A priest from Paul Martin’s home riding underwent argumentative questioning about same-sex marriage on CBC radio in Montréal this morning. We’ve got the highilight clips for you.
In an interview that sometimes sounded like a hostile cross-examination, Daybreak Montréal host Dave Bronstetter first asked Father Francis Jeremiah whether he thought Martin was a sinner. When the priest objected to the inappropriateness of the question, Bronstetter asked whether he had banned gays from church services. The accusation was baseless, so of course the priest just denied it.
When that line of ambush didn’t work, Bronstetter tried to argue that doctors have proved that homosexuality is normal. But this claim is just a rhetorical trick called the fallacy of equivocation — that’s when someone tries to trick you by using a word out of context. Here Bronstetter is trying to trick you by confusing the medical meaning and normative meaning of words like normal and abnormal.
But Father Jeremiah didn’t fall for that either, so Bronstetter next played the old Biblical slavery card. The priest of course objected, pointing out that opinions about slavery and opinions about gay marriage should not be equated. Bronstetter denied he had said that – and then immediately repeated it, before changing the subject by playing the “God loves gays” card.
Listen as Bronstetter gets riled up.
Bronstetter ended by hinting that the priest was trying to play up the issue to embarrass Paul Martin. That didn’t work either, as Father Jeremiah pointed out that he had simply been preaching about the advantages for children of having a mother and a father.
Canadian society is deeply divided about same-sex marriage. But whatever side you’re on, no one can listen to this interview without concluding that Bronstetter is biased on the issue, and that his bias afftected the fairness and balance of the story.
Here’s what the CBC’s “Journalistic Standards and Practices” says about bias and prejudice by its reporters.
Journalists will have opinions of their own, but they must not yield to bias or prejudice. For journalists to be professional is not to be without opinions, but to be aware of those opinions and make allowances for them, so that their reporting is, and appears to be, judicious and fair.
If you think Dave Bronstetter violated this policy, tell the CBC Ombudsman about it. The program is called Daybreak Montréal and the interview appeared on the morning of June 21, 2005.
Doug wrote:
Sure, I’ll email the CBC Ombudsman–and picture him laughing and filing my comment in drawer 13.
Posted on 22-Jun-05 at 10:13 am | Permalink
ninme wrote:
We’re All Going To Hell
I just know it. No Left Turns - Religion and politics in Canada I would quote it, but there’s no good place to start. Update: Dr Douglas Farrow: Consider this: When the definition of marriage is changed, the biological facts…
Posted on 22-Jun-05 at 11:24 am | Permalink
Exploited3 wrote:
Program on the emergence of civilization.
“14 species of large animals capable of domesitcation in the history of mankind.
13 from Europe, Asia and northern Africa.
None from the sub-Saharan African continent. ”
Favor.
And disfavor.
They point out Africans’ failed attempts to domesticate the elephant and zebra, the latter being an animal they illustrate that had utmost importance for it’s applicability in transformation from a hunting/gathering to agrarian-based civilization.
The roots of racism are not of this earth.
Austrailia, aboriginals:::No domesticable animals.
The North American continent had none. Now 99% of that population is gone.
AIDS in Africa.
Organizational Heirarchy
Heirarchical order, from top to bottom:
1. MUCK - perhaps have experienced multiple universal contractions (have seen multiple big bangs), creator of the artificial intelligence humans ignorantly refer to as “god”
2. Perhaps some mid-level alien management
3. Mafia (evil) aliens - runs day-to-day operations here and perhaps elsewhere (”On planets where they approved evil.”)
Terrestrial management:
4. Chinese/egyptians - this may be separated into the eastern and western worlds
5. Romans - they answer to the egyptians
6. Mafia - the real-world interface that constantly turns over generationally so as to reinforce the widely-held notion of mortality
7. Jews, corporation, women, politician - Evidence exisits to suggest mafia management over all these groups.
Survival of the favored.
Movies foreshadowing catastrophy
1986 James Bond View to a Kill 1989 San Fransisco Loma Prieta earthquake.
They can affect the weather and Hurricane Katrina was accomplished for many reasons and involves many interests, as anything this historical is::
1. Take heat off Sheenhan/Iraq, protecting profitable war machine/private war contracts
2. Gentrification. New Orleans median home price of $84k is among the lowest in major American cities, certainly among desirable cities.
Journal: 10 composition books + 39 megs of text files
Posted on 08-Sep-05 at 10:51 pm | Permalink
John wrote:
“Canadian society is deeply divided about same-sex marriage.”
Care to find a stat on that one?
Posted on 06-Feb-08 at 4:08 pm | Permalink