CBC News Editors' Blog

An Ontario Superior Court judge decided to release copies of a videotaped interview between Toronto police and convicted murderer Paul Bernardo earlier this week.

Bernardo was interviewed at the Kingston penitentiary in June 2007 about whether he had any involvement in the disappearance of University of Toronto student Elizabeth Bain, who has not been seen since June 1990.

While several media outlets aired the entire 31-minute interview either online or on-air, the CBC decided it would not run the footage in its entirety.

CBC News Executive Editor Esther Enkin took your questions on the reasons behind CBC's decision not to air the full interview.

Read her answers here.

By Mike Symington

Mike Symington, a former news camerman, is a technical operator in the CBC's London bureau.

The sixth annual Love London, Love your Planet festival just opened in London, U.K., beginning a month-long series of think globally, act locally eco-projects. The idea is to promote a greener and more sustainable London with more than 150 events planned throughout June.

The London Zoo is the venue for the Recycled Sculpture Show, exhibiting the work of 21 local and international artists related to the theme of recycling.

By Neil Herland

Since 2005, Neil Herland has run the CBC bureau at UN Headquarters in New York, where he's had a front row seat to speeches by world leaders, debates in the Security Council and efforts by Canadian diplomats to promote Canada's interests. This weekend Neil is returning back to Canada for a new assignment. We asked Neil to share some stories on his time at the UN.

Neil Herland

When I first arrived at United Nations Headquarters in 2005, it was a different place.

The UN was still reeling from the oil-for-food scandal, few Westerners had even heard about Darfur and Kofi Annan was Secretary-General; a job he had held for almost a decade.

By: Sat Nandlall

Sat Nandlall is a CBC News cameraman and video producer who has covered conflicts for the CBC in the Balkans, East Timor, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Iraq and Beirut.

Showing up in a new country on assignment, one of the biggest hurdles we face is: How do we get around?

Usually it is pretty straight forward, get on plane, get off plane, get in car, and get out of car. There are not a lot of modes of transportation that I have not employed in order to get from A to B. Boats, aircraft, cars, trains and oxcarts have all been used to ferry me around in various countries.

It's now time for a confession. After being shot at numerous times, chased by angry crowds in Africa, having bombs going off in my general vicinity and witnessing some of the most terrible natural events in the world, the thing that worries me most on shoots is the driving.

Mike Symington, a former news camerman, is a technical operator in the CBC's London bureau. On Sunday, April 5 he found himself in the middle of demonstrations against the London leg of the Olympic Torch Run.

Read on for the series of unusual events that thrust him in to the chaos.

Mike Symington

Usually, early morning London has a muffled din. The constant swirling of traffic entwined with birdsong, leaves and wind create the unique sound that is a London morning. Sunday, it was missing.

Best check my weather station. For Xmas, my wife bought me a small digital weather station. It sits on the nightstand next to our bed. As an irrelevant-data nerd and a full-on bike commuter, I'm addicted to it. But what's this? 0.9 C? All week it's been 7 degrees.

I roll out of bed and pull the drapes. The curtains rise and like a West End show the set is startling. Snow! Not just a powdering but a full-blown blizzard. I squint and imagine ghosts of the Franklin expedition marching up Oxford St., looking for bargains at H&M.

Scary, but it is nothing like the march I find myself caught up in later in the day. Lucky I had my video camera with me.

By: Jonathan Dube, Director of Digital Media, CBC News

CBC News is committed to creating thoughtful conversations around the news and we believe that you, our readers, have a lot to contribute.

So I'm delighted to announce that CBCNews.ca has added two exciting new features to our news stories: reader comments and recommendations.

By: Sat Nandlall

Sat Nandlall is a CBC News cameraman and video producer who has covered conflicts for the CBC in the Balkans, East Timor, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Iraq and Beirut.

Sat Nandlall

I have been to Pakistan quite a few times now, but always just passing through and usually on my way in or out of Afghanistan.

As a result, I have tended to speak only English with anyone I have dealt with over here. That is not uncommon in Pakistan. But it created a screen of sorts, a screen I thought reflected the rest of the population. I was very wrong.

Posted by John Cruickshank, Publisher CBC News

In mid-December, as Brian Mulroney was appearing before the parliamentary ethics committee, allegations were made that a CBC reporter had provided Liberal MPs with written questions to pose to the former prime minister.

Once we established that a legitimate concern about professional conduct had been raised, we took the reporter off the story and turned to our Journalistic Standards and Practices guide to help us deal with this matter.

As Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC has a special responsibility to our national audience. Part of that responsibility is that the process of accountability has to be transparent. We are obliged to show how and why we reach the decisions we do.

Posted by Robin Rowland, Photo Editor

As each year winds up, the staff at CBCNews.ca, like other news organizations, begin work on what are called "year-enders."

One of the projects is to find out which photos in the CBCNews.ca photo galleries the audience likes best as seen through what they click on the "vote for favourite" button.

This year we were pleased to discover that the audience chose three photos submitted by the public as among their favourites for the year.

CBCNews.ca invites the public to submit photos through the Your Photos page and has been increasingly doing so in the past year.

It's great to see our audience's submissions recognized. We asked the three people who took those photos to tell us a little bit about the photos they submitted.

About a week ago, CBC News became aware of a Conservative party fundraising letter that was highly critical of our news operation, accusing us of systematic bias. Some news organizations carried a story about the letter.

Publisher John Cruickshank sets the record straight in an open letter to Doug Finley, the Conservative party official who sent the letter asking for contributions.

Dear Mr. Finley,

I have reviewed your pre-Christmas fundraising letter.

I write this public response to you because I believe that by its inaccuracy, innuendo, exaggeration and expressed malice towards hundreds of Canadian journalists you risk damaging not just your target, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but also public faith in our political process.

I understand that a private association like the Conservative Party does not have the sort of transparent and reliable complaints process that we have at the CBC. That is regrettable.

I understand that you have already availed yourself of access to our Ombudsman, complaining that a member of the CBC News staff communicated suggested questions to Liberal MPs in advance of a public hearing. I appreciate this show of confidence in the integrity of our process. I wish you had reflected that respect for our commitment to answer any and all complaints about our work in your unfortunate letter to potential donors.