We all act out of some degree of self-interest, but the arguments put forward recently by CBC executives are something to behold.
First, CBC President Hubert Lacroix put forward a position paper proposing the public broadcaster move to an ad-free model, with $400 million in additional funding from the federal government. Then Jennifer McGuire and Michel Cormier, the heads of the English and French news services, argued that moving away from advertising on all platforms would help other Canadian media transition to the digital environment. How? The CBC would replace its current ad revenues with guaranteed money from the federal government, and private media would scramble to get some of those dollars from advertisers.
McGuire and Cormier’s comments are part of the ongoing public discussion over what can be done as traditional news media are weakened in their ability to do public interest journalism. The answer, according to CBC executives, is: Let’s have more CBC! But the solution to the disrupted news media scene in Canada is not for taxpayers to shell out more to a public provider of news, no matter how high-quality or how high-minded.
The CBC has rapidly become the 800-pound gorilla in news media in many communities across Canada, not just because of its own increased resources but also because of reduced revenues at private media outlets. The result is a distortion of the marketplace that undermines the ability of private firms to transition and to continue to report the very same news and information that CBC executives say it should be publicly funded to provide.
Emboldened, the CBC now aggressively markets itself as the only source of information that Canadians require. In the Winnipeg market, for example, CBC Radio runs endless promotional ads noting it is the No. 1 radio station in Winnipeg, by market share. It advertises its local news app as the only one you need.
It appears no one at the CBC has thought to ask: “How is it that a public broadcaster dominates a local market and why are we saying that it should be the public’s only source for local news?”
Read the full story here.
cbcexposed is all about exposing the waste of the CBC ... over 1 billion dollars a year of taxpayer money funds the cbc and a lot of that taxpayer money is wasted.
CBC has some experience with crisis
CBC has some experience with crisis. In the 1940s and ’50s, the broadcaster had radio audience ratings larger than today’s most popular television programs – the 10 o’clock national news had an audience share of 50 per cent. But by the late 1950s, CBC Radio was losing its audience, its role usurped by private popular music stations and television. By the late 1960s, CBC even considered shutting down its radio services.
Curiously, CBC Radio has lately begun competing with private stations, employing pop music on its second radio network and a journalistic style that is starting to sound like private radio. Commercials have even crept in.
Why? One explanation is that CBC has made disproportionate budget cuts to radio, weakening the service and prompting some unsavoury changes. More than $50-million has been lost from radio’s annual budget, which in net terms has been given to CBC TV.
Today, CBC TV is the service in a fragile position. It’s just one among hundreds of channels, almost indistinguishable from private competitors.
Read the full story here.
Curiously, CBC Radio has lately begun competing with private stations, employing pop music on its second radio network and a journalistic style that is starting to sound like private radio. Commercials have even crept in.
Why? One explanation is that CBC has made disproportionate budget cuts to radio, weakening the service and prompting some unsavoury changes. More than $50-million has been lost from radio’s annual budget, which in net terms has been given to CBC TV.
Today, CBC TV is the service in a fragile position. It’s just one among hundreds of channels, almost indistinguishable from private competitors.
Read the full story here.
Maxime Bernier will stop CBC competing with private media
When it was created 80 years ago, CBC/Radio-Canada was meant to give a voice to Canadians in the new world of radio broadcasting. It did the same later when television became a mass media.
At the time, there were only a few private channels. There was an obvious role for a public broadcaster trying to reach all Canadians in big cities or small and remote communities; to connect them to the rest of the country and the world; and to bring them together through a shared expression of ideas and culture. It worked very well for several decades and had a profound influence on how we see ourselves and the world.
Fast forward to 2016. The media landscape, with its hundreds of channels and its millions of sources of information and culture, is radically different.
What should be done? If I am elected leader of my party and prime minister, I propose to implement two fundamental reforms. First, the role and mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada have to be refocused. Do we need a public broadcaster that does game shows and cooking shows? Do we need a public broadcaster involved in sports when we have all-sports channels? Do we need a public broadcaster that runs bad Canadian copies of American popular shows? Do we need a public broadcaster that offers music streaming on the Web when there are thousands of music channels available? Do we need a public broadcaster that now has a website devoted to opinion journalism that competes with newspapers and magazines? The answer to all these questions is clearly no.
Read the full story here.
At the time, there were only a few private channels. There was an obvious role for a public broadcaster trying to reach all Canadians in big cities or small and remote communities; to connect them to the rest of the country and the world; and to bring them together through a shared expression of ideas and culture. It worked very well for several decades and had a profound influence on how we see ourselves and the world.
Fast forward to 2016. The media landscape, with its hundreds of channels and its millions of sources of information and culture, is radically different.
What should be done? If I am elected leader of my party and prime minister, I propose to implement two fundamental reforms. First, the role and mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada have to be refocused. Do we need a public broadcaster that does game shows and cooking shows? Do we need a public broadcaster involved in sports when we have all-sports channels? Do we need a public broadcaster that runs bad Canadian copies of American popular shows? Do we need a public broadcaster that offers music streaming on the Web when there are thousands of music channels available? Do we need a public broadcaster that now has a website devoted to opinion journalism that competes with newspapers and magazines? The answer to all these questions is clearly no.
Read the full story here.
CBC has formal complaint launched against it by MP
An MP has lodged a formal complaint against the CBC for what he considers “shockingly offensive remarks” made in an opinion article featured on their website.
Garnett Genuis, the Conservative MP for Sherwood Park – Fort Saskatchewan, submitted a letter to CBC ombudsman Esther Enkin to raise concerns about an opinion piece by journalist Neil Macdonald headlined “Simple truth is Canada’s mass shooters are usually white and Canadian-born.”
