The recent agreement between Verushka Lieutenant-Duval, the professor suspended for saying the “N-word,” and the University of Ottawa is major news in the university community. But despite the public interest in the matter, a Radio-Canada journalist decided to apologize to the institution’s principal for raising the issue during an interview without warning him.
While Mélanye Boissonnault welcomed Rector Jacques Frémont to her morning show last Thursday to talk about the 175th anniversary of the University of Ottawa and the inauguration of a new pavilion, she took the opportunity to question him about Ms. Lieutenant-Duval’s file.
The day after this interview, the journalist wanted to clarify things in order to apologize to both her audience and the rector.
“Many of you have responded to this interview in which I asked Mr. Frémont about how he handled the Verushka Lieutenant-Duval controversy. Many of you would have liked clearer answers from him, but I have to admit that this was not the agreed upon interview topic. “We had not informed Mr. Frémont that we would be raising this issue,” she said, admitting that by asking the questions she violated Radio-Canada’s journalistic standards and practices.
A criticized situation
Some netizens were quick to condemn the gesture, believing that journalists should be able to ask any questions they want on topics of public interest.
Although it is best practice to warn speakers about the topics discussed in an interview, the journalist can deviate from it, said Marc-François Bernier, full professor of ethics, deontology and sociology of journalism at the University of Ottawa.
The latter also recalled the importance of the debate about the “N-word” for the university community.
“It was legitimate to talk about it, especially since there was just an out-of-court settlement with Lieutenant-Duval. It was very relevant to talk about it,” he said in an interview with QMI Agency.
Most troubling to the professor, however, is that Radio-Canada has failed to apologize for matters much more damaging than this.
“Her excuse was that she didn’t meet a standard […] There are many other journalistic standards whose violations are much more serious, have much more consequences and for which Radio-Canada makes no apologies,” Mr. Bernier stressed.
👇It doesn’t help matters and Radio-Canada has a much better opportunity to apologize on other, more serious matters concerning the public’s right to know #Goal https://t.co/HDAa335Pi4
— MarcFrançois Bernier (@MFBernier) September 29, 2023
A three-year battle
In September 2020, Verushka Lieutenant-Duval was suspended after using the “N-word” in an educational setting. What followed was a battle between the University of Ottawa and the Association of Part-Time Professors of the University of Ottawa (APTPUO).
The story was finally resolved almost three years after the events when the two parties, which were in mediation, reached an agreement.
“The disputes have been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of all parties involved,” a University of Ottawa spokesperson said in an email to the QMI agency. The facility has not made any further comments.
The APTPUO had not commented on the matter at the time of writing.