The CBC’s ombudsman, Kirk LaPointe, says Kevin O’Leary’s remarks during an interview with author Chris Hedges violated the public broadcaster’s journalistic standards. The ruling followed complaints filed after O’Leary called the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist “a left-wing nutbar” during CBC News Network’s The Lang & O’Leary Exchange on Oct. 6.
Ombudsman LaPointe says e-mailed complaints and comments—many of them demanding an apology and some demanding O’Leary be fired—began arriving the evening the program aired and continued for several days, while video (see below) of the exchange was posted online.
You’d think O’Leary could get through a short interview without resorting to personal insults, wouldn’t you? His attitude here and as an outspoken judge on CBC’s Dragons’ Den reminds me a lot of Don Cherry’s rants on CBC’s hockey broadcasts.
Fellows like these, once they become popular, seem to see themselves as gurus who have the last word on their areas of expertise. Both have been a success in their areas and seem to believe it gives them special license to always be right. At least, in the case of O’Leary, he is most often right except, perhaps, sometimes when he’s showing off.
Except video, © Russell G. Campbell, 2011.
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