You’ve probably heard that Kevin Crull, head of Bell Media, has apologized for interfering with how CTV News (owned by Bell Media) reported the results of the CRTC’s recent decision regarding the so-called pick-and-pay question. Apologizing is good. Doing so is seldom easy, particularly for a corporate chief.

Here’s the piece I wrote for Canadian Business, in which I contemplate the apologize-vs-resign dilemma.
Kevin Crull, the CRTC, and CTV News: Is apology enough?

The inner workings of government
Keep track of who’s doing what to get federal policy made. In The Functionary.
The Functionary
Our newsletter about the public service. Nominated for a Digital Publishing Award.

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The inner workings of government
Keep track of who’s doing what to get federal policy made. In The Functionary.
The Functionary
Our newsletter about the public service. Nominated for a Digital Publishing Award.

The short version: It’s not clear that an apology is enough, when it is intended as a remedy to a decision that goes to the ethical fundamentals of the business you run.

Chris MacDonald
Chris MacDonald, Ph.D., is Director of the Ted Rogers Leadership Centre and Founding Director of the Jim Pattison Ethical Leadership Education and Research program, at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management. He is also a Nonresident Senior Scholar at Duke University's Kenan Institute for Ethics. His research interests range across the ethics of commerce, health policy, the professional ethics, and the social implications of technology. MacDonald is the author of more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, a best-selling textbook on critical thinking, and the highly-regarded Business Ethics Blog (businessethicsblog.com). He is also a founding co-editor and co-publisher of a cutting-edge online publication, The Business Ethics Journal Review. The views expressed here are his alone, and not the views of the Leadership Centre, the School of Management, or Ryerson University.  

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