CBC's name for the strain is a pain

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Is the strain of influenza that has caused consternation in pork markets around the world properly called H1N1, or swine flu? And is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's decision to opt for the latter a legal or an editorial choice?

While Prairie agriculture commentator Harry Siemens recorded a CBC announcer in late June telling him that CBC lawyers in Toronto have instructed on-air staff to say swine flu in the first reference and H1N1 the second time, a representative for the corporation insists this has nothing to do with the legal department.

"It's an editorial decision, not a legal decision to refer to it as swine flu," explains Jeff Keay, CBC head of media relations. "There were certainly no lawyers involved in this."

The unnamed announcer told Siemens the "legal" decision was made because H1N1 has already been ascribed to a prior flu strain that struck in the 1990s. The audio clip can be found by logging on to http://www.siemenssays.com/.

Michael Tansey, a spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada, says the agency is following the lead of the World Health Organization (WHO) when it comes to labelling the flu.

"We were initially calling it swine flu, but the WHO issued a statement indicating it would refer to it as H1N1," he adds. "So that's what we have been calling it since then." BP