Genuis takes issue with several of the assertions in Macdonald’s column, including a line that the alleged shooter in the Quebec City mosque attack was “Probably a Christian, judging from his name.”
“This is an entirely false and deeply offensive statement that, were it to mention any other religious community, would be recognized immediately as plain bigotry,” the complaint reads in reference to a tweet by CBC’s The National regarding the column.
The CBC’s journalistic practices clearly state that “CBC journalists do not express their own personal opinion because it affects the perception of impartiality and could affect an open and honest exploration of an issue.”
Read the full story here.
Garnett Genuis, the Conservative MP for Sherwood Park – Fort Saskatchewan, submitted a letter to CBC ombudsman Esther Enkin to raise concerns about an opinion piece by journalist Neil Macdonald headlined “Simple truth is Canada’s mass shooters are usually white and Canadian-born.”
Genuis takes issue with several of the assertions in Macdonald’s column, including a line that the alleged shooter in the Quebec City mosque attack was “Probably a Christian, judging from his name.”
“This is an entirely false and deeply offensive statement that, were it to mention any other religious community, would be recognized immediately as plain bigotry,” the complaint reads in reference to a tweet by CBC’s The National regarding the column.
The CBC’s journalistic practices clearly state that “CBC journalists do not express their own personal opinion because it affects the perception of impartiality and could affect an open and honest exploration of an issue.”
Read the full story here.
CBC Is Threatening Its Future ...
CBC Is Threatening Its Future By Mixing Journalism And Opinion.
After my post last week complaining -- and yes, worrying -- about CBC journalist Keith Boag's personal opinions on Donald Trump, I told myself to lie low. It's the holiday season.
That turns out to be very hard to do, because once one notices the extent to which personal opinion has become the day-to-day fodder of an ever widening circle of CBC journalists, you see it, hear it and click on it everywhere.
Let me be crystal clear: this is threatening the future of the CBC.
These comments, these opinions, unequivocally violate -- spoiler alert: here's the broken record again -- CBC's long-standing, public and incredibly clearly-written policy statement that its journalists and the organization itself must not take ANY positions on issues in the public life of the country. They must be -- impartial.
Flouting the Corporation's own rules really is a serious problem for journalism at the CBC but, clearly, it now is journalism at the CBC.
Read the full story here.
After my post last week complaining -- and yes, worrying -- about CBC journalist Keith Boag's personal opinions on Donald Trump, I told myself to lie low. It's the holiday season.
That turns out to be very hard to do, because once one notices the extent to which personal opinion has become the day-to-day fodder of an ever widening circle of CBC journalists, you see it, hear it and click on it everywhere.
Let me be crystal clear: this is threatening the future of the CBC.
These comments, these opinions, unequivocally violate -- spoiler alert: here's the broken record again -- CBC's long-standing, public and incredibly clearly-written policy statement that its journalists and the organization itself must not take ANY positions on issues in the public life of the country. They must be -- impartial.
Flouting the Corporation's own rules really is a serious problem for journalism at the CBC but, clearly, it now is journalism at the CBC.
Read the full story here.
Should CBC journalists offer personal opinions?
Should Keith Boag, CBC’s senior journalist in Washington, cover the ongoing sad state of politics in the US by offering strategic political campaign advice to the US Republican Party?
What’s worrisome here is that more and more often, CBC journalists are being asked to offer their personal takes (called analysis pieces) on stories they regularly cover. And more and more often, these analysis pieces seem to be venturing into what can only be described as personal opinion.
That’s actually the job of editorial commentators, of which CBC would be wise to use more.
A quick read of the CBC’s Code of Journalistic Practice makes it clear, in simple language, what CBC’s journalists can and cannot do.
Read the full story here.
What’s worrisome here is that more and more often, CBC journalists are being asked to offer their personal takes (called analysis pieces) on stories they regularly cover. And more and more often, these analysis pieces seem to be venturing into what can only be described as personal opinion.
That’s actually the job of editorial commentators, of which CBC would be wise to use more.
A quick read of the CBC’s Code of Journalistic Practice makes it clear, in simple language, what CBC’s journalists can and cannot do.
Read the full story here.
CBC News Job Is Journalism, Not Opinion
Esther Enkin, CBC’s Ombudsman, has just reminded CBC News that the job of CBC’s journalists is …. journalism, not opinion-making.
Enkin was responding to a formal complaint from a CBC.ca reader about what he felt were “inflammatory & divisive & discriminatory” comments that CBC journalist Neil Macdonald recently made about Donald Trump’s supporters.
In her formal opinion, the Ombudsman makes it clear that “expressing opinion is prohibited by CBC policy” and that Macdonald’s remarks read “like opinion” and were “unnecessary in the context of this piece.”
A key line here comes at the end of her opinion: “If Mr. Macdonald were a columnist or an outside commentator …..”
Read the full story here.
Enkin was responding to a formal complaint from a CBC.ca reader about what he felt were “inflammatory & divisive & discriminatory” comments that CBC journalist Neil Macdonald recently made about Donald Trump’s supporters.
In her formal opinion, the Ombudsman makes it clear that “expressing opinion is prohibited by CBC policy” and that Macdonald’s remarks read “like opinion” and were “unnecessary in the context of this piece.”
A key line here comes at the end of her opinion: “If Mr. Macdonald were a columnist or an outside commentator …..”
Read the full story here.
CBC Music controversial topic
There's reportedly "growing anger" from commercial broadcasters over the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's (CBC) new online music service, according to Radio-Info. The service, CBC Music, was a "controversial topic" at the British Columbia Association of Broadcasters, reports Sean Ross.
