In response to poll reporting that “40 percent of Canadians believe that Canadian media use tactics such as phone-hacking and paying police for tips in pursuit of stories,” Toronto Star public editor Kathy English defended Canadian journalism as a whole from being grouped in with accusations and implications of engaging in phone hacking and bribery.
English, who has served as public editor for the Star since 2007, wrote that she is “confident no journalist [in Canada] would resort to any sort of hacking to uncover” information.
However, the public has a low level of confidence in journalism, according to English. English expressed concern about readers’ perceptions of journalism standards in Canada. She cited comments made by Torstar‘s board of directors chairman John Honderich who also defended Canadian journalists from hacking and bribing charges in Canadian Journalism Foundation public forum. (TorStar owns the Toronto Star.) Read her full column here.