Chicks And Balances

“Bloggers have no checks and balances . . . [it’s] a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas.” – Jonathon Klein – president, CNN*

Judge upholds CBC firing of reporter who sent candy rubbed in chicken to critic.

Keating broadcast a story in 2000 about a health-care lobby group called Save Our Services abandoning a lawsuit against the provincial government.

Keating told the arbitrator he understood that Earl Hamilton, head of the lobby group, had referred to him as a “toady of the government; he was not to be trusted,” Allan’s ruling stated.

The reporter had spoken to a CBC lawyer about taking defamation action against Hamilton but was talked out of it.

So, on Jan. 29, 2003, Keating “purchased a box of chocolates with a view to spitting on them and sending them anonymously to Mr. Hamilton,” Allan wrote.

Instead, he took two of the chocolates, rubbed them in thawed, raw chicken and sent the box to Hamilton with a note that said “keep up the good work.”

To be fair, Keating did endure a “pang of conscience” and informed the recipient before any harm could be done, and the followup mea culpa cost him his career.

“I did something beyond stupid and it cost me a career. I think the CBC was justified in firing me.”

However, it’s equally fair to ask how tainted the reporting of this “professional journalist” had become before this final excess and resulting epiphany.

via Nealenews There’s no sign at all of the story on CBC.ca.

FILED UNDER: Media, , ,
Kate McMillan
About Kate McMillan
Kate McMillan is the proprietor of small dead animals, which has won numerous awards including Best Conservative Blog and Best Canadian Blog. She contributed nearly 300 pieces to OTB between November 2004 and June 2007. Follow her on Twitter @katewerk.

Comments

  1. Bithead says:

    You didn’t really expect a mia culpa from the CBC, did you?

    Really?

  2. Kate says:

    It could happen.

    Oh! Monkeys!

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  4. riley says:

    Just think about it he could have got away with it,atleast he had enough integrity that when he came to his senses he informed the man. that ought to count for something.

  5. Kitty says:

    This reminds me of the liberal who worked in as many Bush 2000 campaign offices as possible and (I think) licked doorknobs in order to spread his flu germs. He later bragged about it in a column. Anybody else recall this? Rush ralked about it.