TV reporter suspended for praising Canadian mission in Afghanistan

[grayrc]

Top TV reporter suspended for praising Cdn Afghanistan mission

Radio-Canada reporter hit for backing Afghan mission:

OTTAWA (Reuters) - One of Canada's top television reporters has been suspended from her job for praising the country's increasingly troubled military mission in Afghanistan, La Presse newspaper reported on Friday.

Christine St-Pierre, a veteran Ottawa correspondent for French-language public broadcaster Radio-Canada, wrote an open letter to Canada's 2,300 troops telling them to ignore mounting criticism of the mission.

Five Canadian soldiers were killed last weekend, prompting ever louder calls for Ottawa to review the mission. One opposition party wants the troops to come back next February, two years ahead of schedule.

"We owe you all our respect and our unfailing support ... dear soldiers, your tears are not in vain, your tears are brave," St-Pierre wrote in the letter, which La Presse published on Thursday.

Radio-Canada suspended her for breaching internal rules that stipulate employees are not allowed to express their opinions on controversial issues, La Presse said. No one at Radio-Canada was immediately available for comment.

St-Pierre told the paper she knew she had gone too far and said she could no longer be objective when it came to reporting on events in Afghanistan.

"I don't think I'll be covering this story again," she said.

Full Story Here: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/08092006/6/n-canada-radio-canada-reporter-hit-backing-afghan-mission.html

/grayrc

 

[probum non poenitet]

Does anyone know where to get a full-text copy of the letter? Translated to English would be a bonus.

 

[couchcommander]

Funny, because stories like this:

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/08/31/layton-mission.html

NDP Leader Jack Layton says Canada should pull its troops out of Afghanistan by February of 2007, ending its involvement in what he called a "George Bush-style counter-insurgency war."

"It's a mission that is not well-conceived, it's not balanced, it has no comprehensive strategy to achieve peace associated with it," Layton said at a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday.

Layton said Canada should not follow the lead of the U.S. president in Afghanistan, but instead should focus on "humanitarian aid, reconstruction and a comprehensive peace process — not a George Bush-style counter-insurgency war."

Layton said Ottawa should follow a made-in-Canada foreign policy that is "rooted in fact, not fear; one that is uniquely independent, not ideologically imported; and one that leads the world into peace, not follows the U.S. into wars."

"Why are we blindly following the defence policy prescriptions of the Bush administration?" he asked.

Layton blasted both the Liberals and Conservatives who claim the country is being made safer by the mission in Afghanistan, where Canada has more than 2,200 troops and recently took over command of the NATO forces in the southern part of the country.

"But Canadians are asking themselves whether Canada's role in this war is actually making our country less secure," he said.

Since the mission started four years ago, 28 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan.

Don't smell of partisanship IN THE SLIGHTEST! +1 to objectivity!  :

 

[Infanteer]

Really?  It seems to me that they're only reporting what Jack Layton is saying, no?

 

[couchcommander]

Really?  It seems to me that they're only reporting what Jack Layton is saying, no?

lol, exactly

 

[Infanteer]

Now you're bending my words - they're reporting what Gilles Duceppe said too.... :-X

 

[couchcommander]

What can I say, I learn from the best

 

[karl28]

Man this is sad I truly believe freedom of speech is dead

 

[icatq]

I bet if she'd denounced the mission she wouldn't have bee suspended. Free speech - not so much.

 

[sleeman]

Ok guys, here's the letter as it was published in La Presse. It is reproduced here under the fair dealings legal blurb.
I will work on translating it and post the English version when it is ready.  If anyone wants to help out with the translation, please pm me.

La Presse
Forum, jeudi 7 septembre 2006, p. A18
Opinion

Vos larmes ne sont pas vaines...

St-Pierre, Christine

Cette semaine en voyant vos visages en larmes à la télé alors que vous transportiez les cercueils de vos confrères vers l'avion qui les ramenait au pays, j'ai eu une pensée pour vous. Celle de vous dire merci.

Des voix s'élèvent pour réclamer votre retour au pays. Moi je dis de grâce non. Cette mission entérinée, faut-il le rappeler, par les Nations unies est essentielle et doit aller jusqu'au bout. Nous vous devons tout notre respect et un appui indéfectible.

Au péril de votre vie, vous êtes là pour empêcher que le régime de terreur des talibans ne reprenne le contrôle. Nous ne devons pas oublier les exécutions publiques, la faim, les viols, les petites filles bannies de l'école, les femmes condamnées à porter l'horrible burqa.

Le Canada n'est pas en Afghanistan parce qu'il est le " pitou " de Washington comme disent certains. Le Canada est en Afghanistan parce qu'il participe avec une trentaine d'autres pays à un effort gigantesque et périlleux au nom de la démocratie.

Au moment du déclenchement de la guerre en octobre 2001, j'étais en poste à Washington. Jamais je n'oublierai ces Afghans exilés de force que j'ai alors rencontrés et qui nourrissaient ce profond désir d'un jour pouvoir enfin rentrer à la maison.

Chers soldats, vos larmes ne sont pas vaines, vos larmes sont bravoure.

L'auteur est journaliste à Radio-Canada.

