The CBC admitted they “regret” publishing a January 19 article that alleged Alberta Premier Smith’s office contacted Crown prosecutors and meddled in the active Coutts border case — a claim that Smith has since been cleared of from the Ethics Commissioner.
It’s the state broadcaster’s second update to the same hit piece on Smith.
In the latest editor’s note released on Wednesday, the CBC admitted that their main claim was shoddy.
“We have updated the Jan. 19 story, removing references to direct contact between the premier’s office and prosecutors – which the premier has vehemently denied,” the update reads.
“CBC News regrets reporting direct contact by email,” the note added.
Sequence of events
In January, Calgary pastor Artur Pawlowski and Smith had a phone call about his criminal case in relation to the blockade at the Canada – US border at Coutts. On the leaked phone call, Smith talks to Pawlowski about his case where she offered to make some inquiries for him and get back to him.
Subsequently, the CBC wrote an article that they had proof that Smith spoke to Crown Prosecutors. CBC based its claim on an alleged anonymous source.
CBC quickly issued its first correction to the article the following day, when they admitted they never actually reviewed the emails alleged from their anonymous source.
Despite their original correction, the CBC refused to take down its story. Leading up to the May 29 provincial election, the United Conservative Party’s (UCP) Smith was relentlessly attacked by New Democrat Party (NDP) leader Rachel Notley over the anonymous, unverified allegations.
“Our sources have insisted that Crown prosecutors felt political pressure regarding the Coutts cases, but they are not able to confirm that the emails they originally described were sent directly from the premier’s office to the Crown,” the update reads.
On top of the CBC doing everything they could to help Notley win, during CTV’s election night coverage, a reporter accidentally admitted on live TV that her entire network didn’t want the UCP to beat the NDP.
