The Toronto Sun committed a “serious breach of journalistic standards” for publishing a column that falsely reported refugees were slaughtering goats at a Scarborough hotel, said a self-regulating Canadian press council in a scathing statement released on Thursday night.
“The (council) supports the wide latitude afforded to opinion writers to express unpopular views, but is of the view that columnists must adhere to the journalistic standards of the news media organization, including commitment to accuracy,” the National NewsMedia Council said in the statement.
The NewsMedia council oversees ethical practices among English-language media in Canada. It reported receiving seven complaints about the Sun column, which used a review posted on the travel website TripAdvisor as the source of information about goats being slaughtered.
The press council said it focused on one representative complaint, which zeroed in on the problem of using the crowd-sourced site as a sole source. The complaint also argued the column was hateful, racist and linked to an act of arson at a Toronto hotel.
The Toronto Sun, part of the Postmedia chain of newspapers, was heavily criticized soon after the column was published. The executive director of a refugee claimants service in Toronto told The Canadian Press that he believed the hotel arson “targeted” asylum seekers as a result of misinformation on TripAdvisor and elsewhere.
The decision was released just as the Toronto Sun was struck by a new controversy after removing the name of the incoming OPP commissioner from quotes in a column that was defending the Ford government against allegations of political interference.
The press council said it upheld “the portion of the complaint about accuracy while dismissing with reservation the portion of the complaint about racism and inciting violence.”
It took issue with referring to TripAdvisor as a “reputable” source, giving it credibility “even as the columnist was unable to confirm or deny any of the information reported from that source.
“Neither did the writer describe any attempt to visit the hotel, verify the claim, or offer any caution about the failed efforts to do so. The NewsMedia Council views this as a serious breach of journalistic standards for accuracy in reporting.”