CBC.ca apologizes for columnist Mallick's article about Palin

[This post has been updated] The Publisher of CBC News, John Cruickshank, has written a column apologizing for publishing a column by Heather Mallick about U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

The volume of complaints played a part in prompting his apology and CBC Ombudsman, Vince Carlin, fashioned the justification. Cruickshank said:

Mallick's column is a classic piece of political invective. It is viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan.

And because it is all those things, this column should not have appeared on the CBCNews.ca site.

Mallick will be on a short leash in future as the corporation's news chief says they will exercise "healthy restraint"; "new editing procedures [are] in place to insure that in the future, work that is not appropriate for our platforms, will not appear."

Even a casual reader of CBCNews.ca will wonder, now that the management is seeking higher ground (so to speak) over the controversy (drop-kicking one of its most popular columnists in the process) whether the same leash will be put on the commenters on the site. Nothing that Mallick said could compare in vituperation and venom with things that are posted there routinely, including many of the couple of thousand comments posted about the item in question itself.

[UPDATE: If you wish to see how the CBC will become a laughingstock over this decision,read this item in Gawker, the Manhattan media gossip site.]

[The column in question has been removed from the CBC site. The column is still available at Heather Mallick's own site.]

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