With January 23rd quickly approaching and a significant portion of perma-Liberals reconsidering their stance, information is at a premium. But who can we turn to for The Truth when each publication, broadcast station, and figure of authority has its own inherent bias? Surely, our public broadcaster wouldn’t lead us by the choke-chain. This Hour Has 22 Minutes lampoons one national leader as viciously as the next. That crazy Shaun Majumder.

The CBC states in its mandate, among other things, that it will “actively contribute to the flow and exchange of cultural expression,” and “contribute to shared national consciousness and identity,” in all of its programming. Oh, wait-no it doesn’t. It says that “the programming provided by the Corporation should,” [editor’s emphasis] conform to these standards. This is curious wording for the mandate of a corporation which relies on a portion of all of our taxes, and should be representing an unbiased presentation of the national state of affairs.

But we can’t expect any broadcaster or publication to give us a pristinely objective view of things.

CBC’s debate ads in the major national newspapers last Tuesday included thumbnail photos of each of the leaders. Duceppe, Harper, and Layton were all enshrined in print mid-sentence. For these three, their representative photos showed them with their mouths open, their eyes inflamed in debate. Prime Minister Martin, however, was shown directly facing the camera with a large and toothy premeditated smile.

The problem with turning to the CBC for non-partisan election coverage is that the public broadcaster will not bite the hand that feeds it. Our expectation of impartiality is paradoxical, since the CBC’s mandate is to provide a balanced view of current events so that the “shared national consciousness and identity” may be achieved, but it is simultaneously supported by the incumbent government. What if the smiley picture had been of Layton? It is reasonable to expect that the Liberal grunts whose job it is to scour the media would remember that come next budget time-especially following a year in which the CBC has seen so much internal division and weakness.

To sift through the muck and mire to find the golden nuggets of Truth, we’ll have to get our own hands dirty, and keep our bias-alerts on high even when settled in to CBC. Heed this warning from a news-provider staffed by people with our own values and biases: keep hip to the spin of your station, to remain on guard for thee.