Friday, October 19, 2007

CBC's strange bedfellows

Dear CBC :
About that Environics poll that you state was "conducted in partnership with the CBC", the one all over CBC TV News tonight, the CBC website, CTV, the G&M, etc :

CBC : 51% of Afghans feeling good about country's direction
60 % of Afghans surveyed believe the presence of foreign troops has been good for their country.
43% say that foreign troops should stay as long as it takes to get the job done.
60 % in Kandahar have a somewhat or very positive attitude toward Canada's soldiers.
70% of Afghans surveyed said they think Karzai is doing a good job.
77% of Afghans in Kandahar said Karzai is doing a good job.

In fact the poll was conducted by ACSOR–Surveys, the Afghan Center for Social and Opinion Research, founded by D3 Systems Int., whose client base include US State Department, the US Embassy in Kabul, the Afghan Reconstruction Group, Voice of America, (PIPA) the Program on International Policy Attitudes.....

A previous PIPA poll conducted by the Afghan Center for Social and Opinion Research in November 2005 found :
80% of Afghans believe their country is going "in the right direction"
83 % of Afghan respondents said they had a favorable opinion of U.S. troops in Afghanistan
81 % expressed a favorable opinion of the United States
83% said they had a favorable (39 percent "very favorable") view of "the U.S. military forces in our country."
75% approved of eradication of opium poppy fields
90% had an unfavorable opinion of the Taliban
and so on....

This ACSOR poll was extensively used in the US media to bolster support for the war.
Just like their new one will be used here.
Peter Mackay outside the HoC today: "Afghans are now able to take part in democratic processes like polling, and I think that's another brick in the wall as far as building the [needed] security."


Another brick in the wall, indeed. Unusual use of that Pink Floyd metaphor, Pete.


Now even if you do not subscribe, as I do, to the notion that this "CBC/Enviromics partnership" poll is just another piece of bullshit brick-in-the-wall warmongering being spun by yet another US research company, this time with our CBC as a willing patsy, you have to admit that comparing the most recent ACSOR survey with their 2005 one shows Afghan opinion and support for foreign troops is actually plummetting :

2007 : 51% believe the country is going in the right direction
2006 : 80% believe the country is going in the right direction

2007 : 60% support foreign troops and Canadian soldiers
2006 : 80% support American troops

So, CBC, what have you got to say for yourself?

Research jointly conducted in the threads of Bread and Roses

Update : The CBC/G&M/La Presse Survey at Environics

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oct 11 NATO countries must counter Taliban propaganda, general says :

"Canada and its NATO allies must do more to counter the "beguiling propaganda" of the Taliban if they expect any chance of defeating the insurgency, says the British general who led the alliance during a particularly bloody year of fighting.

Gen. David Richards, who commanded NATO forces in Afghanistan for nine months until early this year, said Thursday that it is essential that the alliance gains ground in what he called "the information campaign" that the Taliban is waging particularly well these days, in order to convince the taxpayers of member countries that their war efforts are worthwhile."

Anonymous said...

When watching the 'news' on CBC it's important to remember that Brian Stewart, the CBCs chief promoter of US war mongering is Conrad Black's "best friend" and that Cruickshank who now runs CBC 'news is also a Conrad Black boy along with Kenneth Whyte at McLeans magazine.

RossK said...

Re Ian's point at the top of the thread.....

Which poll was released first...The Afghan one or the Canadian one (I can't quite figure it out, based on the timestamp on Alison's update).

Ray B -- Thanks for the reminder of the ties that bind....

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Alison said...

Ian : Yes, I've seen this business about Taliban propaganda and Taliban information campaign a couple of times now. I have no idea wtf they're on about.
MacKay also announced recently that there would be an uptick in pro Afghan mission news.

Ray B : I do forget. Thank you.

Ross : Sorry to be thick; I don't understand the question. Are two polls being discussed? Were there two? I only know about the Environics one dated 3:45pm Thursday, which I belatedly tacked on a link to here several hours after my original post.

RossK said...

Apologies----I was referring to the mixing in of the homefront stuff at the top of the link...thought they were doing both Canadian and Afghan polling at the same time.

Here's something interesting that commenter GWest left at my place.


http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/ rt...Matthew+Warshaw

The fusion of 'opinion' and 'market' research here is extremely worrisome.

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Alison said...

Eeeek. The poll is teh product.

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