Sikhs urge watchdog to address CBC’s biased reporting on farmers’ protest

The World Sikh Organisation (WSO) in Canada has called upon the community to write to the Ombudsman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to complain about its biased presenting of the farmers protests in Delhi.

The CBC Ombudsman has been set up to handle and investigate complaints regarding CBC’s news coverage. A template for a letter to send can be found here- https://www.kisaanekta.co/updates-posts/call-to-action-letter-to-cbc-requesting-clarification-on-extremist-report-article-maligning-sikh-community-WZtUy.

Salimah Shivji, a reporter at CBC news, said that the protests in India have prompted “gatherings extremist activity” in Canada, despite failing to explain or qualify any instance of “extremism”. The comments were also at odds with CBC News’ own video footage, which showed Indian police using batons, tear gas and water cannons against protesters who were conducting themselves peacefully.

The WSO has said that the CBC’s biased reporting came as a result of the Government of India meddling in Sikh Canadian affairs in order to present the Sikh community in a bad light.  

This claim is substantiated by recent comments made by a former national security analyst in Canada’s federal government, Stephanie Carvin, who told the Canadian press that the Sikh community is subject to harassment and surveillance by Indian authorities.

The WSO also highlighted a pattern of anti-Sikh, biased reporting by the Canadian press.

“Following PM Trudeau’s trip to India, the media actively maligned the community,” the WSO said in a statement. “Sikhs fought to have their voices heard via the #AskCanadianSikhs campaign to reclaim that power. Three years later we are must remind them to include Sikh voices and objective coverage.”

The organisation added that the recent clip was “aired on national TV without a single Sikh interviewed to provide our community’s perspective, while parroting India’s claims without challenge. This is one-sided coverage that gives viewers no context and maligns our community.”

“The Government of India has spun false and unsubstantiated claims as fact. A common tactic employed by India to undermine legitimate protest and advocacy,” it added. “Discussions on policy and protesting in a democracy are not extremism.”

The WSO is urging supporters of the protest to write to the CBC Ombudsman via email at ombud@cbc.ca or to call 416 205-2978, to highlight that there was no evidence to support that protestors outside the Indian consulates were extremists.

Meanwhile in India, the Editors Guild of India (EGI) has expressed concerns about the news coverage of the farmers’ protests in Delhi, as some sections of the media have been labelling the protesters as “Khalistanis”, “ anti-nationals”, and other such terms to “delegitimise the protests without any evidence or proof”.

“This goes against the tenets of responsible and ethical journalism. Such actions compromise the credibility of the media”, the advisory reads.

“EGI advises media organizations to display fairness, objectivity, and balance in reporting the farmers’ protests, without displaying partisanship against those who are exercising their constitutional rights to express themselves.” 

“Media shouldn’t be complicit to any narrative that derogates dissent and stereotypes protestors based on their attire and ethnicity.”