Digital - Written by Megan Stewart on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 23:54 - 15 Comments

Comments on CBC.ca raise questions over moderation

Tags: aboriginal stereotyping, CBC, comment moderation, forum moderation, Morris Swan Shannacappo, racism in Canada

Accusations from Manitoba First Nation leaders that the CBC has failed to moderate its online forums for racist comments brings a new dimension to coverage of Aboriginal people in Canada and heightens the debate around site moderation.

This new dimension, of course, is the participatory and interactive nature of the Internet.

In 1996, the Royal Commission Report on Aboriginal Peoples concluded that the Canadian press was guilty of stereotyping. Where the mainstream media covered Aboriginal peoples and issues, information was misappropriated or First Nations people and groups were stereotyped. Three stereotypes dominated: the victim, the warrior and the environmentalist.

This pattern of coverage, wrote the authors of the report more than a decade ago, can â€œfoster racism and discriminatory practices.” Essentially, a lack of context and historical knowledge can espouse systemic ignorance and intolerance.

In 2002, Robert Harding found that these pigeon-hole labels persisted into the millennium, albeit with new emerging and negative stereotypes. After looking at three dailies over a four-month period, Harding determined that â€œAboriginal issues [are] framed by the media in ways that preclude Aboriginal people being â€˜readyâ€™ to exercise complete control of their lives.”

Both the Commission and Harding were examining the press – mainstream mastheads from across Canada – for nuance and subtlety. They were looking at the hard-copy work of print journalists and not the oft-anonymous comments of Internet readers.

Dialogue not dogma

The majority of websites that welcome user-generated content struggle to strike a balance between moderation and censorship. There is a place for opposing and complex views, for outspoken and vociferous opinion. However, meaningful debate champions dialogue, not dogma.

Southern Grand Chief Morris Swan Shannacappo and Chief Russell Beaulieu of the Sandy Bay First Nation are accusing the CBC of failing to adequately monitor comments on online stories and they say prejudicial statements were posted and remained on the site for a few hours before being taken down. On February 11, Schannacappo said at a press conference:

[There are] persistent bloggers who pounce on almost any story dealing with First Nations or indigenous issues and use it as an excuse to rant against or ridicule indigenous people. The world will always have its racists and kooks but the CBC is providing a vehicle for them with a forum to attack our people.

Schannacappo said the comments malign Aboriginal cultural beliefs, berate aboriginal people with racist slurs, and parade outdated stereotypes. Free speech is a valued right that should be protected, but CBC moderated and rejected a minority of comments on the grounds that some detract rather than develop the conversation.

The CP reported:

Many of the comments that have raised the ire of the southern chiefs have come in response to news stories about Aboriginal crime or tragedy. One reader comment regarding a Manitoba Aboriginal leader charged with theft and fraud said Aboriginals “just want to leech from society, sell cheap smokes and drink beer.” Another reader commenting on a story about a fatal house fire on the Chemainus First Nation in British Columbia suggested Aboriginals “should go out into the real world and work for a roof over their heads like the rest of us.”

(I considered not repeating these comments, but we should not deny the reality that racism exists within out society. It is important to speak out against prejudice of this nature.)

Diverse voices

Schannacappo is backed by Manitoba’s acting attorney general, who agreed the comments were offensive and racist, even calling for an apology of sorts, but said there is little the province could do and the First Nations leaders should file a complaint with the human rights commission, the RCMP or the CRTC.

Online boards are active among readers of the nation’s public broadcaster, and the CBC receives nearly 200,000 comments a month and 10,000 a day. The story reporting the accusations counted 547 comments after 12 days online.

Some, surely, will have been moderated and kept from public view, and comments submitted to CBCNews.ca are expected to “relevant,” “civil,” and sensitive to “the death or injury of private individuals, especially children.” Moderation is based:

Racist, sexist and offensive language.

Personal attacks and defamatory statements.

Threats or suggesting committing a criminal act.

Posting your message in all CAPS (this makes it difficult to read and in online speak is considered yelling).

The US-based Poynter Institute offers an extensive guideline for ethical online journalism and argues that:

Done well, user-generated content adds diverse voices and opinions to an organization’s journalism, contributes to journalists’ credibility and enhances our mission as trusted guides.

New and traditional media are creating spaces for a lively public conversation. This is a constant work in progress:

What has changed in the last year is that major media companies are no longer arguing over whether they should have comments under stories or blogs; instead, the debate is about how they should moderate them and even highlight the best ones in eye-catching editorial spaces. Many sites are embracing the concept of “news as a conversation,” and trying to create active conversations among reporters, editors and readers online.

