“Don’t go to war with people who buy ink by the barrel,” the old adage states. Ditto those who broadcast by the megawatt. Toronto City Councillor Adam Vaughan ought to know, being a former TV reporter himself for many years (CBC and CITY), but when news broke of several (five) restaurant and food store closures by health inspectors in the Kensington Market and Chinatown areas of his ward, he decided to shoot the messengers. In live on-air exchanges with both CFRB and CITY, Vaughan noted that those neighbourhoods have among the highest concentrations of restaurants and food markets in the city, so the handful of sanitation concerns should be looked at in proper perspective. So far, so good. But then, particularly in the CITY-TV interview, he launched into what can only be described as a tirade about shoddy journalism, blaming the media for “putting family businesses into bankruptcy” by “painting an entire community with the same brush.” He went on to claim that during his tenure at CITY, he was ordered to edit negative elements out of a story because the business involved was an advertiser with the station, and finally pronounced the reporting on the current story as “having a tinge of racism.” It’s entirely appropriate to raise questions of journalistic balance if you feel a story lacks proper perspective, but alleging racism is motivating reporting on public health violations because they happen to occur in an ethnic neighbourhood is as foolish an allegation as it is serious. We would counsel any client of ours that, if you were ever to consider leveling such a charge against a major media outlet, you’d better be armed to the teeth with specific, detailed evidence to back up your claim – otherwise you run the risk of making an already bad story much, much worse.
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