WHAT DO FACTS HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?:

An astonishing mea culpa from the CBC (Jonathan Kay, 9/28/08, National Post)

Earlier this month, I wrote a column blasting CBC.ca coumnist Heather Mallick for writing a vulgar, juvenile hit-job on Sarah Palin. I also blasted the CBC for publishing it. I ended with these words: "The folks at the CBC might want to take care of their credibility problem before it’s too late. Otherwise, I suspect, the next government will take care of it for them.

Today, the CBC announced thet were doing just that:

We erred in our judgment -- By John Cruickshank, CBC News -- Sept. 28, 2008

More than 300 people have taken the trouble this month to complain to the CBC ombudsman about a column we ran on CBCNews.ca about Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on Sept. 5. The column, by award-winning freelance writer Heather Mallick, was also pilloried by the National Post in Canada and by Fox News in the U.S.

… Vince Carlin, the CBC Ombudsman, has now issued his assessment of the Mallick column. He doesn't fault her for riling readers by either the caustic nature of her tone or the polarizing nature of her opinion. But he objects that many of her most savage assertions lack a basis in fact. And he is certainly correct.