Source : Embassy

I do not know CBC reporter Krista Erickson personally, but I am sorry to see her being relocated for committing the "sin" of suggesting questions on the Mulroney-Schreiber Affair to Liberal MP and Commons ethics committee member Pablo Rodriguez.

I doubt there is a veteran political reporter in this town who at some point in their career has not suggested a good question to a politician to help ferret out information on a hot story. Any reporter worth their salt should seize the opportunity as it provides a chance to get some answers.

For most it is not about supporting parties or opposing them–it is about using whatever assets are available to get to the bottom of a story. This Tory government is so secretive and anti-media that one could argue such tactics are more justified now than ever.

Some might suggest Ms. Erickson's sin was getting caught, but in the past most reporters wouldn't have thought there was really anything for which to get caught.

It was simply her misfortune to be made example of by a government that considers the CBC to be a leftie machine and has made no secret of the fact it would love to find an excuse to cut its budget, if not eliminate it completely–and the timing could not be worse.

The Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage is conducting what it terms a "Full Investigation of the Role of a Public Broadcaster in the 21st Century." (Next Tuesday's meeting is scheduled to have video conference testimony from Wilf White, the BBC's chief public policy advisor.)

The CBC didn't abandon all its integrity and fire Ms. Erickson or send her to Nowhereville–Toronto is not exactly the boonies. However, it was not prepared to risk overly antagonizing the government by standing by her and telling the Conservative director of political operations, Doug Finley, who made the formal complaint, to grow up.

The Conservatives do have their media friends–yes, they have managed not to alienate quite all reporters and columnists–and have their own mutually beneficial relationships with them.

In opposition, as Conservatives and in their former split manifestations as Progressive Conservatives and Reform/Canadian Alliance, they used the media when they had the chance and were used by the media when it helped reporters get at a story.

That's the way it is. Sometimes reporters and politicians work together on particular stories. The MP might have personal political objectives, and the reporter might simply want to get a good story, but generally it works out to everyone's advantage because, at the end of the day, one of the roles of both the political opposition and the media is to keep the government honest.

Governments, no matter what the stripe, don't like it, but this particular government–or at least the PMO–has set new standards for treating the media as an enemy, and the CBC is at the top of its hit list.

Ms. Erickson gave them a chance to vent their paranoia and cry "told you so."

To me, she was just doing her job using whatever tools were available to get to the bottom of a story. In the good old days, when media owners actually backed up their reporting teams and stood up to governments that tried to bully them, she would still be reporting from Ottawa.

© Embassy
January 23, 2008 - Conservative Party of Canada: CBC Admits Inappropriate Practices
The Conservative Party of Canada again focuses critically on the CBC in a fundraising letter.