CKNW Goes Full Yellow Journalism

At approximately 1:45 PM on the Simi Sara show, in between her segment with Bob Mackin, cknw did a short news blurb..

And it was bullshit yellow journalism of the worst kind...


Here was the news blurb uttered, and I quote..

"Dominion Bond rating service is reporting BC`s credit rating could suffer if the NDP are elected in May`s election and make a lot of changes" snip.

After I called cknw`s newsroom and ripped them a new one, when they reported that same story on latter news spots, they dropped the word "suffer" from their claim...How come it took a complaint from a blogger/writer for cknw to Clean up their wording?....It was done deliberately, subtle messaging, later in the day both the Vancouver Sun and The Province posted the report from Dominion Bond Rating Service, nowhere in the written report was the word "suffer" ...So how did that word enter cknw`s newsroom?.

This is yellow journalism of the worst kind, Bond rating agencies DO not call up radio stations and ask news departments to report opinions as news..It`s not their job, rating agencies are paid to assess finances, not weigh in on elections, I suspect that this crap was sent to cknw newsroom from the BC Public affairs department..

This is shocking propaganda..

I implore all readers to call up cknw and air a grievance, ..

This is as bad as it gets..

Here is a link to the audio vault..


http://www.cknw.com/news/audiovault/index.aspx

Cue up March 26th/ 1:00 pm...Fast forward to about 1:45 pm..

I phoned the newsroom already, I told them if that crap is uttered again I`m reporting them to the CBSC(Canadian Broadcast Standards Council)..

And I will, they are back east, phone call will have to wait until tomorrow..

Look people, rating agencies don`t do that, they don`t try to influence an election, this tactic wasn`t even attempted in the Romney/Obama battle for presidency..

That is how outrageous this was..

CKNW should bow their head in shame, their newsroom should be fired on
the spot..

Here is the little bit from the code of conduct rules for rating agencies..

______

6

1.15 The CRA should institute policies and

procedures that clearly specify a

person responsible for the CRA’s and the CRA’s employees’ compliance

with the provisions of the CRA’s co

de of conduct and with applicable laws

and regulations. This person’s reporting lines and compensation should be

independent of the CRA’s rating operations.

1.16 Upon becoming aware that another employee or entity under common

control with the CRA is or has engaged in

conduct that is illegal, unethical

or contrary to the CRA’s code of conduct, a CRA employee should report

such information immediately to the i

ndividual in charge of compliance or

an officer of the CRA, as appropriate, so proper action may be taken. A

CRA’s employees are not necessarily exp

ected to be experts in the law.

Nonetheless, its employees are expected to report the activities that a

reasonable person would question. An

y CRA officer who receives such a

report from a CRA employee is obligated to take appropriate action, as

determined by the laws and regulations of the jurisdiction and the rules and

guidelines set forth by the CRA. CRA management should prohibit

retaliation by other CRA staff or by the CRA itself against any employees

who, in good faith, make such reports.

2. CRA

I

NDEPENDENCE AND

A

VOIDANCE OF

C

ONFLICTS OF

I

NTEREST

A. General

2.1 The CRA should not forbear or refrain from taking a rating action based on

the potential effect (economic, political, or otherwise) of the action on the

CRA, an issuer, an investor, or other market participant.

2.2 The CRA and its analysts should use care and professional judgment to

maintain both the substance an

d appearance of independence and

objectivity.

2.3 The determination of a credit rating should be influenced only by factors

relevant to the credit assessment.

2.4 The credit rating a CRA assigns to an issuer or security should not be

affected by the existence of or poten

tial for a business relationship between

the CRA (or its affiliates) and the issuer (or its affiliates) or any other party,

or the non-existence of such a relationship.

2.5

The CRA should separate, operationally and legally, its credit rating

business and CRA analysts from any other businesses of the CRA, including

consulting businesses, that may present a conflict of interest. The CRA

should ensure that ancillary business operations which do not necessarily

present conflicts of interest with the CRA’s rating business have in place

procedures and mechanisms designed to

minimize the likelihood that

conflicts of interest will arise. 

 http://www.iosco.org/library/pubdocs/pdf/IOSCOPD180.pdf

_________________

Code of conduct rules prohibit the actions and statements attributed to Dominion Rating Services by cknw, in other words, they broke the code, cknw needs to retract that blurb, it needs to be put on the record by cknw`s newsroom that Dominion Bond Rating Service did not use the word "suffer"..

If indeed Dominion Bond Rating Service did use that word, if, than they broke the code of conduct,(Trying to influence an election)

Have a perusal of the PDF on code of conduct for rating agencies

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open