What’s The Difference Between Global Journalist in Conflict of Interest & CBC?

By Stephen Pate – The Globe and Mail is reporting that 15 year news veteran Leslie Roberts resigned over a conflict of interest. Bravo for the journalist with ethics.

Why do CBC journalists with $250,000 conflicts of interest refuse to step down and why does CBC defend them? Peter Mansbridge, Rex Murphy, Amanda Lang – the list of CBC journalists with 6-figure incomes from conflicts of interest grows longer. The only thing that keeps CBC from firing them is they are not known sexual deviates like the now-disgraced ex-CBC star Jian Ghomeshi.

“Global News anchor Leslie Roberts has resigned from the network he called home for 15 years as it investigated his undisclosed ties to a public-relations firm.” Leslie Roberts resigns from Global News – The Globe and Mail.

In the era of ethical journalist, just before our current era of journalist entitled stars, reporters and on-air personalities were not allowed to engage in a business that was in conflict with their jobs, nor could they accept gifts, interest free loans or other perks from the businesses they covered.

CBC, in their new low of moral and ethical policies, dispensed with those rules and instituted fluid rules that allowed Peter Mansbridge to be paid by the oil lobbyists for his speaking skills.

The loquacious Rex Murphy followed suit with a litany of speeches extolling the virtues of big oil and the oil sands, while maintaining the pretense of a CBC The National commentator.

Amanda Lang, CBC’s business journalist was not only dating a Royal Bank director, not a sin in itself, but fighting to keep negative stories about the Royal Bank off the air. When that failed, Amanda came to the defense of her lover boy and hosted TV programs with puff-pieces about how wonderful the Royal Bank was. Then there was Lang’s paid work for Manulife and Sun Life and the same stock pumping promotion on air.

Of course, they are all after the lead of CBC CEO Hubert Lacroix and a very smart lawyer who cheated on his expense claims for years until an auditor caught him. That went unpunished as well.

This is the new era of the 1%. Everyone wants to be part of the 1% and nobody wants to be one of the 99%. You can gouge, cheat, steal and lie to get to the top at Canada’s taxpayer-funded broadcaster the CBC.

Taxpayer’s are paying for this kind of unethical behavior but we have no right to complain. In fact the Canada Media Guild, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and other lobby groups want us to cough up more for our greedy public servants at the CBC.  The great irony is that Friends of Canadian Broadcasting want less government oversight of the CBC. That makes sense. They are doing such a good job of self-policing.

Canadian journalists support their own. The National Post opined last night that we can still trust the CBC even if they are on the take. Watch the same journalists attack any politician they can find with a dodgy expense claim.

By Stephen Pate, NJN Network