With each passing day that more CBC radio programs continue their unabashed and relentless demonization of Israel, the claims by CBC brass that the broadcaster takes balance seriously continue to be unmasked as hollow and meaningless.
Front Burner, a CBC podcast which has frequently shown a total disregard for balance in covering the Middle East, and instead has regularly presented a blatantly one-sided image of the Hamas-Israel war, recently produced two more lengthy segments on the region, demonstrating its characteristic narrow focus on interviewing hostile anti-Israel guests.
On August 1, guest host Elaine Chau – filling in for regular host Jayme Poisson – reported on the Carney government’s announcement that it would recognize a Palestinian state. The segment entitled: “Will Canada recognize Palestinian statehood?”, featured an interview with Evan Dyer, a CBC News reporter whose coverage has been repeatedly documented by HonestReporting Canada for its anti-Israel bias.
Listen now to the full segment:
While ostensibly acting as a commentator for a news agency, Dyer’s comments were closer to what a listener would expect from a hardline anti-Israel activist. Instead of remaining neutral and objective, the CBC’s reporter accused Israel of carrying out “land grabbing” practices in its historic homeland, claimed there was a “famine” in Gaza, and even went so far as to imply that Israel was attempting “genocide” based on a cherry-picked statement of an Israeli official who is not overseeing Israel’s wartime strategy.
He further referred to the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a group that has praised Palestinian terrorism, as among a “group of researchers,” while failing to mention the group’s extremism. Chau, for her part, referred to them as “rights groups.”
Chau, rather than pressing Dyer and holding him accountable for his preposterous statements, failed to do so, and instead allowed his disinformation to stand entirely unchallenged.
On August 5, the program returned, this time with guest host Allie Jaynes, showing that even without the program’s regular host Jayme Poisson, Front Burner’s rot could continue even in her absence.
The segment entitled: “Why some young Israelis refuse to fight in Gaza,” began with Jaynes telling listeners that despite Israeli statements that Hamas was stealing aid, “haven’t found evidence that the group routinely steals aid.”
Listen now to the full segment:
This is true only if one blithely ignores endless footage showing armed terrorists commandeering aid trucks inside Gaza, and even documentation from the United Nations showing that the vast majority of such deliveries are intercepted. Even perpetual Israel critic Jon Allen has admitted as much in a recent interview.
Jaynes stated that “the health ministry” in Gaza (run by Hamas, a point ignored by the CBC’s host) stated that there was widespread starvation there, and although she quoted Israeli denials, she hastened to add that “his statements stand in stark contrast to a large body of evidence from humanitarian groups, aid agencies, verified images, and eyewitnesses.”
This supposed “large body of evidence” Jaynes cited is largely based on a mishmash of manufactured photos from Hamas-affiliated photographers, half-truths from fanatically anti-Israel activist groups and a wholesale omission of scads of opposing evidence, including millions of daily meals entering Gaza, the presence of food markets and restaurants inside Gaza, plus undeniable images showing healthy and well-fed Gazans.
In fact, those maintaining the “starvation” claims must seriously contend with such evidence, though as evidenced by Jaynes, the favoured approach has been instead to ignore it completely.
These two segments of Front Burner, once again, platformed exclusively anti-Israel guests while the hosts used their platforms, not to challenge these powerful narratives, but to enable them.