One group head said during the Presidents Panel "that having the cash-hungry CBC invest in an online service that won’t bring in any revenues seems like 'misplaced resources.'" Another panelist, Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Chairman Rick Arnish, said “It astounds me that the CBC would go ahead and launch” CBC Music.
Read the full story here.
One group head said during the Presidents Panel "that having the cash-hungry CBC invest in an online service that won’t bring in any revenues seems like 'misplaced resources.'" Another panelist, Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Chairman Rick Arnish, said “It astounds me that the CBC would go ahead and launch” CBC Music.
Read the full story here.
CBCs shrinking audiences
Proposals regarding the CBC fail to note shrinking audiences especially for English language television. CRTC Annual Monitoring Reports (available online) show the CBC’s share of the English language television market fell from 13.2 percent in 1994 to 7.5 percent in 2000 and to 5.1 percent in 2012. While government financing has remained around $1bn, this segment of its mandate has been shrinking, so that on a per viewer basis the funding has been increasing.
If the CBC is to survive, consideration should be given to it being funded only by government and not selling commercials. The latter puts it in competition with private broadcasters, allowing it to use public funds to buy programs like major sporting events. In the UK and Australia, the public broadcaster is funded almost entirely by government, with far less angst being created between public and private broadcasters. A government owned broadcaster, if one is needed, can devote its attention to its public service mandate and have a far lesser concern for audience size.
Read the full report here.
If the CBC is to survive, consideration should be given to it being funded only by government and not selling commercials. The latter puts it in competition with private broadcasters, allowing it to use public funds to buy programs like major sporting events. In the UK and Australia, the public broadcaster is funded almost entirely by government, with far less angst being created between public and private broadcasters. A government owned broadcaster, if one is needed, can devote its attention to its public service mandate and have a far lesser concern for audience size.
Read the full report here.
CBCs Unfair Advantage
Back in June 2014, when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation lost the rights for Hockey Night in Canada, Canada’s private news media’s future was set, more or less, to “Screwed.”
The Ceeb was losing its fattest revenue vein and entering survival mode just as news reportage was migrating to smartphones from newspapers, televisions, radios and desktop computers. It was then, as the broadcaster looked to reinvent itself, that all of us should have demanded its mandate be revisited — for every other news organization’s sake.
Two years later, without that re-examination, the CBC’s future is healthy while its competitors in privately owned print news cling to life. The reason: the CBC’s wholesale migration to the mobile web, by way of which our tax dollars are underwriting print news (and now even newspaper-like opinion) for the price — zero — that most Canadians are willing to pay to read such stuff on their iPhones.
Read the full story here.
The Ceeb was losing its fattest revenue vein and entering survival mode just as news reportage was migrating to smartphones from newspapers, televisions, radios and desktop computers. It was then, as the broadcaster looked to reinvent itself, that all of us should have demanded its mandate be revisited — for every other news organization’s sake.
Two years later, without that re-examination, the CBC’s future is healthy while its competitors in privately owned print news cling to life. The reason: the CBC’s wholesale migration to the mobile web, by way of which our tax dollars are underwriting print news (and now even newspaper-like opinion) for the price — zero — that most Canadians are willing to pay to read such stuff on their iPhones.
Read the full story here.
Is the CBC a commodity or public good?
In front of the House of Commons Heritage committee the Globe and Mail’s Phillip Crawley said that CBC News is his newspaper’s “largest competitor,” and iPolitics publisher James Baxter called CBC News an “uber-predator.” Meanwhile, the National Post’s David Berry called the CBC’s recent move to offer opinion on its website “irresponsible…particularly when it is doing so out of its own news budget.” Local online organizations have also decried the CBC’s emphasis on digital content. Metro Edmonton’s editor contends the “taxpayer-funded corporation is helping accelerate our demise.”
Simply put, this view contends that the CBC should only do things that private media don’t or won’t do. The CBC should confine itself to doing things where the market has failed to deliver or there’s no money to be made, such as television and radio for remote and Indigenous communities. According to this logic, public broadcasting is allowed to exist as long as it does not encroach on the space of private media. The CBC should confine itself to opera rather than pop music, which is a domain where commercial media can make a buck. This neoliberal view positions the CBC as a commodity in the market, as opposed to a public good outside it.
Canada’s national public broadcaster is intended to be a public good.
Read the full story here and then YOU decide.
Simply put, this view contends that the CBC should only do things that private media don’t or won’t do. The CBC should confine itself to doing things where the market has failed to deliver or there’s no money to be made, such as television and radio for remote and Indigenous communities. According to this logic, public broadcasting is allowed to exist as long as it does not encroach on the space of private media. The CBC should confine itself to opera rather than pop music, which is a domain where commercial media can make a buck. This neoliberal view positions the CBC as a commodity in the market, as opposed to a public good outside it.
Canada’s national public broadcaster is intended to be a public good.
Read the full story here and then YOU decide.
CBC large online footprint distorting the market
The Trudeau government won’t be bailing out Canada’s struggling news industry, The Huffington Post Canada has learned.
The upcoming federal budget will include no cash to set up a civic journalism fund — as was recently recommended by the Public Policy Forum in a report commissioned by Heritage Canada, several sources confirmed.
The government already has a “news bureaucracy” with the CBC, whose large online footprint is “distorting the market” for local newspapers, said Winnipeg Free Press publisher Bob Cox, the chair of Newspapers Canada.
Read the full story here.
