Mansbridge: Covering all angles of Afghanistan

CBC's reporting has included the debate over the mission, Peter Mansbridge retorts

Peter Mansbridge, Globe & Mail, 14 Dec 06

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Over the past five years, CBC News has spent considerable time and resources covering Canada's armed involvement in Afghanistan. Not only is Afghanistan this country's most challenging military operation in a half-century, it is a crucial public-policy issue that engages and concerns most Canadians.

Our reporters have been covering every aspect of this operation — including the continuing debate as to “why” Canada is there. We have covered it from the front lines in Afghanistan to Canada's Parliament in Ottawa, as well as many international conferences in between.

We are proud of our coverage. And we know, from the positive response of so many Canadians to it, that it has been helpful to many in understanding the important issues in front of us all.

Wednesday, The Globe's TV columnist John Doyle, writing from the vantage point of what he calls his “TV Cranny,” found this effort positively “creepy.” He took particular exception with Monday's special “On the Road” broadcast of The National from Edmonton, which looked at how families of those serving in Kandahar, or soon to go, are coping (rather well) and are helping support one another through the long separation.

Doyle found this somehow a lapse in journalistic responsibility. He wrote: “Of course, any thinking, feeling person can grasp the difficulties facing families with a member serving in Afghanistan. It's tough and emotionally wrenching. But we don't need to be hit over the head with the message. Besides, the population is not united in support of our current role in Afghanistan.”

Indeed, the public is not united over this role — as the CBC has clearly reported. In a poll this autumn, we showed that the Canadian public was split 52-48 per cent in favour. We also reported that 58 per cent did not believe the mission would succeed.

The very same poll, however, showed the overwhelming majority of Canadians, whatever their views of about the Afghan mission, thought very highly of the military (73 per cent). So we don't feel an obligation to act as if soldiers and their families should somehow remain an overlooked minority of no account, mere shadows in the corner of the holiday season.

We have no apologies to make. Our coverage of the war has been praised by those for the mission and by those against. Reporters have in the past explored a great deal of the dirty underbelly of this war, often at personal risk.

The CBC has operated 24/7 on the ground in Kandahar since the current mission landed there and is on frequent patrol with our forward troops.

We have reported extensively not only on the heavy fighting of recent months, but also on the extremely difficult attempts to get civilian reconstruction programs under way.

Brian Stewart's recent documentary Road to Kandahar for the first time revealed the infighting within the military and cabinet over Canada's initial role in Afghanistan. His regular “Inside the Mission” segment on The National examines the high cost and casualties of the war along with the shifts in public attitudes toward our commitment.

There has been a countless number of reports, documentaries and interview segments on The National and our other CBC News television, radio and online programs and services.

What is particularly offensive about Doyle's column is his charge that CBC's actions “give the appearance of an obedient press corps, placating the government.” What absolute nonsense.

Not only has CBC News been covering this conflict — from all perspectives, including those who oppose Canada's involvement — for several years before this current government was even elected, the CBC has been reporting on Canadian troops in war and conflict zones for 67 years.

War coverage is part of our network's heritage. This does not show an obsession with the military, as Doyle claims, but rather a determination to cover the story from all angles, with balance and an openness to many views, including those of family members missing loved ones at the front.

These people do exist, and CBC News will continue to listen to them too ... whatever the distress level in Doyle's “TV Cranny.”