The ‘update’ was issued four days after the initial story was published.
On January 19th, CBC published a story claiming the Alberta Premier’s office contacted a Crown Prosecutor in relation to a court case regarding border protests:
“A staffer in Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s office sent a series of emails to the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, challenging prosecutors’ assessment and direction on cases stemming from the Coutts border blockades and protests, CBC News has learned.”
But, CBC neglected to mention something quite important:
They did not actually see the emails.
Now, four days later, they’ve issued an ‘update’:
“Editor’s note: The original version of this story, published Jan. 19, neglected to note that CBC News has not seen the emails in question.”
The CBC story now includes this line:
“The emails were sent last fall, according to sources whom CBC has agreed not to identify because they fear they could lose their jobs. CBC has not seen the emails.”
However, between the story being published and this significant correction being made, an entire news cycle of breathless reporting ensued, with attempts to turn the story into a major scandal.
The timing is interesting to say the least, since the story broke just as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was gaining momentum against Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley on the issue of Justin Trudeau’s so-called ‘just transition,’ which is widely opposed in Alberta.
Only now, after political damage has been done to Premier Smith and the UCP, does CBC ‘update’ their story with something that obviously should have been mentioned from the beginning.
A non-native speaker of English (like me) may be excused for concluding that ‘The original version of this story’ is an individual who is at fault of being neglectful here. https://t.co/H97p3PR5yH pic.twitter.com/ZCA9H1N8H7
— Darshan Maharaja (@TheophanesRex) January 23, 2023
And now, the Alberta Justice Department says there is no evidence an email was even sent:
“The Alberta government says it could not find any emails to substantiate allegations that one of Premier Danielle Smith’s staffers wrote to prosecutors to try to influence how they handled cases tied to a blockade last year at the Canadian-U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta.
The Justice Department says in a statement that over the weekend, civil servants reviewed about a million incoming, outgoing and deleted emails spanning a four-month period and found no record of contact between Crown prosecutors and the premier’s office.
The department says no further investigation will be done unless other evidence surfaces.”
So, CBC managed to generate a huge negative news cycle against Alberta Premier Danielle Smith that benefitted both Rachel Notley and Justin Trudeau, all based on emails they didn’t see and which now appear to not even exist…
With such blatant political interference from the state-controlled CBC, is it any wonder that more and more Canadians want to see CBC defunded?
Spencer Fernand
Photo – YouTube
