Don Newman, Bluesky, and the CBC.

BC Blue beat me to it with his post on Don Newman still writing for the CBC but here for your reading pleasure is my perspective and some added information.

Here is what Bluesky claims they can do for their clients:

In the headlines – or staying out of the headlines.
Our unparalleled relationships with bureau chiefs, columnists, producers, editors, members of the National Parliamentary Press Gallery and an extensive network of media contacts across the country make Bluesky’s reach vast.
We have been on both sides of the camera and understand what makes news.
Our team takes our clients’ issues and shapes strong messages that put them in the news or help them stay out of it!

Interesting. I guess that Don Newman will be a valuable asset with his past and current relationship with the CBC. Good for him and his new employer Bluesky, but shouldn't this sort of thing raise concerns within the CBC?



Now here is what the CBC manual says about journalistic credibility:

Credibility is dependent not only on qualities such as accuracy and fairness in reporting and presentation, but also upon avoidance by both the organization and its journalists of associations or contacts which could reasonably give rise to perceptions of partiality. Any situation which could cause reasonable apprehension that a journalist or the organization is biased or under the influence of any pressure group, whether ideological, political, financial, social or cultural, must be avoided.


If this type of thing must be avoided could someone at the CBC explain why is Newman still allowed to write for the CBC at the same time as he working with a group that claims to be able to influence the media by taking "our clients’ issues and shapes strong messages that put them in the news or help them stay out of it!"


As they say in the media relations biz: perception is everything.

Related: Newman's current entry and a previous one on the same subject as well as a couple of other posts that I made referring to Don.