LILLEY: CBC still won’t sue Liberals, time they admit their bias – Toronto Sun

So much for CBC being fair and balanced.

The state broadcaster often criticized for being too friendly to Justin Trudeaus Liberal government is giving the party a pass once again.

Its the fourth time in a week.

Presented with more examples of the Liberals using CBC material for partisan videos online, CBCs top spokesman still says they will not launch a lawsuit similar to the one they launched against the Conservatives last week.

As I said earlier in the week, whenever something is brought to our attention where a candidate is using our content inappropriately, we take steps to have the video taken down. Thats what happened with Melanie Joly and thats what will happen with Navdeep Bains, Chuck Thompson said via email.

Liberal cabinet ministers like Bains and Joly were sharing edited CBC clips on the weekend to criticize Andrew Scheer and promote the Liberal Party.

The videos were seen by tens of thousands of people.

Same with a CBC clip of Peter Mansbridge interviewing Andrew Scheer posted by Catherine McKenna.

As I write, the clips by Bains and McKenna are still up.

While CBC considers this an abuse of their material worthy of a lawsuit when Conservatives do the same, with Liberals, all appears to be forgiven.

The Bains, Joly and McKenna videos come just days after Nirmala Naidoo, the Liberal candidate in Calgary Skyview, was forced to take down online videos that promoted herself using CBC material.

Naidoo is a former CBC on-air personality and the clips she used were of herself.

They were posted and circulated online starting at the beginning of the election campaign and only taken down last week when Conservatives complained of a double standard.

Well what a double standard it is.

In a statement from Jennifer McGuire, the head of CBC News explaining why they were suing the Conservatives, McGuire said it was to protect our journalistic content and brands from unauthorized use in all circumstances.

We do this at all times including during past election campaigns when political parties have threatened the independence of our work and journalists, McGuire said.

This is especially important during an election campaign.

Or at least it is if the Conservatives are ones using CBC material.

Ive been clear, I think CBCs case in on shaky legal ground.

So do legal experts like University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist and the folks at Elections Canada who claim that what the parties are doing is legal.

Yet CBC has only launched a lawsuit against one party the Conservatives.

The Conservatives took down the video clips they were using even before CBC launched their lawsuit but the state broadcaster said that they had to go ahead with it, effectively to teach the Conservatives a lesson.

CBC/Radio Canada was given no assurance that such misuse would not be repeated, McGuire said.

Well the Liberals keep abusing this process and CBC does nothing.

Both parties are guilty of the same crime, or what CBC thinks is a crime, but there is no lawsuit against the Liberals.

Meanwhile the Liberals, who did similar things in 2015, once decried Conservatives using clips the last time CBC complained about this.

Taking a clip from a news organization is theft of intellectual property, said Liberal MP Adam Vaughan in 2014.

Its stealing, said Liberal MP Judy Sgro.

And Liberal MP Dominic Leblanc said that actions such as this were nothing but a rat race and the Liberals wouldnt act like the Conservatives.

So much for that.

And so much for the independence of CBC.

The organization has long been accused by Conservatives of being too Liberal friendly, now the actions of their executives are supporting that claim.

Isnt it time CBC just admitted their bias for the Liberals?

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LILLEY: CBC still won't sue Liberals, time they admit their bias - Toronto Sun