The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has defended several telecasts of interviews with distributors of hate material on grounds that it is better to expose such activities than allowing them to foster,” the Canadian Jewish Congress has reported.
The CBC took that position in reply to a protest from the Jewish organization against such interviews, which were presented as one element of an overall report by the network on hate literature in Canada. The network said that a complete report required information on “the distribution of such literature, who the distributors are, how they operate and what makes them think the way they do.”
The network conceded that “there are dangers in over-exposure” and added that it was not its purpose “to provide a propaganda platform for any person or movement. The line between implementing the right of the public to be informed and the creation of a public platform may be a fine one indeed and one on which there will inevitably be differences of opinion.”
The Canadian Jewish Congress, commenting on the reply, said it has consistently argued that in fact the programs gave a platform to peddlers of hate material rather than exposing them.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
