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From: Tim Ball [mailto:timothyball@shaw.ca]
Sent: November 12, 2007 2:39 AM
To: ombudsman@cbc.ca
Cc: Hubert_Lacroix@cbc.ca
Subject: Request for a full Review of
violations of CBC policies in their treatment and portrayal
of me in “The Denial Machine”
Vince Carlin
Ombudsman
CBC
P.O. Box 500, Station A
Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6
Dear Mr. Carlin,
As you know, I was featured in “The Denial Machine” broadcast
repeatedly over the past year on The Fifth Estate in Canada
and Australia (could you tell me where else it has been
broadcast, please?). The misrepresentations of me in the
programme are severe and have, over the past 12 months,
caused me significant personal and professional difficulties,
for example in my public presentations and other dealings
with media and Canadians.
For that reason, I write to you to request that you thoroughly
review the situations described below. I have Cc’d the
new CBC president, Mr. Hubert Lacroix, as I believe the
network should either radically alter the video so as
to reflect the truth about my activities and background
or remove the video entirely from the CBC Web site and
suspend all future broadcasting of the video. In addition,
pending your review, I would like corrections published
on the CBC Web site concerning the serious errors that
the Fifth Estate has, either through malice or through
accident, promulgated about me in their programme.
Specifically, the programme referred to Dr. Andrew Weaver
(a supporter of the point of view clearly being promoted
by the Fifth Estate in this programme) as a “climatologist”
at the University of Victoria when his Ph.D is not in
climatology and as “one of the authors of that definitive
international report.” While my Ph.D is specifically in
climatology from the University of London England, Queen
Mary College, I am referred to as merely “a retired University
of Winnipeg Professor”, a “so-called expert” “who hasn’t
published original research in years”. In fact, my most
recent paper was in press earlier in 2007 in the scientific
journal, Ecological Complexity. It is entitled
Polar bears of western Hudson Bay and climate change:
Are warming spring air temperatures the “ultimate” survival
control factor? and was co-authored with Baliunas,
Dyck, Soon, Baydack, Legates, and Hancock. I was also
the co-author of the book Eighteenth Century Naturalists
of Hudson Bay (2004 - McGill/Queens University Press)
with Dr. Stuart Houston, one of the World’s leading authorities
on arctic birds. I have an extensive publication record
covering over 30 years with many peer reviewed papers.
I taught climatology at university for 25 years and co-authored
the climatology half of a university textbook. I have
an extensive record of consulting work on climate and
have written a column on weather and climate for agribusiness
for 17 years.
The description of myself by The Fifth Estate therefore
clearly violates the CBC’s “Journalistic Standards and
Practices” which states (Production Standards, section
B: 1.3):
“Any relevant aspects of a commentator’s credentials
must be clearly summarized so that the audience may
have a perspective from which to appraise the speaker’s
view. For example, the position and affiliation of a
journalist or the particular qualifications of an academic
or any other type of speaker should be stated.”
My PhD training and my years in research and teaching
were focused on historical climatology – not reflecting
that reality is, I charge, also an obvious violation of
the above policy.
When speaking about the people James Hoggan ‘investigates’,
the fifth Estate commentator said “Tim Ball and his Friends
of Science are at the top of the list.” In reality, I
withdrew from FoS in October 2006 and have been Chair
of the Natural Resources Stewardship Project since that
time – omitting this information may have served the purposes
of the Fifth Estate producers as it made a connection
between myself and ‘oil industry money’ look like a given
but this also is a direct violation of CBC’s Journalistic
Standards and Practices Production Standards, section
B: 1.3 as it identifies me with a group I haven’t been
with since before the first broadcast of the Denial Machine
in November 2006. I know the producers of the programme
know about my affiliation with NRSP because our Executive
Director, Tom Harris, has interacted with Fifth Estate
staff intensively and they list NRSP (with a flawed identifying
description they refuse to correct despite Mr. Harris’
best efforts) on their “Resources” page.
