The CBC Ombudsman has rejected complaints from the Prime Minister's Office against a CBC television reporter. The Prime Minister's Director of Communications claimed Terry Milewski showed bias in his coverage of the APEC inquiry. The inquiry is investigating the RCMP response to protests during a meet of APEC a year and a half ago.

Ombudsman Marcel Pepin dismissed all of the accusations made against Terry Milewski. In his report, Pepin says the Prime Minister's Office may be confusing objectivity with indifference. Pepin says the relationship between a reporter and a source is sometimes confidential and secretive but he says he found no proof Milewski secretly conspired with student protesters. He says Milewski's reporting of the APEC inquiry was aggressive and critical but not biased.

Milewski is relieved and clearly happy with the report. He said "It vindicates the right of reporters to dig to cultivate sources and to tell it like it is. He has demonstrated conclusively the CBC's independence and I believe his report will stand as a defining moment in the history of the CBC."

The Prime Minister's spokesperson, Peter Donolo, says he disagrees with a number of points in the report but he says he respects the authority of the Ombudsman to deal with the matter.