadcast the out takes of Stephane Dion’s interview with the ATV journalist that has now been broadcast all over Canada in this election. That guy’s question was the most poorly worded question I have ever heard! The grammar was atrocious and it is quite understandable that a man for whom English is a second language and who has a mild hearing problem may have a harder time understanding what he was talking about. Since this airing multiple instances of Stephen Harper messing things up in English and in French have surfaced and I don’t think they represent some notion that he is somehow “unfit to lead”

The worst part of it is that your guy made a verbal agreement to not air this bit even after the interview was over – and yet you and/or your organization saw an opportunity to spin this in favor of the party that you so obviously support and you took it plain and simple. In doing so, you threw your journalistic integrity out the window and showed that your show may as well be aired right out of the Conservative war room. Unfortunately in doing so, you only allowed your Master’s true colours to shine through yet again so I hope this shows on election night.

If there is one thing that this Conservative government has been rightfully accused of over the past two years it is the lack of respect for Parliament and the low blow tactics that they have used in their campaign against Dion’s character – before and during the election. Who would have thought that a journalist, whose job it is to be fair and objective and provide us with valuable insights so that we can vote with our hearts, would provide the lowest blow in the campaign and go against his word in order to prop up his favorite candidate’s ridiculous campaign.

I could go on and on here about the obvious bias your show continually shows to the Stephen Harper party and their bizarre personality cult. But I will close by saying that I will NEVER ever watch your show again and I will encourage others to do the same. Perhaps, if you personally apologize to Stephane Dion and the Liberal Party for your journalistic transgression I may consider watching your show again but somehow I doubt that will ever happen.

John McGivern

WindsorLive! said...

We have a Facebook Group and Campaign to Save our Local News and Station and Boycott CTVglobemedia down here in Windsor. They are pulling the plug on our local operations because they are just corporate whores!
Please share your blogs and comments with us at: http://boycottctv.blogspot.com