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30 December 2005

The educational value of crap reporting

CTV meanwhile is providing an example of the sort of reporting that my public relations students can expect to see from even a good news organization when something other than fact is driving a story: shoddy research, half-baked presentation and relevant details buried.

This story purports to have copies of e-mail providing there was insider trading.

It has nothing other than confirmation people knew an announcement was coming. There's no sign they had details: that's what counts as evidence.

Meanwhile, CTV did report this relevant bit of information, namely that there was actually a lot of speculation in the trading but no sign of anything criminal.

But don't expect to see Tim Cadwell, securities expert, quoted very much, expecially in the expert "commentaries" plastered all over NewsNet and the national news:

Cadwell's analysis simply contradicts where the herd thinks. it's more important to fit in than to be right.

All of this has been in the public domain before.

All of it.

The only thing that has restarted the story is confirmation the police are checking everything.

There is still no proof of anything.

Unlike the guy who bugged his telephone calls and then leaked information in bits and pieces along with bogus translations.

Backed by his boss and his boss' staff in the deliberate deception.