 

[career_radio-checker]

What a bunch of Hypocrites.

if Reporters are not supposed to be biased than why does the CBC have people like Rex Murphy and Nila Ayed expressing their viewpoints? Rex Murphy in particular because he has a segment called 'Rex Murphy's viewpoint'.

 

[sleeman]

Well folks, here's my attempt at translating Christine's letter.  Please keep in mind, even though French is my first language... it never was a strong subject for me in school! 

Your tears are not in vain...

St-Pierre, Christine

This week while seeing your tears flowing down your faces on tv, you were carrying your comrade's coffins towards
the plane that would bring them back in country, I had a thought for you.  To tell you thank you.

Voices are being raised demanding your return to Canada.  I say, good grace no.  This mission sanctioned, let's not forget, by the UN is essential and must be completed.  We all owe you our respect and unfailing support

At the risk of your own lives, you are there to prevent the terror regime of the taliban from regaining control. We must not forget the public executions, the famine, the rapes, small girls banned from schools, women condemned to wearing the horrible burkha.

Canada is not in Afghanistan because it is Washington's pet like some people would have us believe. Canada is in Afghanistan because it is participating, with some 30 other countries, in a gigantic and perilous effort in the name of democracy

At the time the war started in October 2001, I was working in Washington. Never will I forget these Afghans exiled by force that I met.  They were cherishing that profound desire of one day finally being able to go back home.

Dear Soldiers, your tears are not in vain, your tears are courage.

The author is a journalist with Radio-Canada.

**edited for typos and other stupid mistakes.**

 

[North Star]

The CBC may be a tad paranoid after the Blogging Tories slapped them down for pointing out Christine Lawand used speech clips of the PM out of context to portray him as insensitive to Lebanese people. What better revenge than disciplining a reporter who happened to express a pro-military viewpoint? Also, remember that Radio-Canada was for years a government-sponsored hotbed of separatists, so they're probably not too pro-military.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

Send that lady a T-Shirt!!

 

[-Marauder-]

It's a shame that they have suspended her and I admire her courage in doing so. 

It is important to note that some journalists are employed as 'columnists' like Ms. Blanchford and as a result are allowed and encouraged to put forth their persepctives.  The vast majority on the other hand are 'expected' to be objective and such obvious breaches understandably should be corrected, no matter how admirable they may be... rules is rules, see. Also don't forget that in Quebec the issue of Afghanistan is viewed through a completely different lense.  To rage against it, insult it or ignore it is futile, for it is what it is.  Trying to understand it is a much more clever approach.

Never, ever forget, that the only interest that 'the press' consistently serve, is their own.  Everyone else can expect rough treatment from time to time.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Gunnar]

Why is it relevant that the author is a journalist with Radio Canada?

This letter was her personal viewpoint, sent to a third party newpaper, but which identified her as an employee of Radio Canada.  Be a bit like signing your diatribe to Jack Layton with your name and RANK, no?

I think that is why CBC disciplined her.

 

[Hedgehog18]

I second the idea of free T-shirt, The more we encourage support for the military the more everyone well will support the military eh ? 

 

[armyvern]

Why is it relevant that the author is a journalist with Radio Canada?

This letter was her personal viewpoint, sent to a third party newpaper, but which identified her as an employee of Radio Canada.  Be a bit like signing your diatribe to Jack Layton with your name and RANK, no?

I think that is why CBC disciplined her.

While I'd agree with your viewpoint here, regardless of CBCs justification for her dismassal, I recall a thread from a little while ago tilted something along the lines of "Cut and Paste...CBC at it's finest."

In that case, a reporter obviously edited and pieced together various soundbites on the controversial subject of Lebanon. The underhanded and deliberate manner in which these bites were edited together by the reporter in order to reflect their own anti-Harper agenda was reported to the Omsbudsman, was investigated, and was found to be true. And, this wasn't published in just a local rag...this was a National CBC television braodcast.

That reporter still has their job, and I think that's the gist of this thread.

Double standards...CBC impartial? You be the judge.

 

[FredDaHead]

Why is it relevant that the author is a journalist with Radio Canada?

This letter was her personal viewpoint, sent to a third party newpaper, but which identified her as an employee of Radio Canada.  Be a bit like signing your diatribe to Jack Layton with your name and RANK, no?

I think that is why CBC disciplined her.

No, that would be like sending a diatribe to Jack Layton, and having him publish it on his website after finding out you're in the Forces, and him putting your rank and position into it.

It seems to me that the paper added the mention that she works for Radio-Canada, for whatever reason, and not that she herself mentionned it.

The CBC, as was pointed out by others, didn't discipline other journalists for expressing biassed viewpoints, especially when they were trying to pass off as "objective." They are a leftist propaganda machine who can't accept that someone didn't tow the party line, and "I think that is why CBC disciplined her."

 

[geo]

Also don't forget that in Quebec the issue of Afghanistan is viewed through a completely different lense.  To rage against it, insult it or ignore it is futile, for it is what it is.  Trying to understand it is a much more clever approach.

Sorry.... Quebec is my home turf and I don't see the quebec press being any different than what is being said & printed in the other provinces.

We've had to deal with our 1st combat fatality out of the area, a young Cpl from Quebec City who served with the Black Watch but met death with the PPCLI.  The press was VERY present throughout but were respectful throughout.