The upcoming federal budget will include no cash to set up a civic journalism fund — as was recently recommended by the Public Policy Forum in a report commissioned by Heritage Canada, several sources confirmed.
The government already has a “news bureaucracy” with the CBC, whose large online footprint is “distorting the market” for local newspapers, said Winnipeg Free Press publisher Bob Cox, the chair of Newspapers Canada.
Read the full story here.
CBC's five-year plan leaves questions
In a media world that seems to undergo seismic changes with the seasons, it is tempting fate for the CBC to unveil a five-year plan, let alone one that asserts the public broadcaster’s irreplaceability.
Not only does the five-year strategy outlined on Thursday aim to make CBC “the public space at the heart of our conversations and experiences as Canadians” — no small feat, that — but it also vows that, in 2020, “three out of four Canadians will answer that CBC or Radio-Canada is very important to them personally.”
Not unless the Canada of five years from now is one in which its citizens are prone to excessive hyperbole.
Read the full story here.
Not only does the five-year strategy outlined on Thursday aim to make CBC “the public space at the heart of our conversations and experiences as Canadians” — no small feat, that — but it also vows that, in 2020, “three out of four Canadians will answer that CBC or Radio-Canada is very important to them personally.”
Not unless the Canada of five years from now is one in which its citizens are prone to excessive hyperbole.
Read the full story here.
Why does CBC uses taxpayers’ money to operate websites
Although they are talking of establishing a new five-year “accountability plan” for the CBC, the Liberals seem to think the logic of giving the broadcaster more money is self-evident. Because it’s the CBC, you can imagine them saying.
But given the revolutionary changes to the media landscape, wouldn’t this be a good time to revisit what we want from public broadcasting, and how best to achieve it, before simply writing a giant cheque?
The CBC is making all the right noises about investing much of the new cash in a digital strategy of some kind. That sounds necessarily futuristic and sensitive to the disruptive nature of today’s communications technology.
But as someone who works in privately owned media, as a writer, broadcaster and business owner, I find it hard to understand why the CBC uses taxpayers’ money to operate websites that compete directly with every newspaper, magazine and broadcaster in the country. Is the Internet so short on sources of information that we need another one, subsidized by the government?
Read the full story here.
But given the revolutionary changes to the media landscape, wouldn’t this be a good time to revisit what we want from public broadcasting, and how best to achieve it, before simply writing a giant cheque?
The CBC is making all the right noises about investing much of the new cash in a digital strategy of some kind. That sounds necessarily futuristic and sensitive to the disruptive nature of today’s communications technology.
But as someone who works in privately owned media, as a writer, broadcaster and business owner, I find it hard to understand why the CBC uses taxpayers’ money to operate websites that compete directly with every newspaper, magazine and broadcaster in the country. Is the Internet so short on sources of information that we need another one, subsidized by the government?
Read the full story here.
CBC Go Public reports are poor on facts
On April 7 and 14, 2014, the CBC Go Public program reported on the use of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (“the Program”) in three franchise-owned restaurants in Western Canada.
McDonald’s Canada was first notified of the initial allegations on April 1, 2014 and immediately investigated them. As a result, we are terminating our relationship with one franchisee who operated three restaurants in Victoria, B.C., initiating a comprehensive review of all company and franchise-owned restaurants across Canada regarding use of the Program and we are working closely with Service Canada to ensure full compliance with all regulations.
The CBC Go Public reports are rich in speculation but poor on facts. We believe that Go Public’s reporting deliberately misrepresents the use of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in our restaurants. The information provided in the Go Public reports is presented out of context, relies almost exclusively on former employees as the source and is remarkable in its bias.
We object to CBC’s Go Public use of hidden cameras to film employees in our restaurants without our approval, followed by the not too subtle innuendo and false claims that these individuals may be taking jobs from Canadians.
Read the full story here.
McDonald’s Canada was first notified of the initial allegations on April 1, 2014 and immediately investigated them. As a result, we are terminating our relationship with one franchisee who operated three restaurants in Victoria, B.C., initiating a comprehensive review of all company and franchise-owned restaurants across Canada regarding use of the Program and we are working closely with Service Canada to ensure full compliance with all regulations.
The CBC Go Public reports are rich in speculation but poor on facts. We believe that Go Public’s reporting deliberately misrepresents the use of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in our restaurants. The information provided in the Go Public reports is presented out of context, relies almost exclusively on former employees as the source and is remarkable in its bias.
We object to CBC’s Go Public use of hidden cameras to film employees in our restaurants without our approval, followed by the not too subtle innuendo and false claims that these individuals may be taking jobs from Canadians.
Read the full story here.
CBC and Alberta premier settle defamation suit
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has agreed to pay Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed $50,000 and court costs and broadcast an apology to the premier for the way he was portrayed in a 1977 'docudrama,' Court of Queen's Bench was told Monday.
R.A. McLennan, Lougheed's lawyer, told the court the time needed for Lougheed's defamation suit had been 'shortened from three weeks to three minutes' because of the out-of-court settlement reached Friday.
The settlement called for the crown corporation to pay the Alberta premier $50,000 in general damages and legal costs of $32,500.
In addition the CBC would never run the program again and would televise an apology to Lougheed over the national television network Monday night, the Minutes of Settlement said.
Read the full story here.
R.A. McLennan, Lougheed's lawyer, told the court the time needed for Lougheed's defamation suit had been 'shortened from three weeks to three minutes' because of the out-of-court settlement reached Friday.
The settlement called for the crown corporation to pay the Alberta premier $50,000 in general damages and legal costs of $32,500.
In addition the CBC would never run the program again and would televise an apology to Lougheed over the national television network Monday night, the Minutes of Settlement said.
