Ottawa Sun
Published: Saturday, October 23, 2004

What he said

My father always told me, don't believe everything you read. "Get the facts and go to the source before forming your opinion, then and only then will you discover the truth."

His wise counsel should be heeded when reading accounts of U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci's lunchtime speech before the National Capital Region Regroupement des gens d'affaires (RGA) this past Wednesday at the NAC. The reporting of this speech by a dozen or so reporters was at best mediocre, and at its worst, pathetic.

This occurs when the context of remarks is ignored and reporters take quotes "out of context" as the basis for a story. Whether by design (deliberate intent) or by accident (lethargy), it diminishes journalism as a whole.

To be fair, often a reporter has three other stories to chase before deadline so the fleeting imperative of immediacy triumphs over the more important and enduring standard of professionalism through truth. Such is the reality of the news gathering business.

However this reality is still no excuse for shoddy work. Reporters take great pride in calling themselves professional journalists. And in so doing, they should not only strive to report the facts, but the truth -- which must include context -- as well.

Ambassador Cellucci's comments were well-received by those in attendance. He outlined -- through a variety of statistics and anecdotes -- the integration of our economies, the similarity of our core values, and the parallel manifestation of freedom and democracy evident in our differing systems of government. It was an informative, balanced and politically safe speech.

Addressing the "war on terror" issue, the ambassador spoke of the tremendous co-operation between Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and Deputy PM Anne McClellan, and her predecessor, John Manley. In effusive terms, Cellucci thanked and commended the RCMP, CSIS and other Canadian agencies for the daily exchange of information across the border with their U.S. counterparts. But you wouldn't know this from the media coverage.

Instead, most media outlets chose to focus on this quote: "Our shared geography alone makes it inevitable that the terrorists would consider using Canada as a potential launching pad into the United States."

This leaves readers with the impression that the ambassador was criticizing Canada and urged us to do more on the security front. Indeed, this quote hit the "wires" and drove afternoon radio news coverage and voice-over TV clips with reporters insinuating as much. While this reporting was factual, it lacked context.

In the next sentence -- the one the journalists missed -- Mr. Cellucci went on to note that our shared geography makes it just as likely that terrorists could use U.S. soil as a staging ground for an attack on a Canadian city.

This additional information casts the ambassador's comments into their intended context. The threat of terrorist attack is not a national blame-game issue, it is a continental issue best addressed through co--operation.

Similarly, the same shoddy reporting is evident on the important question of getting the U.S. border reopened to Canadian beef and cattle. In response to a question, Ambassador Cellucci eloquently outlined his comprehension of the integration of the continental beef market.

He pointed to the success in getting Canadian boxed beef back into the States and the legal challenge to a U.S. Department of Agriculture ruling -- a ruling favoured by the president -- which has stalled the administration's efforts on this file. He noted that opposition to this ruling is concentrated in the northern U.S. prairie states, which is understandable due to geography and the competition between these states and the Canadian cattle industry.

If you only followed the media coverage, you'd think Ambassador Cellucci -- a former Republican governor -- was on a partisan tear against the Democrats, and in particular, Sen. Tom Daschle from North Dakota. Contrary to the coverage, the point being stressed, in his answer and in the post-speech scrum, was that the issue was one of geography first with politics playing a minor role.

Dad was right, don't believe everything you read ... except my column of course.