Commentary

Vancouver journalist Duncan McCue becomes new host of CBC Cross Country Checkup

Unlike his predecessor, he has no history of denying humans cause climate change

by Charlie Smith on July 26th, 2016 at 9:36 AM
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      CBC Radio's flagship open-line show has a new host who understands the significance of climate change.

      The Crown broadcaster announced today that Vancouver journalist Duncan McCue will take the reins of Cross Country Checkup, which reaches 500,000 Canadians every Sunday afternoon.

      McCue has a law degree and is an adjunct professor in UBC's graduate school of journalism. He's also a member of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation in southern Ontario and has broadcast many documentaries about indigenous issues on CBC's national news program.

      Cross Country Checkup's last permanent host was Rex Murphy, who stepped down last fall. Over the years, Murphy enraged many environmentalists by condemning the scientific consensus around global warming in his newspaper articles and TV commentaries.

      There's no record of McCue ever being a climate-change denier. In fact, he's sometimes been at the forefront of environmental reporting.

      Last year, he wrote an article on the CBC website about San Francisco-based photographer Camille Seman, who has documented the loss of sea ice in the Arctic.

      In the same piece, McCue quoted glaciologist Joanna Young, who sees retreating glaciers as "canaries in the coal mine".

      In 2014, McCue did some remarkable reporting in a CBC documentary about California's climate-change-induced drought.

      Duncan McCue covered the California drought in 2014.

      It's rather sad that an article about McCue's appointment needs to be framed around whether he believes scientific evidence linking rising greenhouse gas emissions to extreme weather events and rising average world temperatures.

      It speaks volumes about the state of Canadian media, as well as the CBC's decision to keep Murphy in the host's chair for as long as it did.

      Former host Rex Murphy often teed off on climate-change activists.

      Murphy collected speaking fees from the oil industry while he was Cross Country Checkup's host.

      In 2015, a CBC review noted that Murphy was a freelancer and was free to speak his mind on his own time. However, the review pointed out that Murphy was required to adhere to the Crown broadcaster's code of conduct while hosting Cross Country Checkup.

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