Clear standards and a transparent codes of ethics can benefit the overall quality of an organization’s journalism. Letters to the editor have an important place in the history of journalism and now comment boards share some of this purpose.

They can enable dialogue, serve a public interest and generate new knowledge and context. None of this is fostered by misinformation, including racism, prejudice and intolerance.

About the author: Megan Stewart is a master's student at UBC's Graduate School of Journalism. She consumes news, talks about news and writes news.

15 Comments

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Apr 2, 2009 6:09

Whenever i hear or read about the word ‘dogma’ my back hair raises.

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Anna
Aug 29, 2009 4:51

It is not only aboriginals – women, gays, french speaking Canadians from Quebec, Americans, young people – the CBC community is full of jerks who have nothing better to do then put down others. However they have now set up a moderation panel of some kind. I am all for free speech but the CBC but the first C stands for CANADIAN, and I do not want to project the notion that Canadians are rednecks, which is what one would have us believe by reading the stupidity on the boards. As a student I enjoy reading both sides of an argument on the boards, but blatant discrimination for the thrill of it is pathetic. Glad the CBC finally woke up

Test
Aug 31, 2009 14:21

Luvania is a dirty country and they should never join the EU!

Let see if newslab moderates their boards and blocks this comment. On a side note, Luvania is a fictional country.

Test
Aug 31, 2009 14:23

If you’re going to do a story about how comment boards should be moderated, you should probably moderate your own boards too.

Ruth
Sep 11, 2009 13:22

After two hours of trying to find yesterday’s on line news I finally arrived at this moderation page. I had begun to suspect that real, unjustified censorship was beinbg applied with no recourse. You might want to moderate your moderators very soon or find yourself in a backwater you can share with other timorous or know-nothing supporters.

A.J.
May 3, 2010 4:26

As the CBC is Really doing a good job,

Thank – You and keep up the good work …

Although can you explain,

How the govener general ” justifies ” a pay check ??

Let alone the job duties ??

Involving, which adds to ” our ” future in making it better ?

what does this person really do ?

Hey, can we elect CBC for govener general and atleast have the Jet – Setting; Justified ???

or do we need more govener generals, like more politians ?

Dave Kinchlea
Sep 23, 2010 14:16

Censorship is always wrong and the problem with most of the arguments for “moderation” (which is just another name for censorship) is that when such moderation is applied, anybody who has seen their comment deleted is lumped together as if all one group. I’ve had two of my comments removed from CBC, neither of them were racist or hateful to individuals, rather the words I used offended somebody (who I’ll never know). I’m also not a redneck nor any other nasty term being applied to me as somebody who has been “moderated” off the board.

I left CBC as a user and will not return until such censorship stops but I really resent this whole notion. My ideas, my thoughts, my expressions are just as valid as anybody else’s. What makes other people’s words so much better? Why is “passed on” okay but “passed sell-by date” offensive? Who gets to say that? What else do they just decide other people shouldn’t see?

FWIW, I had many dozens of “Like”, about three times as many that “Disliked” the comment before it was pulled without any way of finding out why. Nobody should be happy that our tax money funds such a place … let the racists speak and speak out against them! they are weaker when we let them speak because they look like the idiots they are.

DaveA
Nov 27, 2010 15:57

If First Nation leaders don’t want the stereotyping, change the stereotype. I mean this seriously. Censorship is wrong. Because the same thing that gags others will eventually turn to gag you. Your freedom is just as important as mine. And in my experience the real racism comes from those who want to censor.

SonnyboySlim
Mar 17, 2011 11:28

Dave Kinchlea says “My ideas, my thoughts, my expressions are just as valid as anybody else’s. What makes other people’s words so much better?” Probably content.

I might argue that your right to express your thoughts is just as valid but rights and content are not the same thing. I have the right to post videos of myself on youtube, say, playing the fiddle, just anyone else. The fact that I can’t play a note on the fiddle is irrelevant; I have an webcam and internet access and I have the right to indulge my wants and needs in a public forum.

The problem with most of these commentary sites is that one of the central principles of freedom of expression rests on the obligation to defend what one says publically. CBC should only have to defend what it says, not what somebody living in their parents’ basement wants to say. Moderators serve as a filtre for the purpose of not having to defend moronic, slanderous or offensive content.

Simply having access to the internet does not make someone Bill O’Reilly. If someone wants a forum with no moderation, they can easily start their own blog.

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