March 01, 2005

CBC vs. Reuters

Check out the difference in coverage between the CBC and the wire stories that the CBC report was based on. Someone at the CBC was paid to rewrite this story for no other reason than to change the words around to take the edge off of the actions of the Haitian police, which the RCMP is training.

I've highlighted the differences in terminology.

It's bad enough when the CBC regurgitates the misinformation of the wire services, but on the rare occasion that the AP or Reuters can't avoid reporting an incident like this, the CBC apparently needs to twist the facts further.

Here's the CBC:

At least two people were killed Monday at a police roadblock in a suburb of Port-au-Prince where militant supporters of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide rallied to mark the one-year anniversary since he left power.

Police fired tear gas at the crowd as they charged the roadblock, then followed that with live ammunition.

And Reuters:

Three people were killed on Monday when Haitian police opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators protesting the ouster of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide a year ago, witnesses and officials said.

Chanting "Aristide for life," thousands of protesters marched in the Bel-Air slum to demand the return of the exiled president, who fled Haiti on Feb. 29 in the face of a bloody rebellion by street gangs and former soldiers and under pressure from the United States and France.

Police began shooting as the demonstrators rounded a corner at an intersection, scattering the panicked crowd.

And the Associated Press:

Police on Monday fired at peaceful protesters marking the one-year anniversary of the ouster of former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and at least two people were killed and nearly a dozen were wounded.

About 2,000 protesters waving Aristide pictures and chugging rum started marching toward the National Palace when they encountered a police vehicle blocking the road in Bel Air neighborhood, an Aristide stronghold.

As crowds passed the vehicle, police fired tear gas, then bullets. With weapons drawn, U.N. peacekeepers surrounded the area.