Star’s view: CBC needs to rebuild trust,

There’s a troubling pattern of misbehaviour at the top of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., and until it’s wiped out public trust in the country’s key cultural institution will continue to drain away.

The abrupt and shocking departure of host Evan Solomon is just the latest blow to the corporation’s reputation. Solomon himself is clearly responsible for the behaviour that led to his firing late Tuesday — trading on his position to run a side business as an art broker. But after the Jian Ghomeshi fiasco and the trail of controversy over paid appearances by leading CBC personalities, it’s the entire leadership of the corporation that has to be in question.

All these controversies are different, of course, and the one that brought Solomon down is nowhere near as egregious as the assault charges faced by Ghomeshi. But all of them raise doubts about the willingness — or ability — of CBC managers to make sure that their most visible people act in an ethical manner and don’t undermine public confidence.

In the case of Solomon, it’s apparent from detailed reporting by the Star’s investigative ace Kevin Donovan that the former host of Power and Politics concealed his art dealings from his bosses for many months. And no wonder. What he was up to — using his position as a prominent CBC host to introduce rich newsmakers to a Toronto dealer and take a cut of the proceeds — was in clear violation of CBC policies and common-sense rules for good journalistic practice. Once that was known, he had to go.

But according to a CBC spokesman, Solomon disclosed information about his art business to the corporation in April — two months ago. He reportedly said he was in a partnership with his wife, and art dealer Bruce Bailey, and wasn’t active in the business.

That was at the very best a lie by omission — leaving out all the important details about his activities brokering lucrative art deals with the likes of Jim Balsillie and Mark Carney. Did CBC management then just take his word for it? What questions did they ask, and what followup procedures (if any) did they put in place to make sure they were getting the full story?

In the wake of the Ghomeshi scandal and the flap over potential conflict of interest involving business anchor Amanda Lang, surely they knew the corporation could not afford another stink around one of its most visible personalities — indeed, someone widely touted as a successor to anchor Peter Mansbridge.

In fact, CBC news managers were aware that they needed to up their game. In March, an internal CBC investigation concluded that the allegations about Lang were overblown, and that she had adhered to the corporation’s journalistic standards. But at the same time, Jennifer McGuire, CBC News’ general manager and editor in chief, told the Star that the review did find that its policies for disclosing potential conflicts of interest to superiors were too open to interpretation and placed the onus for disclosure on employees.

In other words, managers had concluded in March that simply relying on employees to disclose conflicts was not good enough. Yet that seems to be exactly what they did a month later when Solomon informed them about his side dealings. They either accepted his version of events, or failed to dig deeper and find out what he was really up to.

To their credit, they acted quickly once the Star showed them detailed evidence of Solomon’s activities on Monday. They took him off the air that day, pending an investigation. But they didn’t cut him loose until the next day, when Donovan’s story was about to be posted on the Star’s website.

More than ever, the CBC needs public support and confidence. Like other traditional news organizations, it faces declining audiences and revenues. But unlike others, it relies on nearly $1billion a year in public money to carry out its mission in the face of an indifferent or hostile government. It cannot afford to squander that trust with a seemingly endless string of scandals involving its marquee figures. That’s a disservice to the public that foots the bills, as well as to thousands of hard-working CBC employees.

This kind of misbehaviour has to stop. At the very least, CBC managers need to follow their own advice and stop sitting back and waiting for the next ticking bomb to blow up in their faces. They need to restore a culture of confidence, or step aside and make room for others who are up to the job.

The shocking departure of host Evan Solomon is just the latest blow to the CBC’s reputation