The National NewsMedia Council has dismissed four parts of a complaint against The Globe and Mail by Bombardier Inc. for an investigative report that revealed the company’s role in a controversial Russian railroad along Ukraine’s border.
The subject of the article was the “Ukraine Bypass,” a railway along the border of Russia and Ukraine that has diplomatic and military implications in the volatile region.
The complaint was made by Mike Nadolski, vice-president of public relations for Bombardier.
The Council found against Mr. Nadolski on four complaints, including the most serious of bias. It upheld two points in favour of Mr. Nadolski.
The first part upheld was a complaint over the plural use of the word “critics.”
Mr. Nadolski contended there was only one named critic in the story and that the plural use of critics was misleading. In its defence, The Globe said there were others who were not named in this investigation and that the other named person in the article, a military analyst, was also a critic. The Council disagreed.
The Council also upheld a second complaint by Mr. Nadolski, who contended the article rested on “whether Bombardier’s involvement with the rail project complied with the sanctions and policies enacted by the Canadian government, and that the news organization should have clearly reported on this easily verifiable fact.”
The Globe acknowledged international sanctions are complex legal terrain. Bombardier and its lawyers said the project is compliant. The article says so and attributes this to the company, because sanctions are, for the vast majority of transactions, self-enforcing.