Military officials deny reports that Radio-Canada’s lead news anchor, Bernard Derome, has been getting better treatment in Afghanistan than other broadcast journalists.

The Ottawa Sun reports today that Derome, has “had a barbecue organized in his honour, been escorted by armoured vehicle to a site that journalists usually reach by pickup truck, and received a private helicopter tour of the region with Canada’s top military commander.”

But the military says Derome is getting the same treatment that his English counterpart, Peter Mansbridge, got when he was in the country.

Globe and Mail columnist Christie Blatchford, though, begs to differ. “It appears as though, because there’s a Quebec regiment here now, that Quebec television journalists, particularly those from Radio-Canada, are getting special access,” she said.

When a journalist from CTV complained to the military’s senior spokesman here about the unequal access, she was told the military was deliberately focusing on Quebec media coverage. That senior spokesman was later replaced, and military officials have since rejected the notion that they are biased toward Quebec-based TV. They promise that all media will now receive equal access.

Derome declined to comment.

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	Email this	Posted at 1:39 pm (04 Sep 2007)