Read the full story here.
Huge libel award against CBC makes legal history
Dr. Frans Leenen thought his professional reputation had been left in tatters when the CBC broadcast a public affairs program on the use of calcium-channel blockers in 1996. Four years later, the CBC knows exactly how he felt.
In a blistering judgement released Apr. 20, Mr. Justice J.D. Cunningham of the Ontario Superior Court found the fifth estate guilty of acting with malice against the Ottawa hypertension specialist. He ordered the CBC to pay Leenen $950 000 in general, aggravated and punitive damages, plus his legal costs. Richard Dearden, one of the Ottawa lawyers who has represented Leenen since his suit was launched in 1996, says those costs will total more than $1 million.
Leenen now has the dubious distinction of being part of Canadian legal history. "This is the largest [defamation] award against the media in the history of the country," says a jubilant Dearden.
In the end, the hour-long broadcast may cost the CBC up to $5 million because of the Leenen ruling and an earlier judgement in favour of Toronto cardiologist Martin Myers, who was awarded $200 000 for defamation last November.1 The CBC must also pay his costs.
Read the full story here.
In a blistering judgement released Apr. 20, Mr. Justice J.D. Cunningham of the Ontario Superior Court found the fifth estate guilty of acting with malice against the Ottawa hypertension specialist. He ordered the CBC to pay Leenen $950 000 in general, aggravated and punitive damages, plus his legal costs. Richard Dearden, one of the Ottawa lawyers who has represented Leenen since his suit was launched in 1996, says those costs will total more than $1 million.
Leenen now has the dubious distinction of being part of Canadian legal history. "This is the largest [defamation] award against the media in the history of the country," says a jubilant Dearden.
In the end, the hour-long broadcast may cost the CBC up to $5 million because of the Leenen ruling and an earlier judgement in favour of Toronto cardiologist Martin Myers, who was awarded $200 000 for defamation last November.1 The CBC must also pay his costs.
Read the full story here.
Why did the CBC change their story?
News report from Faith Goldy ...
______________________________________
I’ve just spent two days in Quebec City, investigating the mass murder at the mosque here. But I’m leaving with more questions than I came here with.
Why did police arrest one of the murder suspects, Mohamed Belkhadir, and keep him overnight, and have a press conference saying he was a suspect — but then suddenly let him go, saying he was just a witness swept up by accident?
Why did the CBC broadcast an interview of a Muslim eyewitness saying the shooter shouted “Allah Akbar” — but then change that to “f-ck you” by the time the broadcast Peter Mansbridge’s nightly newscast?
Why has the remaining suspect, Alexandre Bissonnette, been charged with murder, but not with terrorism?
And why as Justin Trudeau’s office being demanding that reporters in Canada — and around the world — delete their reports that accurately reflected the original police statement that Belkhadir was a suspect?
There may be very reasonable answers to all of these questions. And none of it changes the horrific fact of this mass murder.
But the more Trudeau’s office weighs in on the media coverage, and the more Canada’s state broadcaster spins this crime as some sort of Donald Trump-inspired violence, the more I’m worried we’re not getting the full story.
Blessings,
Faith Goldy
P.S. Thank you for supporting my two-day investigation in Quebec. Unlike the CBC, which receives $1.5 billion a year from Trudeau, we’re 100% viewer-supported. If you want to help chip in to cover my airfare and hotel please go to www.QuebecTerror.com where you can also see all of my videos on the subject.
______________________________________
I’ve just spent two days in Quebec City, investigating the mass murder at the mosque here. But I’m leaving with more questions than I came here with.
Why did police arrest one of the murder suspects, Mohamed Belkhadir, and keep him overnight, and have a press conference saying he was a suspect — but then suddenly let him go, saying he was just a witness swept up by accident?
Why did the CBC broadcast an interview of a Muslim eyewitness saying the shooter shouted “Allah Akbar” — but then change that to “f-ck you” by the time the broadcast Peter Mansbridge’s nightly newscast?
Why has the remaining suspect, Alexandre Bissonnette, been charged with murder, but not with terrorism?
And why as Justin Trudeau’s office being demanding that reporters in Canada — and around the world — delete their reports that accurately reflected the original police statement that Belkhadir was a suspect?
There may be very reasonable answers to all of these questions. And none of it changes the horrific fact of this mass murder.
But the more Trudeau’s office weighs in on the media coverage, and the more Canada’s state broadcaster spins this crime as some sort of Donald Trump-inspired violence, the more I’m worried we’re not getting the full story.
Blessings,
Faith Goldy
P.S. Thank you for supporting my two-day investigation in Quebec. Unlike the CBC, which receives $1.5 billion a year from Trudeau, we’re 100% viewer-supported. If you want to help chip in to cover my airfare and hotel please go to www.QuebecTerror.com where you can also see all of my videos on the subject.
CBC slammed over “toxic work environment”
According to court documents, Julia Evans was “experiencing severe bouts of stress, anxiety and depression as a direct result of a toxic work environment engendered by (the CBC.)”
Five days after her termination, a doctor told the 37-year-old that she was “unfit to work.”
Evans claims she was fired without cause or reasonable notice but her lawsuit does refer to “unfounded and spurious allegations of cause,” which brought on psychological stress.
The former HR leader also alleges that CBC treated her “in a malicious, high-handed, arrogant and contemptuous manner” – she is seeking $110,000 in lieu of a year’s notice, plus damages for lost benefits and pension contributions.
Read the full story here.
Five days after her termination, a doctor told the 37-year-old that she was “unfit to work.”
