At the heart of this piece is a simple, uncomfortable frustration: every time CBC decides to carry one of Donald Trump’s live events, something important is lost. Not just journalistic rigor, but the very thing a public broadcaster is supposed to protect — trust. The article paints a familiar scene: a breaking-news alert appears, the screen cuts to a podium, and for the next hour or more, viewers are treated to a stream of talking points, falsehoods, conspiracy theories, and personal grievances. It’s dressed up as coverage. But there’s a difference between covering a story and becoming an open microphone…

Let’s take a breath and sort out what actually happened, because a scary story has been making the rounds online, and it has left many people worried. The FCT Health Services and Environment Secretariat, often shortened to HSES, has now stepped forward with a clear and reassuring message: the viral claim that a man in Abuja contracted diphtheria from sliced watermelon simply could not be verified. It all started with a social media post by someone named Ivan Eagle Lawson, who shared a photograph of a man he identified as Mr. Simeon Okoh. According to that post, Mr. Okoh was…