Editorial independence is a bedrock principle of CBC journalism.
Editorial independence is a bedrock principle for any credible news organization. It’s the beating heart of what we do each day in the news division of Canada’s national public broadcaster.
We are beholden to no one.
We report without fear or favour.
We act only in the public interest.
Not only is CBC/Radio-Canada’s editorial independence guaranteed under Canada’s Broadcasting Act, but our journalism is subject to rigorous standards, to which we’re held publicly accountable through an independent Ombudsman office.
At the behest of Twitter CEO Elon Musk, the social media platform began to label public broadcasters as “state-affiliated,” “government-funded” or “publicly funded.” Public media targeted with these labels so far include the BBC, NPR, PBS, ABC (Australia), RNZ (New Zealand) and RTVE (Spain).
According to Twitter, “government-funded” is defined as “outlets where the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content.“
While CBC/Radio-Canada is publicly funded through a parliamentary appropriation voted upon by all members of Parliament, the government has no — zero — involvement in our editorial content or journalism.
We cannot in good conscience continue to post fact-based news and information to Twitter, or engage on it, while a false impression of government involvement in our work is allowed to stand. As a news organization committed to truth, facts and accuracy, we cannot abide by a label that promotes disinformation about who we are and what we do.
Read More at CBC:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/editorsblog/cbc-twitter-news-1.6813747