The Ghomeshi Apology and the Shame of the CBC

And so it ends, for him. Jian Ghomeshi has apologized, and avoided another trial for sexual assault.

Jian Ghomeshi stood before an open court today and apologized for his "sexually inappropriate" behaviour against a former CBC employee who had accused him of sexual assault — a charge that was then dropped by the Crown attorney.

His apology to Kathryn Borel and the peace bond he signed meant there would be no second sexual assault trial, and ended the legal ordeal the former CBC radio host has faced since Toronto police laid sexual assault charges against him in 2014.

But if he got off lightly as far as I'm concerned, so did the CBC.



For I can't help being struck by what his victim Kathryn Borel had to say about the way she was treated by the corporation's wretched managers.

"When I went to the CBC for help, what I received in return was a directive that, yes, he could do this and, yes, it was my job to let him. The relentless message to me from my celebrity boss and the national institution we worked for were that his whims were more important than my humanity or my dignity."

And no I don't think their late apologies are enough.

Chuck Thompson, a spokesman for the public broadcaster said what happened to Borel should never have occurred and that the CBC apologizes. He said the corporation has taken steps, including providing training to recognize bullying and harassment in the workplace.

I have the same questions Ashley Csanady asks here. 

I couldn’t help but wonder once again Wednesday how the so-called Mother Corp let this happen. For three years let this happen, all for what, a “rising star” with a saccharine-sweet voice and faux feminism?

I couldn’t stop thinking: Where’s the CBC? Whose head is rolling? 

And I agree with this:

What’s owed Borel is more than a vague statement, but a direct apology. Preferably on air and preferably straight from the top. Because what she described was a failing of the deepest kind at, in her words, a “national institution.”

For those managers are the ones who created a "star" system that allowed those "stars" to think they could get away with anything. 

The same ones who would keep the Con demagogue Rex Murphy on the air for no doubt the same reasons.

He's too big to fire...



Even though he is a ghastly climate change denier and a tool of Big Oil.

As far as I'm concerned it's all part of the same problem.

And until those managers are held to account, until its Con board is purged.

And until Murphy is fired.

The CBC will not be a truly Canadian institution.

And there will be no justice...

Please click here to recommend this post at Progressive Bloggers.