Evans claims she was fired without cause or reasonable notice but her lawsuit does refer to “unfounded and spurious allegations of cause,” which brought on psychological stress.
The former HR leader also alleges that CBC treated her “in a malicious, high-handed, arrogant and contemptuous manner” – she is seeking $110,000 in lieu of a year’s notice, plus damages for lost benefits and pension contributions.
Read the full story here.
Refugee Lawsuit Says CBC Documentary Outed Him as Gay
In a lawsuit against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, an Iranian refugee claims that a 2007 documentary outed him as a homosexual, subjecting him to violence and persecution in the Islamic republic.
The CBC film “Inside Iran’s Secret Gay World” detailed the country’s “perilous and inhuman circumstances faced by homosexuals and their struggle for civil rights,” Farzam Dadashzadeh says in his Aug. 15 lawsuit in British Columbia Supreme Court.
Dadashzadeh says he was studying English and working as a hairstylist in Tehran during the filming, and had not disclosed his sexual orientation to family or friends, nor did he ever intend to.
The film included footage from the Jam-a-Jam restaurant in Tehran, “which was identified in the documentary as a known weekly gathering place for homosexuals and transgender people in the city.”
It used footage from a hidden camera, including several close-ups of Dadashzadeh’s face. Because it was shot surreptitiously, he was given no chance to leave the area or cover his face to avoid being identified. The film was broadcast in February 2007, and went “viral” in Iran, according to the lawsuit.
Read the full story here.
The CBC film “Inside Iran’s Secret Gay World” detailed the country’s “perilous and inhuman circumstances faced by homosexuals and their struggle for civil rights,” Farzam Dadashzadeh says in his Aug. 15 lawsuit in British Columbia Supreme Court.
Dadashzadeh says he was studying English and working as a hairstylist in Tehran during the filming, and had not disclosed his sexual orientation to family or friends, nor did he ever intend to.
The film included footage from the Jam-a-Jam restaurant in Tehran, “which was identified in the documentary as a known weekly gathering place for homosexuals and transgender people in the city.”
It used footage from a hidden camera, including several close-ups of Dadashzadeh’s face. Because it was shot surreptitiously, he was given no chance to leave the area or cover his face to avoid being identified. The film was broadcast in February 2007, and went “viral” in Iran, according to the lawsuit.
Read the full story here.
CBC Being Sued Over Land Deal Reporting
Bill Boyd has launched a lawsuit against the CBC and reporter Geoff Leo in the wake of two stories relating to a series of land transactions that occurred in the course of Boyd’s work as minister responsible for the Global Transportation Hub.
The lawsuit, filed at Regina Court of Queen’s Bench on Tuesday, claims many of the “allegations, implications and/or assertions published by the Defendants conveyed, by the plain meaning of the words and by innuendo, that Boyd had acted unlawfully.”
“These statements and implications are and were untrue,” the claim states.
The statement of claim contains allegations not proven in court. A statement of defence has not yet been filed.
The claim references two stories written by Leo and published and broadcast by the CBC titled, “Businessmen made millions on Regina land that wound up in taxpayers’ hands” and “Sask. politicians call for review of puzzling land transactions uncovered in iTeam investigation.”
Read the full story here.
The lawsuit, filed at Regina Court of Queen’s Bench on Tuesday, claims many of the “allegations, implications and/or assertions published by the Defendants conveyed, by the plain meaning of the words and by innuendo, that Boyd had acted unlawfully.”
“These statements and implications are and were untrue,” the claim states.
The statement of claim contains allegations not proven in court. A statement of defence has not yet been filed.
The claim references two stories written by Leo and published and broadcast by the CBC titled, “Businessmen made millions on Regina land that wound up in taxpayers’ hands” and “Sask. politicians call for review of puzzling land transactions uncovered in iTeam investigation.”
Read the full story here.
Maxime Bernier says CBC seems frozen in time ...
Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier is promising to overhaul CBC/Radio-Canada – an institution he says “seems frozen in time” — by cutting hundreds of millions in funding, streamlining its mandate and getting it out of the advertising market.
Bernier says CBC/Radio-Canada “should stop doing three-quarters of what it still does” that private broadcasters are already doing, including running game shows and cooking programs, sports programming, music streaming and a website devoted to opinion journalism.
It also needs to stop “unfairly” competing with struggling private media in a shrinking advertising market, he says.
With a media landscape that now includes hundreds of channels and millions of sources of information and culture, “CBC/Radio-Canada seems frozen in time,” he said.
“It tries to occupy every niche, even though it doesn’t have and will never have the means to do so, with the result being lower-quality programming,” Bernier told reporters.
Read the full story here.
Bernier says CBC/Radio-Canada “should stop doing three-quarters of what it still does” that private broadcasters are already doing, including running game shows and cooking programs, sports programming, music streaming and a website devoted to opinion journalism.
It also needs to stop “unfairly” competing with struggling private media in a shrinking advertising market, he says.
With a media landscape that now includes hundreds of channels and millions of sources of information and culture, “CBC/Radio-Canada seems frozen in time,” he said.
“It tries to occupy every niche, even though it doesn’t have and will never have the means to do so, with the result being lower-quality programming,” Bernier told reporters.
Read the full story here.
Additional CBC funding could amount to blank cheque
A group of Quebec broadcasters has fired back at CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix over remarks made during an appearance at the University of British Columbia on Tuesday.
Groupe Serdy president and CEO Sébastien Arsenault, Groupe V Média president and CEO Maxime Rémillard, and TVA Group president and CEO Julie Tremblay released a joint statement Wednesday saying Lacroix had mischaracterized their position as a desire to keep the public broadcaster locked into the “status quo.”
