"If you are going to essentially profile Mr. East and provide a platform to express his perspective of events, you ought to report a full, fair, and balanced picture of who he is. This is not the first time CBC Manitoba has written on Mr. East, and thus far, it has failed to provide meaningful context about his work."
To:
Donna Lee, Assignment Producer, CBC Manitoba
Melanie Verhaeghe, Managing Editor, CBW-FM
Darren Bernhardt, Editor and Journalist, CBC Manitoba
Nancy Waugh, Senior Manager of Journalistic Standards, CBC
Brodie Fenlon, News Director, CBC News
Dear Donna Lee, Melanie Verhaeghe, Darren Bernhardt, Nancy Waugh, and Brodie Fenlon,
I'm writing to express both concern and disappointment about a recent CBC Manitoba article, "Pro-Israel activist arrested in Winnipeg prior to attempted counter protest Sunday," published December 10. A version of the same story appeared on CBC Radio One in Winnipeg around 6:30 AM on December 11. It repeats the same issues described below.
My concerns are related to a previous letter I sent on November 3 regarding Ron East. Mr. East, as I outlined, is the publisher and editor of a racist website. He also founded the Israeli Canadian Council, which you mention, but it is hardly legitimate. Its inactivity is notable, and its website boasts $0 of total fundraising. When it is active, it merely shares questionable content on social media, like recently highlighting an exchange of comments between Mr. East and a so-called "Hamas loving, Jew hater" who expressed concern about one of his protests.
It is not the job of an advocacy organization to do the basic research about the subject of a piece. If you are going to essentially profile Mr. East and provide a platform to express his perspective of events, you ought to report a full, fair, and balanced picture of who he is. This is not the first time CBC Manitoba has written on Mr. East, and thus far, it has failed to provide meaningful context about his work.
I have attached my previous letter, as well as a report ("Legitimizing Hate: Canadian Politicians Advertise on Racist Website") by my organization about his website, TheJ.ca. Please see these documents for more detailed critiques.
Please update your article to include some of this essential context and exercise more discretion in future coverage of Ron East.
Sincerely,
Jason Toney
Director of Media Advocacy, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East