Global News is forcing workers to wear poppies on-air, & asked them to wear them in public. Nearly every TV anchor wears one on-air. This highlights the media’s double standard on objectivity. TV journalists shouldn’t be allowed to wear poppies on-air. https://readpassage.com/tv-journalists-should-be-banned-from-wearing-poppies-on-air/

I found out Global News sent an email telling staff they must wear poppies on-air. The email mentioned an internal Global document, section 12.1 of which lays out the guidelines surrounding poppies. Basically, they must wear them out of "respect for Canadian Veterans."

In that same email, a manager also wrote, “In today’s era of social media, it would also be good practice for all our personalities to be diligent and mindful of wearing a poppy when out in public.”

They are instructing employees on what they should wear even outside work.

I also reached out to CBC, CTV and City News to see if they force hosts and anchors to wear poppies, as most hosts seem to.

CBC said they do not force them to, and it's their decision. CTV and City News did not answer my questions.

To highlight the absurdity of this: Journalists like Desmond Cole have been fired or disciplined for going to protests outside work due to objectivity.

Yet when it comes to the poppy, journalists are *required* to violate objectivity while at work to *avoid* getting disciplined.

I argue:

1) Employers shouldn't force employees to wear poppies.

2) If networks ban on-air employees from wearing political symbols due to objectivity, they should also ban them from wearing poppies on-air.

3) If journalists care about objectivity, don't wear poppies on-air.

Let's pause for a fun poppy fact: "At 10 minimum-security and healing lodge prisons in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, 48 inmates assembled 2.4 million poppies this year, said Mélissa Hart, a corrections spokeswoman, earning up to $6.90 a day." - 2014 https://financialpost.com/news/from-plastic-to-prisons-to-lapel-how-canadas-millions-of-poppies-get-made

If any anchors that work for CTV or City TV have been forced to wear a poppy while on-air, feel free to reach out and let me know.

If you don’t think the poppy is a political symbol, consider what its trademark owner, the Royal Canadian Legion, has to say about it and what it represents. Now think about what message it sends when every anchor on television is wearing one...

Here is what @KateWheeler007, the network managing editor at Global News, has to say about how companies, including CTV, CBC and City TV, have treated poppies during her 35+ years in the business.