VIEWPOINT: A Mighty Wind blows through UPDATE #45 - CBC APOLOGY

[Lady's Human]

Sen. Obama has repeatedly stated in debates that he would let the tax cuts lapse.

This is from the LA Times:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/wash...hetaxrais.html

Maria Bartiromo on CNBC's "Closing Bell" asked, "Who should pay more and who should pay less?" Predictably, the politician chose to talk about who would benefit from his higher tax plan, not who would get socked the hardest. But from his answers it sounds like the "wealthy" in his mind are those making more than $75,000.

"I would not increase taxes for middle class Americans and in fact I want to....

provide a tax cut for people who are making $75,000 a year or less,'' he said. "For those folks, I want an offset on the payroll tax that would be worth as much as $1,000 for a family.


$75K/year isn't wealthy. On $75K/year, it's almost impossible to get a mortgage in Massachusetts, and is ABSOLUTELY impossible if you want something more than a tiny ranch on a postage stamp piece of property. When we moved from MA to NY, we sold our house for almost $200K, which was a 1200 sq ft house on a 3000 sq ft lot, in an undesirable neighborhood.

[RICHARD]

Poor Heather,

Greta Van Sustren called HM a pig for the article she wrote. And she is getting hate email from the people who took exception to that tripe.
HM is upset that she was called a pig.

Mallick is also complaining about death threats she received on her web site and she says that those threats reinforce her thoughts about American hillbillys.

Funny how she can shoot off her mouth and can't take the heat when the kitchen door closes.

She's a hoax, inside a joke, wrapped in a numbskull.

----

She's probably called the internet company to have someone trace those threats against her.


Have fun Heather.

Angry feminist versus Hillbilly hockey mom?

GIRL FIGHT!!!!

[Catty1]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/...uickshank.html
Letter from the publisher
John Cruickshank
We erred in our judgment
Last Updated: Monday, September 29, 2008 | 4:02 PM ET

By John Cruickshank CBC News

More than 300 people have taken the trouble this month to complain to the CBC ombudsman about a column we ran on CBCNews.ca about Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Sept. 5.

The column, by award-winning freelance writer Heather Mallick, was also pilloried by The National Post in Canada and by Fox News in the U.S. Despite its age — it is three weeks old, several lifetimes in web years — this posting remains a subject of fascination in the blogosphere.


CBC Publisher John Cruickshank. (Rich Hein/Associated Press)

Vince Carlin, the CBC ombudsman, has now issued his assessment of the Mallick column. He doesn't fault her for riling readers by either the caustic nature of her tone or the polarizing nature of her opinion.

But he objects that many of her most savage assertions lack a basis in fact. And he is certainly correct.

Mallick's column is a classic piece of political invective. It is viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan.

And because it is all those things, this column should not have appeared on the CBCNews.ca site.

Healthy restraint

On the whole, the CBC News policy handbook takes a very anxious view of any mixing of opinion in with the news business. It sees the two as nitro and glycerin, innocuous on their own but explosive together. This is a very healthy restraint for a public broadcaster.

But every news organization needs to have an opinion dimension. Access to different viewpoints helps readers, listeners and viewers make reasoned choices, especially during an election campaign.

As a public broadcaster we have an added responsibility to provide an array of opinions and voices to complement our journalism. But we must do so carefully. And you should be able to trust us to provide you with work that's based on solid reporting and free from the passionate excesses of partisanship.

We failed you in this case. And as a result we have put new editing procedures in place to insure that in the future, work that is not appropriate for our platforms, will not appear. We are open to contentious reasoned argument but not to partisan attack. It's a fine line.

Ombudsman Carlin makes another significant observation in his response to complainants: when it does choose to print opinion, CBCNews.ca displays a very narrow range on its pages.

In this, Carlin is also correct.

This, too, is being immediately addressed. CBCNews.ca will soon expand the diversity of voices and opinions and be home to a diverse group of writers with many perspectives. In this, we will better reflect the depth and texture of this country.

We erred in our editorial judgment. You told us in no uncertain terms. And we have learned from it.



http://www.nationalpost.com/most_pop...html?id=845234

CBC News apologizes for web column attacking Palin

Melissa Leong, National Post Published:
Sunday, September 28, 2008

CBC News apologized Sunday for publishing a column about Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, conceding that it was "viciously personal."

More than 300 people complained to the CBC ombudsman about a column that ran on Sept. 5 on CBCNews.ca by award-winning freelance writer Heather Mallick.

The article, "A mighty wind blows through Republican convention," reportedly said Ms. Palin was chosen to appease the party's "rural," "unlettered" "white trash" base and said that the vice-presidential nominee looked like a "porn actress."

CBC News publisher John Cruickshank said in a letter that the public broadcaster erred in judgment.

Vince Carlin, the CBC Ombudsman, did not fault Ms. Mallick for "the caustic nature of her tone or the polarizing nature of her opinion."

"But he objects that many of her most savage assertions lack a basis in fact," Mr. Cruickshank wrote.

"Mallick's column is a classic piece of political invective. It is viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan. And because it is all those things, this column should not have appeared on the CBCNews.ca site."

The column was attacked by the National Post as well as Fox News.

Ms. Mallick wrote: "[17-year-old] Bristol has what is known in Britain as the look of the teen mum, the ‘pramface.' Husband Todd looks like a roughneck; Track, heading off to Iraq, appears terrified. They claim to be family-obsessed while being studiously terrible at parenting. What normal father would want Levi ‘I'm a f--kin' redneck' Johnson prodding his daughter?"

As a result of the complaints, new editing procedures have been put in place "to insure that in the future, work that is not appropriate for our platforms, will not appear," Mr. Cruickshank wrote.

In his assessment of the complaints, Mr. Carlin also noted that cbcnews.ca displays a "very narrow range" on its web pages and the broadcaster is addressing that by expanding the diversity of its writers and opinions, Mr. Cruickshank added.

National Post