CBC’s ombudsman has dismissed a complaint by a vociferous Ajax supporter that the local morning show’s coverage is biased.
Caroline King, who once set up a Facebook book page called Support Ajax Mine, complained to senior CBC officials about a radio interview in March with Thompson Rivers University associate professor of math Sean McGuiness.
McGuinness was interviewed on his opinion that real-estate values in Kamloops will drop by at least five per cent if the mine is approved.
He based that opinion on a study he found on the Rosemont mine in Tucson, Ariz.
McGuinness also noted a lack of research on the topic and advocated for an outside,
independent review.
King objected to that interview in her written complaint to ombudsman Esther Enkin.
“The prof had no evidence, no data and no facts to back up his opinions — only a 20-year-old piece of U.S. research unrelated to the Kamloops mine proposal, a study he found after ‘spending some time on Google,’” she wrote in the complaint.
But, Enkin found the interview falls well within CBC’s journalistic standards as set out in a corporate guide.
“This guest did not claim his information was definitive.
“There is nothing wrong, in an ongoing story, to have a single guest present one perspective on an aspect of the story . . . it is well within journalistic practice to use an interview to explore a single idea, or one person’s thoughts.”
King also complained the overall coverage of Ajax by CBC Kamloops was biased against the proposed mine immediately south of Aberdeen and Pineview Valley — an opinion the ombudsman said has no merit.
Enkin wrote in her report — based on a review of other stories and interviews — that CBC reporters and host Shelley Joyce presented an “even-handed treatment of the issue.
“I note that as an active supporter and advocate for the project, you have also been interviewed,” Enkin wrote of the vocal mine advocate.
“I did not listen to all of the material but, from the sampling I did, there was an even-handed treatment of the issue.
“CBC Kamloops seems to have provided a range of perspectives and provided information so that citizens of the community can draw their own conclusions.”
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