Global Research

Dear Sir/Madam:

I strongly object to CBC Radio News broadcasting at 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. August 23, 2005 the call of U.S. politician, Pat Robertson, for the government of the United States to carry out yet one more terrorist act, namely the assassination of the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frias.

The CBC broadcast simply stated that this non-elected politician has given this call, and then proceeded to hand over the microphone to this criminal element to argue for this terrorist act of murder. There was no effort by the CBC to counter his outrageous statements with any response from the Venezuelan government, nor from the Canadian government nor anyone else in fact.

Some questions come to my mind. Is it the CBC’s policy to provide free national radio time to any politician who calls for the assassination of a head of state?  For example, would the CBC give such prominence as was given to Robertson this morning, to a criminal political element in Iraq or Palestine calling for the assassination of George Bush or Ariel Sharon?  
  
Can the CBC personnel responsible for this broadcast enlighten me as to how this item is news?  Has the CBC given even the slightest reportage to the fact of some 15,000 youth from around the world attending a youth festival in Caracas just last week?  Has the CBC given any balanced reportage at all about social, economic or political developments in Venezuela?  I have only heard extremely prejudicial reports on occasion fundamentally criticizing the government of Venezuela.

In fact I remember with utmost clarity the CBC news broadcasts on the weekend Chavez was illegally deposed by a coup d’etat on April 11-12, 2002 actually stating the crowds outside the presidential palace in Caracas were cheering the new coupist government!  Well at least CBC Newsworld showed The Revolution Will Not Be Shown on Television which clearly documents those crowds were demanding the return of their elected president. Those crowds were decisive to President Chavez’s safe return.

So it occurs to me, if the CBC provides disinformation about the government headed by President Chavez, if the CBC provides disinformation about the coup against him in a manner favouring the coupists, and if CBC provides a soapbox in 2005 for Pat Robertson’s call for the US government to murder President Chavez, perhaps I should be concerned that the CBC shares in some way this same sentiment?  Or am I jumping to unwarranted conclusions? Please let me know.

As a taxpayer whose hard-earned money pays for the CBC, and as a citizen who is entirely opposed to its present CBC lock-out of its regular news staff and other employees, I would like the CBC management to provide answers to my questions even though I’ve been advised that as a result of the lock-out, my questions will never be answered!

Therefore I shall content myself with sending this letter to my e-mail list, and broadcasting my views on Wake Up With Co-Op! which goes on air every  Monday, Wednesday and Friday 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. PDT. I can inform you with certainty, our program conducted entirely with volunteers, provides more real information about Venezuela than the CBC functioning either with its full-time staff, or its present scab workers.  

In both my letter and my broadcast I am asking everyone to send you letters condemning your broadcast of Pat Robertson’s call for murder, and pretending this was “news.” They can do so by going to the URL: http://www.cbc.ca/contact/index.jsp
 
Yours truly,
 
Charles Boylan
Producer/Co-Host
Wake UP With Co-Op!
Archive: www.wakeupwithco-op.org
Live:  www.coopradio.org