When we did share stories to Facebook, we spent a huge amount of time and effort cleaning up the sludge. Misinformation and disinformation were rife.Īs a result of this toxicity, we were posting fewer of our stories and videos to Facebook, knowing our story subjects would face certain abuse and particular communities would be targeted. We did so because we were seeing an inordinate amount of hate, abuse, misogyny and threats in the comments under our stories. Some of these same concerns were behind our decision in June to close comments on our CBC-branded Facebook pages in News, Current Affairs and Local as part of an experiment. WATCH | Carole MacNeil says goodbye to viewers in her final CBC broadcast:ĭuration 7:22 Veteran journalist Carole MacNeil retires from the CBC with a farewell message about being 'in service to you, the public.' And some of you try to attack us personally, physically, even when we are doing our job. 'I believe strongly that as journalists, we are in service to you, the public. You want us to work with no fear and no favour.'īut what resonated most for me was MacNeil's commentary on the state of public discourse, misinformation and hardening attitudes about journalists:

'You don't want us to cower in the face of pressure. 'You like it when someone is challenged, but not shamed or embarrassed,' MacNeil said of the audience. In her closing remarks, which you can watch below, MacNeil thanked her audience and reminded the rest of us what the public expects from journalists: precision, competency, straightforward questions, context. Earlier this week, veteran CBC News journalist and host Carole MacNeil signed off after a 34-year career with the public broadcaster.

Facebook news