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One reporter asked a question about the possibility. Which, sure, is a valid thing for convoy supporters to be offended about (and/or to make you suspicious abo

by mthoms 5y ago

One reporter asked a question about the possibility. Which, sure, is a valid thing for convoy supporters to be offended about (and/or to make you suspicious about her intentions). That's fine. I get it. But that is decidedly not the same thing as "CBC is now literally claiming that Russia is behind the truckers protest".

refurb 5y ago
True, but it’s a cheap ploy to discredit the movement. I assume CBC does it more for the outrage clicks than actually believing it’s a possibility. But it seems par for the course as a political tactic lately: 1) deny a movement represents a significant part of the population, if that fails 2) associate the movement with undesirable elements like Neo-Nazi’s, militias, if that doesn’t work, 3) infer foreign interference. Note you can do this without a single shred of evidence, pretend like it’s an innocent question, and still discredit the movement. How do you prove a negative? I mean, if I asked “Maybe Trudeau is secretly an agent for the Chinese?” people would just say it’s a stupid question because without proof it’s just absurd. It’s the same claiming this protest is being driven by Russia.
- mthoms 5y ago
  I agree, generally. And as mentioned, I think it’s a fair thing to call out. It doesn’t make the statement that the parent said about the CBC “literally claiming” the Russians are behind it any more true.
throwawaysea 5y ago
You don’t view asking an unsupported leading question as a weak handed attempt at misinformation or seeming state-media corruption? Reporters are representatives of their employer. And a reporter at a state owned media floating a conspiracy theory about citizens who are legally protesting seems a lot like propaganda. We would definitely call it that if it was done in a country outside the Western hegemony. I haven’t seen the CBC or government officials discredit this yet, so I assume they are happy to stand by and let it circulate.

by mthoms 5y ago

refurb 5y ago

True, but it’s a cheap ploy to discredit the movement. I assume CBC does it more for the outrage clicks than actually believing it’s a possibility. But it seems par for the course as a political tactic lately: 1) deny a movement represents a significant part of the population, if that fails 2) associate the movement with undesirable elements like Neo-Nazi’s, militias, if that doesn’t work, 3) infer foreign interference. Note you can do this without a single shred of evidence, pretend like it’s an innocent question, and still discredit the movement. How do you prove a negative? I mean, if I asked “Maybe Trudeau is secretly an agent for the Chinese?” people would just say it’s a stupid question because without proof it’s just absurd. It’s the same claiming this protest is being driven by Russia.

mthoms 5y ago
I agree, generally. And as mentioned, I think it’s a fair thing to call out. It doesn’t make the statement that the parent said about the CBC “literally claiming” the Russians are behind it any more true.

throwawaysea 5y ago

You don’t view asking an unsupported leading question as a weak handed attempt at misinformation or seeming state-media corruption? Reporters are representatives of their employer. And a reporter at a state owned media floating a conspiracy theory about citizens who are legally protesting seems a lot like propaganda. We would definitely call it that if it was done in a country outside the Western hegemony. I haven’t seen the CBC or government officials discredit this yet, so I assume they are happy to stand by and let it circulate.