Several employees at CBC say the anti-Palestinian bias documented in The Breach reflect their own experiences
At CBC’s Toronto headquarters last Thursday, an employee walking through the newsroom noticed several people’s monitors displaying the same page: an essay in The Breach, written by one of their former colleagues, revealing behind-the-scenes details about the broadcaster’s reporting on Israel-Palestine.
Meanwhile, CBC’s top managers were scrambling to meetings to discuss how to handle any fallout from the exposé, which was widely shared on social media, prompting calls for the reevaluation of its approach.
The essay—in which a producer of Jewish background shared her experiences witnessing biased decision making and unprecedented scrutiny of Palestinian guests, before being labelled antisemitic for raising concerns about the coverage—spread like wildfire among staff at the public broadcaster, according to conversations The Breach conducted with several CBC employees.
It elicited a quick public response, less than 24 hours after publication, from CBC editor in chief Brodie Fenlon, who wrote that the essay’s “broad conclusions are not true,” without addressing the specific assertions in the article.
But in its latest response to The Breach, CBC has shifted its tune, suggesting that its coverage over the past months has “improved” because it took seriously the “feedback” of the author of the Breach essay.
In interviews, five employees who work in radio and broadcasting said the article resonated with them, shared similar experiences of navigating anti-Palestinian bias, and expressed fears of being falsely labelled as antisemitic. One veteran producer said the editor in chief’s denial’s were “ludicrous.” (more...)
Inside CBC, concerns emerge about broadcaster’s response to Palestine essay
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