Complaints Report: 2005

• CHALLBORN VS. THE PROVINCE

CHALLBORN VS. THE PROVINCE

The B.C. Press Council has dismissed with reservations a complaint from Carl Challborn, a former member of the B.C. College of Teachers, that he was defamed by an opinion article by Tarry Grieve which was published in The Province on Dec. 19, 2003.

Mr. Challborn was a member of the College of Teachers before the Minister of Education restructured its membership.

At the time the article ran, there was considerable debate about the influence of the B.C. Teachers Federation on the College and the move by the Education MInister to limit the number of teachers on the board.

This resulted in a flurry of newspaper columns, stories, and letters to the editor, including, the Press Council said, an opinion piece written by Neil Warboys, the president of the BCTF. In its decision to dismiss the complain, the Press Council found it was fair comment in turn for the newspaper to publish the opinion article by Grieve.

However, in finding the article by Grieve to be factually sound, the Press Council noted three points. The were that:

• Though The Province showed members of the College of Teachers did meet with the BCTF, this did not support the statement in the Grieve article that 15 union members of the College "met with the union before meetings to decide which way to vote."
  
• While Grieve said in his article the College failed to communicate with its members and the public, evidence was heard from Mr. Challborn that the COllege issued newsletters, annual reports and press releases.
  
• And although the Grieve article said the College failed to give the public an avenue for filing complaints about educator conduct, Mr. Challborn said the College had a manual containing a complaints policy and procedures for both the public and teachers.

The Press Council said the Grieve article was clearly marked "opinion" and started with the word "imagine". But the Council found that an insertion in the body of the article which was headed In Brief, was possibly misleading because it was not qualified in any way or defined as a quotation by the use of quotation marks.

Mr Challborn initially tried but failed to resolve his complaint by approaching three staff members at the newspaper. His complaint about the article was only formalized when he contacted the Press Council.

The Province subsequently twice made offers to Mr. Challborn to write a letter to the editor or submit an opinion article for "possible publication".

Mr. Challborn declined and the Press Council said in making such an offer to a complainant, a newspaper should make clear that the only qualification the newspaper would impose would be that the story not offend normal industry standards.

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