Sunday, May 31, 2009

Wine On Thursday... No Show On Friday...

Well I had the good fortune to attend the Savoy of Food and Wine Show on Thursday night at the Confederation Centre as part of Wine Fest. On the way in I noticed Senator Duffy but didn't have a chance to speak with him. About thirty or so Island restaurants had set up appetizer desert stations accompanied by a host of wine displays... the food was excellent and you'd have to ask the Princess about the wine as I don't drink but it seems as everyone was having a good time at it even Senator Duffy.... on Friday he was to speak at some function and apparently wasn't available so word is Hon Gail Shea's office had to pull a rabbit out of the hat and get a speech ready for her to deliver in place of Duffy... rumours circulated that maybe it was too much food and wine but I suspect the following story that hit the news wire on Thursday was what kept him away from a public event and away from the media... but was what probably got him the Senate seat....
CTV broke ethics code in Dion interview: standards council
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Canadian Press
Mike Duffy comments went 'too far'
The standards council also studied complaints lodged against CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live program. The show rebroadcast Dion's false starts and discussed it with a panel of politicians and later with journalists.
During the discussion, Liberal MP Geoff Regan suggested Dion might not have understood the question because of a hearing impairment, but then said it was not a subject worth discussing.
Duffy then repeatedly said that Regan was accusing the network of ridiculing a handicap.
The CBSC's national specialty services panel said Duffy "went too far."
"He was not fair, balanced or even-handed," the panel said, also agreeing the rebroadcasts of the restarts were in breach of industry code.
CTV Newsnet will run a statement saying it violated the Canadian Association of Broadcasters code of ethics within the next three days at the same time as the Mike Duffy Live program used to air, and again within a week.
Two members of the national specialty services panel dissented with the Duffy Live opinion, saying that media outlets should err on the side of providing more information — not less — to the public.
They argued that Dion's ability to react to stressful situations could have constituted valuable information during an election campaign.
The dissenters said they agreed with the assessment of Duffy's show, but didn't find it constituted a breach of code.
Hurst's statement did not include a specific mention of Mike Duffy Live.
Duffy was appointed a Conservative senator last January. He declined comment Wednesday.
Regan said he was pleased with the ruling.
"I hope it'll lead to stronger journalistic practices," Regan said.
"I respect the media and they have an important role to play, but this decision clearly shows that in this case CTV crossed the line."

No comments: