This was a letter received from a follower of this blog:
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I have a CBC story that will shock you. Several weeks ago Nancy Waugh, managing director for the CBC Maritimes, sent an all staff memo to hundreds of employees in the region announcing that Ken MacIntosh was being made the Nova Scotia news director. This came as surprise to many of us because Ken is well known as somewhat of a bully at work and has never been a reporter or journalist. Most people at CBC Halifax assume his main attribute as far as management is concerned is his ability to intimidate staff.
After getting the mass email, one of the staff at CBC Halifax forwarded the email to several people outside the CBC. The next day the employee who forwarded the email was hauled into Waugh’s office and severely reprimanded for forwarding the message. It turns out CBC’s Halifax IT department was ordered by Waugh to open and investigate the emails and I-phone messages of every employee to find out who had forwarded the public announcement of major new appointment to CBC Nova Scotia’s management team.
The whole place is running scared. CBC management has made it clear that regular and frequent examination of emails is acceptable.
A source in the IT department said there are strict rules about when and how emails can be opened, and that in this case none of those rules were followed. The IT department protested but CBC Halifax senior manager Caroline Lounsbury ordered them to do it anyway.
The whole affair shows how corrupt and out of control management is, not just in Toronto, but other regions. The “leak” involved an all staff memo celebrating the promotion of one of its own. The memo was even sent to the local newspaper as press release.
The employee was told that the act could be viewed as questioning a management decision. The employee was told that opening and scanning emails would now be a common practice.
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 and The Omission of Inconvenient Facts
Leftist John Grierson, the first Commissioner of the National Film Board of Canada — later dismissed for his communist sympathies — once said something to the effect that successful manipulation of public opinion largely consists not in slanting the news, but choosing it. The real power of a news outlet lies in its ability to determine what is and what is not newsworthy. Thus, the public is not so much victimized by the "lying press" as by what patriotic Germans have recently dubbed the "Lückenpresse" — the "gaps" press. Leaving out crucially relevant information is as effective as misrepresenting it. The silent lie is as potent — and morally reprehensible — as the uttered lie.
Of course, this technique is not confined to the print media, but to television and radio as well. None employ it better than CBC Pravda, Canada's state broadcaster, which may be described as the conversion of conscripted taxpayer money into thinly veiled ideologically partisan bullshit. Its apparent mandate is to manufacture consent by using journalism as a mechanism of social engineering. For the "Friends of the CBC", the CBC is the appointed gatekeeper of information that can be trusted not to let inconvenient truths to slip by and red-pill the public. The objective is not to just keep disturbing ideas out, but to keep the masses in. Inside the CBC matrix. Canadians must not be let out of their sheep pen, or radical campus feminists would put it, their 'safe zone'.
As I have long said, the CBC is an infallible guide as to what is not happening in the world. Perhaps then CBC "Pravda" is not an appropriate appellation, for "Pravda" is the Russian word for "truth". A more apt description of the CBC and its mission would be "The Omission of Truth".
Read the full story here.
Of course, this technique is not confined to the print media, but to television and radio as well. None employ it better than CBC Pravda, Canada's state broadcaster, which may be described as the conversion of conscripted taxpayer money into thinly veiled ideologically partisan bullshit. Its apparent mandate is to manufacture consent by using journalism as a mechanism of social engineering. For the "Friends of the CBC", the CBC is the appointed gatekeeper of information that can be trusted not to let inconvenient truths to slip by and red-pill the public. The objective is not to just keep disturbing ideas out, but to keep the masses in. Inside the CBC matrix. Canadians must not be let out of their sheep pen, or radical campus feminists would put it, their 'safe zone'.
As I have long said, the CBC is an infallible guide as to what is not happening in the world. Perhaps then CBC "Pravda" is not an appropriate appellation, for "Pravda" is the Russian word for "truth". A more apt description of the CBC and its mission would be "The Omission of Truth".
Read the full story here.
CBC violated rules by accepting $5,000
Quiet acceptance of travel money to interview rocker in California appears to have broken CBC's own rules
CBC violated its rules by accepting $5,000 from Warner Music so that Jian Ghomeshi could travel to Malibu, Cali., and interview American rock star Tom Petty for a Q show "Canadian exclusive."
"Our policy is to never accept money for booking talent," said CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson. "That said, we recently became aware of a situation on Q where, after the talent was booked, money was accepted to help defray travel expenses."
After The Toronto Star asked the CBC about the payment for the July 17 show, CBC said it would repay the $5,000 to Petty's record label.
Read the full story here.
CBC violated its rules by accepting $5,000 from Warner Music so that Jian Ghomeshi could travel to Malibu, Cali., and interview American rock star Tom Petty for a Q show "Canadian exclusive."
"Our policy is to never accept money for booking talent," said CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson. "That said, we recently became aware of a situation on Q where, after the talent was booked, money was accepted to help defray travel expenses."
After The Toronto Star asked the CBC about the payment for the July 17 show, CBC said it would repay the $5,000 to Petty's record label.
Read the full story here.
