OTTAWA – The CRTC has sided with the CBC and dismissed a complaint from a viewer over a headline broadcast on The National hosted by Peter Mansbridge.
A viewer complained about a headline that aired on the May 5th episode of the show which introduced a report about the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The headline stated that bin Laden had “killed 3,000 people” during the September 11, 2001 attacks (the 9/11 attacks).
The CBC followed its standard complaint process in responding to the complaint. On June 6, Mark Harrison, executive producer for The National, responded that exhaustive United States government and independent investigations have concluded that the Al-Qaeda leader was responsible for the 9/11 attacks and that Osama bin Laden himself said, in a 2004 videotape, that he was responsible for the attacks.
CBC Ombudsman Kirk LaPointe also conducted a review of the complaint on June 27, and concluded that there was no violation of the CBC Journalistic Standards and Practices. He also stated that the United States Intelligence linked the 19 men involved in the attacks to Al-Qaeda, whose leader was Osama bin Laden. The Ombudsman further reiterated that Osama bin Laden had acknowledged his role in a 2004 validated video.
But the viewer was not satisfied with the Ombudsman’s review and filed a complaint with the Commission on July 12. The complainant alleged that the headline was inaccurate because the FBI never charged Osama bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks; the former director of the FBI stated that the FBI had no hard evidence tying Osama bin Laden to the 9/11 attacks; and the CBC has not clearly explained the facts to its audience, as it omitted to report that the FBI has not charged Osama bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks. The viewer requested that a clarification be issued by the CBC to specify that the FBI had not charged Osama bin Laden for the 9/11 attacks.
CBC News executive editor Esther Enkin filed a response to the complaint on July 27. She reiterated what was stated by Harrison and the Ombudsman and added that “there is overwhelming reason to believe Mr. bin Laden is responsible for the deaths of 3,000 people in the 9/11 attacks as stated in the CBC News story. There is no credible evidence to the contrary.”
Commission staff also sent a letter to the complainant dated September 8 noting that it had reviewed the complaint and found that no regulatory intervention was warranted, and expressed satisfaction with Enkin’s letter. But the complainant was not satisfied with the CRTC’s determination and requested a Commission decision on September 14.
On Thursday, the Commission issued a decision agreeing with the statements made by the CBC and its Ombudsman that the headline, and more particularly, that Osama bin Laden had killed 3,000 people during the 9/11 attacks, is supported by “overwhelming credible evidence.”
“(T)he Commission considers that the broadcast was accurate and finds that it did not violate the statement regarding accuracy set out in the CBC Journalistic Standards and Practices, the prohibition to broadcast false or misleading news set out in section 5(1)(d) of the Regulations or the declaration that programming should be of high standard set out in section 3(1)(g) of the Act”, reads its decision.
