Complaint sent to CTV News, given an anti-Israel report by Craig Oliver
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Posted by David Murrell, WatchDog Newsletter on 11:38:40 2008/05/10
Director
CBC News
Dear Sir,
I wish to register a complaint concerning Craig Oliver's report, made on Friday May 9. on Hezbollah's attack against the non-Hezbollah held sectors of Beruit, Lebanon. In his one-sided report, Mr. Oliver places all of the blame for the Hezbollah-instigated combat on Stephen Harper! I find this line of reasoning, even by Craig Oliver's biased standards, rather absurd. Mr. Oliver reasons that Stephen Harper's support for Israel lessens Canada's ability to mediate in the Lebanon conflict (as if Canada could stop the violence on its own).
In his report, Craig Oliver includes as talking clips:
1. A pro-Hezbollah Canadian Muslim criticising the Government of Canada;
2. an NDP spokesman (the NDP party is pro-Hezbollah and anti-Israel) asking a question to the government during Question Period.
Mr. Oliver included no talking clips by any Canadian Jew, nor did he include the Conservative party's answer to the NDP question, whicih he could have done. Therefore, his story is completely one-sided, in that he includes only pro-Hezbollah opinion.
Also, Mr. Oliver makes a misleading statement that "Israel attacked southern Lebanon by air and land", without making any statement that it was Hezbollah which attacked Israel first.
Most reasonable observers, when looking at the Lebanese situation, would criticize Hezbollah, pro-terrorist as it is, and supported as it is by Syria and Iran. As well, most observers list Hezbollah as a terrorist group. But none of these opinions seems to matter with Craig Oliver.
I realize that Craig Oliver has a bias against those opposing Hezbollah, given that Hezbollah is anti-democratic and pro-Islamist. His pro-terrorist bias is shared by others, including Dan Matheson at CTV Newsnet. But even given these pro-Islamist biases by CTV News, CTV News ought to to include opinions of those who oppose Islamist terrorism and anti-Jewish hatred. CTV News, in its treatment of the Middle East, puposely censors opinions of Jews and other pro-Israel voices.
I would encourage your organization to allow Canadian Jews and pro-Israel voices to be heard in its news coverage. Their views may not be the views of Craig Oliver, Dan Matheson, and other anti-ISrael opinion makers at CTV News, but such a move would alow more than one opinion to be heard on your network.
Please convey my complaint to Craig Oliver, Dan Matheson, and other news directors at CTV News.
Sincerely,
David Murrell (PhD)
University of New Brunswick
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