DKsan
Active Member
As somebody who's worked in a journalistic field, the CBC is handling it correctly. Just because other tabloids and more gossipy "news" services have reported the clinics of famous Hollywood stars, doesn't mean our news sources should.I agree that Rob is probably in rehab of some sort (now, at least), but I also need to hear something more than "Someone identifying themselves as Rob Ford's doctor told us...." I need a name. It could have been frickin' Dr. Dre for all we know. "You'll have to take our word for it" just doesn't cut it in this case. I mean, I'm sure that scammy rehab resort in Muskoka has doctors willing to confirm that Ford is under their care, and if that's the case, it would effect my opinion on how seriously they're taking this. There are actually a lot of little clues in both the CBC report, and the quotes from Doug, that make me think this is still not totally on the level---"Rob will leave when he feels he's ready"? What kind of rehab lets the patients decide when they're ready?
As for the "We can't give any names because of the safety of the patients, blah blah blah..." that's a smokescreen. Look at any celebrity who's ever gone into rehab (when we actually knew they went into rehab) and that information is always out there. The Fords don't want the information out there in this case because they don't want people looking at it too closely. That's the bottom line.
Here's the thing with anonymity. It's anonymous to the reader. But do you really think the Star doesn't know who made the recording? The CBC doesn't know the name of the doctor (and fact checked to make sure they're real)? The CBC doesn't know the location (and again, fact checked it)?
Of course they do. Most news sources aren't a fan of anonymous sources that they don't even know. They're handling this situation far more ethically than most news outlets would do.
Just because Ford hasn't handled the city as ethical as he should have, doesn't mean that we should banging at the doors and demanding where Ford is, to the harm of the other patients at the facility. There are some health care workers, social workers, addictions workers I follow, who are absolutely disgusted by what Ford has done, that have railed against him, and even they think this is fair.