Did they teach that in journalism school?

A CBC reporter has been fired for sending a contaminated box of chocolates to a political activist:

The CBC was within its rights in 2003 to fire a reporter who anonymously sent a box of chocolates contaminated with raw chicken and dirt to a B.C. health-care lobbyist, a judge has ruled.

The ruling overturns an aritrator's decision to suspend rather than fire radio reporter Bob Keating. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marion Allan said the credibility of the CBC and the reporter had been "seriously undermined" by the Keating's actions.
[...]
Keating broadcast a story in 2000 about a health-care lobby group called Save Our Services abandoning a lawsuit against the provincial government.

Keating told the arbitrator he understood that Earl Hamilton, head of the lobby group, had referred to him as a "toady of the government; he was not to be trusted," Allan's ruling stated.

The reporter had spoken to a CBC lawyer about taking defamation action against Hamilton but was talked out of it.

So, on Jan. 29, 2003, Keating "purchased a box of chocolates with a view to spitting on them and sending them anonymously to Mr. Hamilton," Allan wrote.

Instead, he took two of the chocolates, rubbed them in thawed, raw chicken and sent the box to Hamilton with a note that said "keep up the good work."

That evening, however, he had a pang of conscience and told his wife what he had done. They decided they should tell the Hamiltons, reaching Hamilton's wife on Jan. 31.

If the people at CBC Watch get any contaminated chocolates in the mail, I guess we'll know where they came from.

(On a more conciliatory note, I'm sure even the most rabid CBC haters will join me in wishing Wendy Mesley, Canada's original news babe, the best of luck in her battle with cancer.)

Posted by damian at January 8, 2005 11:17 AM