I would also like to register a formal complaint about
what I believe is a clear violation of Journalistic
Standards and Practices, IV. PRODUCTION STANDARDS, A:
INFORMATION GATHERING, 10. CLANDESTINE METHODS, specifically
concerning the following two points in that policy:
10.1 MISREPRESENTATION
“Deception must not be used to gain information. CBC employees,
therefore, should not misrepresent themselves or their
purposes to gain it.”
and …
10.2 HIDDEN CAMERAS AND MICROPHONES
“As a general rule, hidden cameras and microphones should
not be used to gather information. The CBC commonly operates
openly where it can see and be seen.
“Also, there are circumstances where the use of hidden
cameras or microphones may entail civil or criminal liability.
A final decision to proceed with a hidden camera or microphone
requires the permission of the senior officer in information
programming of the appropriate media line. … In all these
circumstances, there should be consultation with the Law
Department.”
Specifically, here is the situation that leads me to
believe the CBC’s policy on clandestine methods was violated.
On August 23, 2006, I sent the following to CBC Fifth
Estate staff member, Gil Shochat:
-----Original Message-----
From: Tim Ball [mailto:timothyball@shaw.ca]
Sent: August 23, 2006 6:56 PM
To: Gil Shochat
Subject: Fifth Estate
Gil:
Thanks for your request for my participation in the Fifth
Estate investigation of the climate change issue. Despite
my original willingness I have now decided not to participate
in your program and ask that you not use this or any previous
communications in the programme.
Thank you.
Tim Ball
Aside from requests from other Fifth Estate to reconsider,
which I turned down, it was not until October 2006 that
the issue came up again. Specifically, on the morning
of October 5, 2006 I was setting up my Power Point slides
for a breakfast presentation I was giving at a conference
in Dawson Creek, B.C. when a reporter with a camera and
sound man approached me. He asked if he could interview
me. I asked who he represented. He replied “CBC News”.
I said, “You are not the Fifth Estate are you because
I have declined to be interviewed by them.” He said no,
he was CBC News. I replied that I didn’t have time for
an interview as I had a seven hour drive ahead of me right
after the talk as I was to present again that evening
in La Crete. While I spoke with the ‘CBC News’ reporter,
I noticed the cameraman busy doing something with his
equipment but since I had said no to an interview, I assumed
his camera was off. The reporter then asked if they could
follow me to La Crete. I said he could do what he wanted.
He left the stage only to come back a few minutes later
saying the crew thought it a waste to travel seven hours
for a ten minute interview and could I agree to a brief
interview after my talk? I consented.
After my presentation, I went to the back of the hall
where the CBC team had two opposing chairs, the cameraman,
lights and sound man set up. I sat down and they put the
microphone on me, then the interviewer said, I think I
should tell you that this is for The Fifth Estate, what
do you want to do? I stood up, took the microphone off
and said, “I’m out of here.” He asked if we could discuss
it and admitted that his confession as to representing
the programme was done at the urging of his technicians.
I replied to the reporter, “I don’t talk to liars”, and
left. I would swear I saw a distinct “good for you” look
on the camera and sound men’s faces.
That, so I thought, was that. Little did I know that,
without my knowledge or consent, the Fifth Estate cameraman
had in fact secretly filmed my conversation with the reporter
before the talk, a good portion of which appeared in the
many airings of The Denial Machine.
So, did “the senior [CBC] officer in information programming
of the appropriate media line” approve of this clandestine
video taping and its use in the programme broadcast –
if he/she did approve such covert activities on the part
of CBC staff, what was their rationale? Was there consultation
with the [CBC] Law Department before the taping and what
did they conclude? The activities of The Fifth Estate
in this instance certainly seem unethical and I believe
break your policies and perhaps privacy law (something
I have yet to investigate).
I request an immediate and full Ombudsman’s review of
all of the above.
Sincerely,
Dr. Tim Ball, Environmental Consultant
Chairman, Natural Resources Stewardship Project (www.nrsp.com)
back to NRSP News
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