Radio-Canada Anchor Apologizes for Equating Israel with Iran and Sudan December 13, 2010 HonestReporting Canada (HRC) and the Quebec Israel Committee (QIC) are pleased to inform you that Radio-Canada host Simon Durivage recently issued an unequivocal on-air apology to atone for past comments he made which drew an obscene equivalence between democratic Israel, the Iranian terror state and the genocidal regime of Sudan. To recall, Mr. Durivage, a veteran anchor of our French-language public broadcaster, made this inappropriate comparison on the political talk show “Le match des élus” on October 15: (Click here or on the pictures below to view video) Subsequent to our efforts, on the November 26 edition of the program, Simon Durivage commendably acknowledged that Israel is a democracy that cannot be compared to countries like Sudan or Iran: (Click here or on the picture below to view video)
Additionally, Radio-Canada’s Ombudsman promptly carried out a journalistic review which noted that:
We appreciate that Mr. Durivage publicly apologized for his own journalistic error and in doing so, set an important precedent that these types of comparisons are not acceptable. We also welcome the findings of Radio-Canada’s ombudsman which vindicate our joint concerns that Mr. Durivage’s comments did not meet the journalistic standards set by Radio-Canada. Nevertheless, we remain concerned about the quality of coverage that Radio-Canada has produced regarding Israel and the broader Middle East and we’ll be vigilantly monitoring their reporting to ensure that it adheres to their own codes of conduct. For more information, please contact: Mike Fegelman, Executive Director |