Has Canadian's CBC Been Invaded by Racism?

Dear Vince Carlin, CBC Ombudsman

I hope all is well.

After receiving your email:

On 4/4/06 9:56 PM, "CBC Ombudsman" wrote:

Dear Ms Zamparini:

I write to acknowledge receipt of your communication, which I have shared with
Mary Sheppard, Executive Producer of CBC News Online, along with the request
that your concerns be addressed.

Yours truly,

Vince Carlin
CBC Ombudsman

I thought that the CBC would have addressed that issue. It's disgraceful that CBC still runs its story without addressing the serious concerns I have expressed you in my previous email.

CBC obviously doesn't know what it writes about, if it could write (even after my complaint):

"Nonetheless, the numbers that appear on iraqbodycount.net are estimates based on actual reports of real people killed.", Casualties in the Iraq war
CBC News Online | Updated June 6, 2006

Again, IBC’s figures are NOT estimates. IBC is a COUNT! based on media’s reports.

Even more surprisingly (or maybe not?) CBC writes:

“Because Iraq Body Count actually counts, CBC uses the most recent numbers from iraqbodycount.net. The Iraq Body Count database includes figures for Iraqi civilians and members of the police force established since the fall of Saddam.”

After more than two months from your email, CBC didn’t take in any consideration your “request” nor my complaint.

Just to add more recent details to this farce of “counting the Iraqi bodies”, independent journalist Dahr Jamail (he spent lots of time reporting from Iraq, and he has never been embedded) recently wrote:

(...) The organization Iraq Body Count (IBC) immediately endorsed this, clearly demonstrating how its tally of Iraqi civilian deaths due to the war is way below the actual numbers. Exclusively referencing samples from the Western media that willingly embrace the official propaganda, IBC can hardly constitute an unbiased or truthful source of information.

In April 2006, their database of media sources cited an AP story and a Reuters story from November 20, 2005, along with a March 21, 2006, London Times article. This is how IBC distilled the stories; "Haditha - fighting between US Marines and insurgents-gunfire" and the number of civilians killed was recorded as 15. It is difficult to understand why IBC has once again opted to cite US fabrications mindlessly repeated by the Western media rather than take into account the readily available English translation of al-Jazeera's Haditha report.

On June 6, 2006, the Haditha Massacre is recorded by IBC as "family members in their houses and students in a passing car" and the declared number of victims is 24. One cannot help wonder how many uncorrected, unverified and unchallenged pieces of US military propaganda lurk in IBC's database. Haditha could be just the tip of the iceberg.

It wasn't until four months after the event that the Western corporate media started to straighten out the story. On March 19, 2006, it was Time Magazine that "broke" the Haditha story in a piece titled "Collateral Damage or Civilian Massacre in Haditha." The primary sources for this piece were a video shot by an Iraqi journalism student produced the day after the massacre and interviews conducted with witnesses. Another glaring evidence of how a few simple interviews with Iraqis and some readily available photographs and video can drastically correct the glaring errors in the Western media's representations of the occupation. (...)

The Independent’s Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk recently wrote:

“This has been a good week to be in Canada — or an awful week, depending on your point of view — to understand just how irretrievably biased and potentially racist the Canadian press has become.” (How racism has invaded Canada, 10 June 2006, The Independent)

Has the CBC been invaded by what Fisk writes in his piece? Or will the CBC just dismiss again my complaint, your request and call again Robert Fisk a “left-wing British journalist” as it did in that notorious article “Casualties in the Iraq war”?

Thank you for your time.

Kind regards,
Gabriele Zamparini