The executives said they are actually advocating for a “thorough review” of CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate as part of the review of Canada’s broadcast system announced by the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
The statement argued that if there is “no accountability” for an additional $675 million in government funding CBC/Radio-Canada is slated to receive, the “already precarious balance” between the public broadcaster and the rest of the industry “will be destroyed.”
The executives expressed concern the funding could amount to a “blank cheque” for CBC/Radio-Canada to step up its “already ferocious competition” against private broadcasters.
Read the full story here.
Groupe Serdy president and CEO Sébastien Arsenault, Groupe V Média president and CEO Maxime Rémillard, and TVA Group president and CEO Julie Tremblay released a joint statement Wednesday saying Lacroix had mischaracterized their position as a desire to keep the public broadcaster locked into the “status quo.”
The executives said they are actually advocating for a “thorough review” of CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate as part of the review of Canada’s broadcast system announced by the Minister of Canadian Heritage.
The statement argued that if there is “no accountability” for an additional $675 million in government funding CBC/Radio-Canada is slated to receive, the “already precarious balance” between the public broadcaster and the rest of the industry “will be destroyed.”
The executives expressed concern the funding could amount to a “blank cheque” for CBC/Radio-Canada to step up its “already ferocious competition” against private broadcasters.
Read the full story here.
Former CBC Director Launches Lawsuit
A former senior director at the CBC has launched a lawsuit against the broadcaster alleging he was harassed by one of his bosses for two years before he was dismissed from the organization.
Christopher (Jim) Kozak alleges that Jean Mongeau, CBC’s general manager and chief revenue officer for media solutions, harassed, intimidated and bullied him from late 2014 until his April 2016 dismissal.
In a statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Kozak says the behaviour involved “speaking in a condescending manner” towards him, “unnecessary pressure tactics around work assignments,” and “unjustly challenging and ‘grilling’ Kozak at one-on-one meetings and deliberately putting him on the defensive.”
Kozak is seeking $350,000 in damages for wrongful dismissal, $500,000 in aggravated or moral damages, and $250,000 in punitive damages.
The filing alleges the CBC has failed to implement the recommendations of the Rubin Report, an independent workplace study by lawyer Janice Rubin.
The statement of claim alleges the broadcaster only pays “lip service” to the recommendations.
Read the full story here.
Christopher (Jim) Kozak alleges that Jean Mongeau, CBC’s general manager and chief revenue officer for media solutions, harassed, intimidated and bullied him from late 2014 until his April 2016 dismissal.
In a statement of claim filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Kozak says the behaviour involved “speaking in a condescending manner” towards him, “unnecessary pressure tactics around work assignments,” and “unjustly challenging and ‘grilling’ Kozak at one-on-one meetings and deliberately putting him on the defensive.”
Kozak is seeking $350,000 in damages for wrongful dismissal, $500,000 in aggravated or moral damages, and $250,000 in punitive damages.
The filing alleges the CBC has failed to implement the recommendations of the Rubin Report, an independent workplace study by lawyer Janice Rubin.
The statement of claim alleges the broadcaster only pays “lip service” to the recommendations.
Read the full story here.
Police in Quebec Sue CBC Radio-Canada
A year after CBC Radio-Canada reported allegations of police sexually and physically abusing Aboriginal women in Val-d’Or, Quebec, the broadcaster is getting sued for $2.3 million. As first reported by La Presse, forty police officers have filed the defamation lawsuit claiming their reputations have been tainted by the reporting.
According to the La Presse article, the police are arguing the CBC Radio-Canada reporting upset their relationship with the community and tainted the reputation of the officers who do not have sexual abuse allegations against them. They also call Radio-Canada’s reporting biased, inaccurate, and incomplete. The Provincial Police Association of Quebec, who’s funding the lawsuit, did not have an English-speaking spokesperson immediately available for comment. If they become available, this story will be updated.
Read the full story here.
According to the La Presse article, the police are arguing the CBC Radio-Canada reporting upset their relationship with the community and tainted the reputation of the officers who do not have sexual abuse allegations against them. They also call Radio-Canada’s reporting biased, inaccurate, and incomplete. The Provincial Police Association of Quebec, who’s funding the lawsuit, did not have an English-speaking spokesperson immediately available for comment. If they become available, this story will be updated.
Read the full story here.
CBC plan makes no sense
A union representing employees at the CBC is sounding the alarm on what it says is the national broadcaster's plan to sell off all of its buildings.
The Canadian Media Guild said, in a news release, that CBC announced at a staff town hall today (September 22) that it will be "selling all its property across the country, including major production facilities in Montreal and Toronto".
"The decision to close down production centres is of great concern for our members as it should be for all Canadians, and seriously jeopardizes the CBC's ability to do meaningful production in the future," Marc-Philippe Laurin, CBC branch president for the CMG, stated in the release.
Read the full story here.
The Canadian Media Guild said, in a news release, that CBC announced at a staff town hall today (September 22) that it will be "selling all its property across the country, including major production facilities in Montreal and Toronto".
"The decision to close down production centres is of great concern for our members as it should be for all Canadians, and seriously jeopardizes the CBC's ability to do meaningful production in the future," Marc-Philippe Laurin, CBC branch president for the CMG, stated in the release.
Read the full story here.
HRC Prompts CBC to Amend Misleading Headline
On January 10, CBC News.ca published an Associated Press article with a terribly misleading and unfair headline that wrongly portrayed Israeli soldiers as having killed an innocent Palestinian man.
The headline stated the following: “Israeli troops kill Palestinian in West Bank raid”.
