OTTAWA – CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix used the public broadcaster’s third annual public meeting and 75th anniversary to hammer home its commitment to accountability and transparency.
Speaking Wednesday afternoon at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Lacroix highlighted the Corp’s newly created website that details its executive expenses, information about audits and Board meetings, and includes a monthly bulletin reporting on its “progress” on Access to Information requests. He also stressed its accountability to Canadians through Parliament, the CRTC, the Auditor General and its government-appointed Board of Directors.
“We take accountability and transparency very seriously”, he said during his opening remarks. “Those two attributes are central to our philosophy, and absolutely critical to our credibility. And obviously credibility is essential for a public broadcaster.”
The CBC has been scrutinized by a Commons committee over its approach towards access to information, and has been roundly criticized by Quebecor Media for its alleged lack of disclosure around ATI requests, as Cartt.ca has reported.
Referencing the CBC’s current Federal Court of Appeal case with the Information Commissioner, Lacroix says that the crux of the case revolves around clarifying Section 68.1 of the Access to Information Act which excludes “journalistic, programming, and creative activities”.
“To be credible, a news organization has to be able to pursue its legitimate journalistic activities without arbitrary interference from outside parties, whether competitors, government, or others”, he continued. “And I should emphasize that this law was created by Parliament and variations of it in one form or another are common in other Canadian provinces and in other countries of the world with public broadcasters. We are trying to clarify the rules around Section 68.1. This is the proper thing to do.”
This year's event also included a panel discussion with foreign correspondents Nahlah Ayed, Anyck Béraud, Jean-François Bélanger and Paul Hunter who shared their thoughts and experiences on some of the past year’s biggest international news stories.
