Conservatives end CTV News boycott, but don't pardon network

Photo: Andrew Vaughan Archives The Canadian Press In parliamentary committee, CTV News vice-president Richard Gray has tirelessly repeated that the situation was due to a simple mistake, despite the firing of two journalists.

The Conservative Party of Canada continues to accuse CTV News of “disinformation,” even though its big boss insists that it was rather a “mistake” by two journalists, now fired, that led to Pierre Poilievre’s words being distorted in a report.

“There was no malicious intent, in my view. It was two individuals, acting independently, trying to make a story work,” CTV News vice-president Richard Gray explained to a parliamentary committee Thursday.

Mr. Gray elaborated a bit more on the circumstances that led to the firing of two of his “senior” reporters, who were held responsible for altering a video clip that suggested Mr. Poilievre wanted to call an election for something other than getting rid of the carbon tax.

“One reporter altered a script that had been approved by the producer, changing the meaning of a particular clip to better fit [in] the intended story. In the second case, an editor spliced ​​two fragments of the clip together, creating a new segment that was never said, to overcome a technical problem with the original recording,” he detailed.

Ontario Conservative MP Michael Barrett took the time to read to the parliamentary committee the title of an article published by CTV News that he considers biased. He criticized the fact that other stories were ignored, which he said could demonstrate the negative impact of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s nine years in power.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

Read also

• CTV News fires two employees who ‘manipulated’ Pierre Poilievre clip
• Conservatives boycott CTV News after report

“You altered this quote from Mr. Poilievre to reflect the government’s arguments Trudeau,” he accused, referring to the Sept. 27 report that led to a boycott of CTV News by all Conservative elected officials. He later yelled at him, “Nobody believes you!”

End of boycott

The ban on speaking to reporters on the network quietly ended last week, English-speaking listeners tuning into 580 CFRA in Ottawa learned Wednesday. Like CTV, the station is owned by Bell Media.

“We're allowing our caucus to speak on CTV again,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told host Bill Carroll.

The politician argued that the editing of his remarks was too “well done” for it to be anything other than a planned move against him.

“The problem is not that they made a mistake. They didn't make a mistake. They deliberately concocted a sentence that I did not say and broadcast it on the evening news. […] It was a deliberate lie.”

Mr. Poilievre attacked journalists who are members of the Canadian Parliamentary Gallery, which covers political news in Ottawa. He confirmed his strategy of avoiding these media outlets, in order to better “deliver [his] message directly to Canadians.”

Simple mistake

CTV News vice-president Richard Gray has tirelessly repeated that the situation was due to a simple mistake, despite the dismissal of two journalists.

“We made a mistake. It was a mistake that could not have been foreseen. We apologized immediately. […] This is a deeply regrettable situation. This is the first time I have seen this in my 33 years in television news.” »

He later assured MP and former leader Andrew Scheer that his team of journalists “has no Liberal bias,” provoking laughter from Conservative MPs.

Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure also attacked CTV News’ bias, with evidence of the fact that Quebec independentists are referred to as “separatists.”

“The very use of the word puts us in a bad position with English Canada by the very use of that word,” he illustrated. Richard Gray did not go into detail about this choice of words.