In truth, Israeli soldiers were on an arrest raid in the west bank and the Palestinian had attacked the soldiers with a knife. HonestReporting Canada conveyed to CBC editors in a complaint yesterday that their article’s headline should refer to the Palestinian as an “attacker” considering that Israel claims he tried to stab their soldiers, even if the headline is in attribution. Failing which, readers who only saw the headline could wrongly conclude that Israeli troops killed an innocent Palestinian during a west bank arrest raid to detain wanted terrorists. We conveyed that people read headlines 3:1 over the adjacent article – so context in headlines is vital.
Following our complaint, CBC amended this headline to mention that the Israeli “military say he was armed”.
See the whole story and the before and after headlines here.
The headline stated the following: “Israeli troops kill Palestinian in West Bank raid”.
In truth, Israeli soldiers were on an arrest raid in the west bank and the Palestinian had attacked the soldiers with a knife. HonestReporting Canada conveyed to CBC editors in a complaint yesterday that their article’s headline should refer to the Palestinian as an “attacker” considering that Israel claims he tried to stab their soldiers, even if the headline is in attribution. Failing which, readers who only saw the headline could wrongly conclude that Israeli troops killed an innocent Palestinian during a west bank arrest raid to detain wanted terrorists. We conveyed that people read headlines 3:1 over the adjacent article – so context in headlines is vital.
Following our complaint, CBC amended this headline to mention that the Israeli “military say he was armed”.
See the whole story and the before and after headlines here.
CBC to Ignore Older Viewers for Younger Ones
Canada's CBC on Thursday said it will increasingly ignore older TV viewers to target younger ones fleeing the public broadcaster for the Internet and mobile platforms.
To attract a younger, networked generation, the cash-strapped CBC will do fewer supper-hour newscasts and impose "significant" production cuts as it drives into the digital space.
"CBC/Radio Canada is transitioning from a business model founded on conventional broadcasting … to a digital future, where content can be created and distributed with a smartphone," the Canadian network said in a 19-page document issued Thursday.
Ceding the broadcast space to private sector rivals like Bell Media, Rogers Media and Shaw Media, the CBC said it will increasingly target TV audiences going forward, shift to digital platforms and cut jobs and infrastructure in the five years leading up to 2020.
Read the full story here.
To attract a younger, networked generation, the cash-strapped CBC will do fewer supper-hour newscasts and impose "significant" production cuts as it drives into the digital space.
"CBC/Radio Canada is transitioning from a business model founded on conventional broadcasting … to a digital future, where content can be created and distributed with a smartphone," the Canadian network said in a 19-page document issued Thursday.
Ceding the broadcast space to private sector rivals like Bell Media, Rogers Media and Shaw Media, the CBC said it will increasingly target TV audiences going forward, shift to digital platforms and cut jobs and infrastructure in the five years leading up to 2020.
Read the full story here.
AARC v CBC litigation
We are always interested in hearing and getting input from interested Canadians who are concerned about CBC actions and their use of tax payer funds.
This story was sent to us recently and is very timely:
_______________________
An Alberta Law Society Hearing with a lawyer named Brian Fish is to be held this week on January 18, 2017. This lawyer has substantial involvement in the AARC v. CBC litigation, which is comprised of more than one Action filed in the Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial District of Calgary. An associated and important claim, which sheds light on some of the issues in the AARC v. CBC claim and which CBC and Brian Fish have now been attached is AARC Society v. Amy Sparks Action No:1101-06250 filed May 4, 2011. Mr. Fish played a part in the substance of the Spark's pleadings.
Should the whole affair be discussed in the House of Commons? Some believe the actions of CBC executives, journalists, and their legal department are egregious.
To see information on this upcoming hearing click here.
This story was sent to us recently and is very timely:
_______________________
An Alberta Law Society Hearing with a lawyer named Brian Fish is to be held this week on January 18, 2017. This lawyer has substantial involvement in the AARC v. CBC litigation, which is comprised of more than one Action filed in the Court of Queen's Bench, Judicial District of Calgary. An associated and important claim, which sheds light on some of the issues in the AARC v. CBC claim and which CBC and Brian Fish have now been attached is AARC Society v. Amy Sparks Action No:1101-06250 filed May 4, 2011. Mr. Fish played a part in the substance of the Spark's pleadings.
Should the whole affair be discussed in the House of Commons? Some believe the actions of CBC executives, journalists, and their legal department are egregious.
To see information on this upcoming hearing click here.
CBC News an ‘uber-predator’ in digital advertising market
John Honderich, chair of Torstar Corp., pulled no punches, telling the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage “there is a crisis of declining good journalism across Canada and at this point we only see the situation getting worse.”
Honderich said The Toronto Star, his company’s flagship publication, will have 170 journalists in its newsroom at the end of this year, down from 470 ten years ago. He noted as an example careers advertising, which once brought in $75 million in revenue each year for the company, and now no longer exists as a revenue stream because of free online portals.
Honderich also brought to the committee’s attention the competition media companies are facing in the digital advertising market from the online operations of CBC News, which he said was “spending incredibly on its website” and doing so with “unlimited resources.”
Read the full story here.
Honderich said The Toronto Star, his company’s flagship publication, will have 170 journalists in its newsroom at the end of this year, down from 470 ten years ago. He noted as an example careers advertising, which once brought in $75 million in revenue each year for the company, and now no longer exists as a revenue stream because of free online portals.
Honderich also brought to the committee’s attention the competition media companies are facing in the digital advertising market from the online operations of CBC News, which he said was “spending incredibly on its website” and doing so with “unlimited resources.”
Read the full story here.
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