CTV News VP Answers MPs’ Questions on Edited Poilievre Video

The CTV News logo outside its studios in Halifax on Sept. 10, 2010. The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan

CTV News vice-president Richard Gray told MPs that a recent video broadcast by the news outlet misrepresenting comments from the opposition leader was an unprecedented occurrence in his 33-year career.

Gray testified before the House of Commons ethics committee regarding a Sept. 22 video that was edited in a way that gave the impression that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had tabled a non-confidence motion against the Liberal government over dental care. Poilievre was actually discussing issues like crime and inflation and said, “That’s why it’s time to put forward a motion for a carbon tax election.”

“This is a deeply regrettable situation. In my 33-year career working in television news, this is the first time I have come across something like this,” Gray said at the Oct. 10 committee meeting. “I hope that our response speaks to the importance we place on upholding our commitment to fairness, objectivity, and the truth.”

Following a complaint from Poilievre’s office, CTV first issued an apology on Sept. 23, saying that his comment had been “taken out of context,” attributing the misrepresentation to a “misunderstanding during the editing process.”

Dissatisfied with the response, Poilievre’s media relations director on Sept. 24 publicized a memo sent to caucus members that unless CTV admitted “malicious editing” and “omission of context to undermine” Poilievre, the Conservatives shouldn’t engage with CTV News, its parent company Bell, and its lobbyists.

CTV later issued another statement offering an “irrevocable apology,” and saying two staff members involved in the video had been removed for breaching its editorial policies and practices.

Gray confirmed that one of the individuals was a reporter who altered a script after it had been approved by the producer. The other was an editor who spliced together fragments from two segments of a statement, creating a clip that had not actually been spoken to cover a technical issue with the original recording.

When asked about the motive for their actions, Gray said the reporter altered the clip “to take out the reference to the carbon tax with the explanation given that the story was being reduced in length for time.” He added, “There was no specific ask of that reporter to alter their story for time.”

Conservative MP Andrew Scheer disputed the reporter’s motive, asking if the alteration was truly based on time constraints.

“The words that were cut out were ‘carbon tax election.’ I just timed myself. That took about 1.2 seconds. So you’re telling me that there was no intent to misinform Canadians, and they had to cut this down for length, and that it would be understood that the quote from the Conservative leader was about a carbon tax election, even though you removed the words ‘carbon tax election,’” Scheer said. “Can you understand how we are having a very difficult time accepting that?”

Gray replied that the explanation was provided by the reporter and denied attempting to spread disinformation or mislead the audience.

“I disagree with the characterization that we are engaged in a campaign of disinformation,” Gray said. “With respect to Canadians, it’s our job to present all sides of public policy issues in a balanced, accurate, and fair way so Canadians can make an informed decisions on them.”

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.