Canadian Press retracts defamatory headline (07/18/99)

Canadian Press retracts defamatory headline

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - The Canadian Press, one of Canada's major news services, issued a "corrective" on July 9, following a concerted reaction to a defamatory headline from community members across the country, an established media watchdog and a newly elected community leader.

On July 5 the Canadian Press (CP) ran an item headlined "Gunman belonged to 'church' founded by Ukrainian-Canadian," which provided background on the spate of racially motivated killings apparently perpetrated in Illinois and Indiana by Benjamin Nathaniel Smith over the Fourth of July weekend.

Affixed to a story originally issued by the Associated Press, datelined Peoria, Ill., the offending headline was carried only in Canada as written by one of CP's editors.

The 12th paragraph of the 18-paragraph article, about the founder of a racist organization called The Church of the Creator, read: "Founded in 1973 by Ben Klassen, a former Florida state legislator who was born in Ukraine and raised in Canada, the church attracted neo-Nazis and skinheads."

There were no other references to either Ukraine, Ukrainians or Canada in the item.

A campaign urging Ukrainian Canadians to express their dissatisfaction was mounted by Alberta-based activist Orest Slepokura, Ukrainian Civil Liberties Association Research Director Lubomyr Luciuk and recently elected Ukrainian Canadian Congress Ontario Provincial Council President Volodymyr Halchuk.

On July 8, Paul Loong, World Editor at CP, notified interested parties that "a Corrective (i.e. retraction)" would be published the following day.

On July 9, CP carried an item tagged "Corrective, Index: International, Justice, Religion," which read:

"The Canadian Press erroneously reported in a headline on July 5 that the founder of the Church of the Creator was a Ukrainian-Canadian.

"In fact, the late Ben Klassen was not of Ukrainian heritage and the Ukrainian-Canadian community had no contact with him when he lived in Canada. He was residing in the United States by the 1950s and died there in 1993."

On July 12, Mr. Luciuk wrote in an e-mail addressed to members of the Ukrainian community that "Mr. Loong ... has proven his willingness to consider a problem, deal with it expeditiously and take recommendations for ensuring that similar problems do not arise in future. He and CP are to be commended for their fast reaction time and sensibility."

Mr. Halchuk also circulated a letter to Mr. Loong, in which he expressed thanks "for establishing an amicable relationship" and appreciation for the CP editor's "apology on behalf of The Canadian Press and welcome[d] the opportunity to help in preventing such incidents from being repeated."

Reached at the CP's offices in Toronto, Mr. Loong said he "had a long talk with the person" responsible for the offending headline.

"Based on information that was geographic in nature, a statement concerning ethnic background was made," the CP World Editor said, adding: "This was clearly a leap that was wrong."

Mr. Loong said although he had since found that Mr. Klassen was born in Ukraine but was of another ethnic heritage, "[Mr. Klassen's] ideas should be the topic, not his background."

Mr. Loong confirmed that Mr. Halchuk had proffered a list of individuals available as resource people if CP staff need to consult specialists.

In a follow-up e-mail to The Weekly, Mr. Loong wrote: "The editor involved realizes an error was made and assures me that no malice was intended. To prevent this kind of mistake in the future, I have written a detailed memo to all my editors about the need for greater accuracy and sensitivity in our work."

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