Ottawa Sun

CBC to study whether its news is biased

Last Updated: May 13, 2010 7:31pm

OTTAWA — The CBC has commissioned a study to determine whether its news is biased, the president of the public broadcaster told the Senate finance committee this week.

“Our job — and we take it seriously — is to ensure that the information that we put out is fair and unbiased in everything that we do,” CBC President Hubert Lacroix said.

He said CBC asked outside experts to conduct an independent review of its news gathering and delivery last year.

The “bias studies” will be released publicly, hopefully, early this fall, Lacroix said.

The announcement came as Conservative senators grilled him Wednesday demanding to see contracts proving CBC wasn’t sharing polling data with the Liberal Party of Canada.

Sen. Doug Finley, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former campaign manager, said it was “totally unacceptable” for CBC to use a pollster who had advised the Liberals to “bring on a culture war” based on information paid for by taxpayers.

CBC refused to comment on the study’s methodology Thursday.

Jeffrey Dvorkin, a former National Public Radio vice-president and CBC Radio chief journalist, said bias studies depend on the questions asked and are often suspect.

“I fear this may be part of the CBC’s attempt to placate its political opponents and to limit the ability of the news and current affairs service to do the kind of tough reporting that the public broadcaster has been known for,” he said.

Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey said if CBC needs a study to determine the appropriateness of using a Liberal Party donor as a pollster, it demonstrates how “deeply out-of-touch the network has become.”

University of Moncton Prof. Marie-Linda Lord hoped the study would lead to changes regarding Radio-Canada’s “overwhelmingly” Quebec-centric programming.

Liberal Sen. Pierre De Bane told Lacroix his network is not a unifying force in Canada since it promotes two versions of the country.

Radio-Canada should be renamed “Radio-Quebec,” he said.

althia.raj@sunmedia.ca