Second, yes, they had full right and even obligation to report on the fact that he called. But did they have to air any of the audio (especially the part about Montreal separating from the rest of Quebec) during such a tumultuous time for Quebec and on the same day Marois announces her office - Uhm, No.

In the end, the fact he called them, the fact they did give him SOME air time and the fact that they couldn't wait until the end of the day to air it - all that doesn't seem coincidental or innocent to me, not one bit.

If we are talking about the same person, she has become part of the Anglo frustration, as under her watch, all English content has been eliminated from those papers, as it was down to just one page...she has caved in to her publisher or whoever she answers to.....

I casually know the gentleman named Bob, who,in my opinion, has become or had become somewhat the local anglo print media voice or face in the area....he has written a column on the local educational scene, the only one in town as far as I know..

He also had started a Celebrity interview monthly feature on their website..and had scooped up big names from Justin Trudeau to Olympic hero Jennifer Heil to Lloyd Robertson...he even interviewed British invasion singer Petula Clark..and asked questions that some of us wouldn't think of asking...their likes and dislikes, for example.....Our family became hooked on his Celeb interviews, as I know for a fact, a lot of other people did as well...

But now I am told they put restrictions on him that he couldn't accept....like reducing in half the amount of words...Having come to knowhis passion about the respect he had for his interviewees, I know he wouldn't want to water down these features..

There aren't really too much like him around, and a group like TTP would be well advised to hire him as part of their team..He seems to be the resourceful type.

Would TTP have run something like what I am saying who knows......but a lack of competition in the anglo market was probably partly a reason for restraint..and maybe not to rock too many waves with the current CRTC deliberations going on in Ottawa with the Bell-Astral thing..

So some thoughts to consider!!

"This crap" as in the outage for CJAD running an the interview, "this crap" as in people (mostly wingnuts, I suspect) getting upset about them running it, "this crap" that any politician would feel offended that a news station did it's job, and "this crap" because there is enough resentment and anger in the province that any of this is possible.

"this crap" has nothing to do with a guy dying or his family suffering. That ain't crap. That's reality, and it sucks.

Oh, let me add one more:

"this crap" when jackasses like you entirely misunderstand something and start going off the handle.

I love my new home, thunderstorms and all.

Yes there would have been a protest.
They would have been a protest from other separatists that don't believe that the FLQ was a good representation of the movement is now in 2012. After all, the FLQ were active more than 40 years ago, time to get with the program.

[Editor's note: The rest of this comment has been deleted. Please refrain from convicting people in comments, thanks.]

As a french Montrealer, blogger, and separatist, I do believe what CJAD did was in bad taste and a bad timing, but in no way illegal like it was mentioned. Sadly, Bain is newsworthy, whether he is being glorified is a different story and I don't think it's what the journalist was aiming for.

For the silent majority of "indépendantistes", this is a non issue from a radio station that has impact only on a select few.

The fact that Bain called CJAD is a STORY?!?

Yes.

Plus-- what about Rouge? Bain called them as well and they aired an interview en français! Not a peep, not a word of condemnation for doing the same thing.

So that out of the way, in my role as a former news director and program director at CJAD and CFRB I've been involved in these kind of decisions and discussions. Jail house interviews are nothing new.

The first thing they had to do was confirm he was who he said he was. The lawyer did that for CJAD.

The next thing is what the hell do they do with this material. CJAD was right in not wanting to give the guy a platform to express his political opinions. I might have opted to use a clip of him talking about partition. I have always had an issue with thinking it is ok to paraphrase or even quote what someone is saying but think it's wrong to let the audience actually him the person saying it.

I have to laugh at those who think CJAD was breaking all kinds of ethics by even reporting the story. Really, CJAD is a news station. That is what they do and sometimes we in the media find ourselves becoming part of the story through no fault of our own.

If anything, CJAD should be praised for how restrained they were in handling the story. I can only imagine if any of the French media (more so the tabloids than the broadsheet papers) would have handled the story.

I think the bigger ethical question would have been what if the guy had talked about the shooting ... revealed details about his alleged motive etc. What would you do then? He is innocent until proven guilty. Is it the role of the media to publish confessions before his day in court.

In that case, my vote would have been to hold on to the interview until after the verdict was rendered in court. Or, to air it once the jury was behind closed doors to decide the verdict (newspapers do this all the time with information the jury didn't hear).

The big problem with this story is how people react to 140 characters on Twitter without having all the facts. Add political agendas, anglo bashing and now you have people claiming CJAD is an irresponsible and unethical radio station. Oh, and don't forget the people who don't like CJAD how they too use this story to pounce on them.

Steve Kowch