Was former CBC Executive fired for political reasons?
A former top executive at CBC is suing the national broadcaster for wrongful dismissal, saying he was “scapegoated” in the wake of the scandal surrounding Jian Ghomeshi.
Todd Spencer, a 45-year-old former executive director of human resources, says the company where he worked for 11 years fired him for “political reasons” after he was involved in an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against former Q radio host Ghomeshi, according to a statement of claim.
Read the full story here.
Todd Spencer, a 45-year-old former executive director of human resources, says the company where he worked for 11 years fired him for “political reasons” after he was involved in an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment against former Q radio host Ghomeshi, according to a statement of claim.
Read the full story here.
CBC dealing with employee tension, rage and confusion
CANADALAND has obtained internal CBC documents illustrating how the organization is dealing with employee tension, rage and confusion.
Here is CBC News’ “Digital Mantra”, also titled “CBC Digital Strategy in 3 Slides” (link) Here is management’s attempt to answer questions submitted by employees following last month’s employee town hall (link). The CBC work atmosphere has by all accounts hit a new low since the town hall, where employees hoped to learn whether or not they would be keeping their jobs. Instead, they were forced to endure President Hubert Lacroix’s “Vision 2020” unveiling, a smokescreen of digital futurism bafflegab that obscured the painful truth, that 1500 unspecified positions will be eliminated over the next 5 years. While each employee waits to find out if they’re getting the axe, they are expected to internalize and execute the CBC’s “digital mantra”, which will result in news content designed for phones and tablets, somehow (it has to do with “pillars” and “planks”).
A couple of brave (doomed?) workers actually piped up to demand Lacroix’s resignation for running the whole enterprise into the ground (he refused) and the whole affair was hustled to a premature close as questions were still being hurled at the stage.
Read the full story here.
Here is CBC News’ “Digital Mantra”, also titled “CBC Digital Strategy in 3 Slides” (link) Here is management’s attempt to answer questions submitted by employees following last month’s employee town hall (link). The CBC work atmosphere has by all accounts hit a new low since the town hall, where employees hoped to learn whether or not they would be keeping their jobs. Instead, they were forced to endure President Hubert Lacroix’s “Vision 2020” unveiling, a smokescreen of digital futurism bafflegab that obscured the painful truth, that 1500 unspecified positions will be eliminated over the next 5 years. While each employee waits to find out if they’re getting the axe, they are expected to internalize and execute the CBC’s “digital mantra”, which will result in news content designed for phones and tablets, somehow (it has to do with “pillars” and “planks”).
A couple of brave (doomed?) workers actually piped up to demand Lacroix’s resignation for running the whole enterprise into the ground (he refused) and the whole affair was hustled to a premature close as questions were still being hurled at the stage.
Read the full story here.
CBC workplace is psychologically unhealthy
A survey conducted for CBC in the summer by Gallup showed that “pride of association” has plummeted from 92 per cent of employees feeling proud to be CBC journalists and support staff in 2012 to 69 per cent in 2015.
“Psychological health and care for individual well-being are significant concerns,” says a report released internally to CBC and obtained by the Star. The results show 43 per cent of survey respondents said they would not describe their workplace as psychologically healthy.
Concerns were also raised by survey respondents over whether the CBC deals effectively with “situations that may threaten or harm employees.” Almost a third (29 per cent) said the CBC does not.
Read the full story here.
“Psychological health and care for individual well-being are significant concerns,” says a report released internally to CBC and obtained by the Star. The results show 43 per cent of survey respondents said they would not describe their workplace as psychologically healthy.
Concerns were also raised by survey respondents over whether the CBC deals effectively with “situations that may threaten or harm employees.” Almost a third (29 per cent) said the CBC does not.
Read the full story here.
CBC Calgary shameless in its assault on Alberta's energy sector
CBC Calgary’s taxpayer funded jihad against Alberta’s energy sector has gone from being merely biased to being grossly misleading.
You can hardly flip on one of their morning newscasts without hearing another grim, hit piece telling Albertans how bad, dirty, dangerous and unpopular their energy sector is.
On Wednesday; in a transparent piece of journalistic malpractice, we are told the results of a survey have found the energy sector may be damaging Calgary’s reputation outside Alberta.
There was nothing balanced, fair or even accurate about it. The CBC dug out whatever anti-energy smear it could of out statistics on Page 20 while it ignored the overwhelming numbers that didn’t support it’s usual anti-oil narrative.
Read the full story here.
You can hardly flip on one of their morning newscasts without hearing another grim, hit piece telling Albertans how bad, dirty, dangerous and unpopular their energy sector is.
On Wednesday; in a transparent piece of journalistic malpractice, we are told the results of a survey have found the energy sector may be damaging Calgary’s reputation outside Alberta.
There was nothing balanced, fair or even accurate about it. The CBC dug out whatever anti-energy smear it could of out statistics on Page 20 while it ignored the overwhelming numbers that didn’t support it’s usual anti-oil narrative.
Read the full story here.
CBC’s legal counsel argued AGAINST free speech
Canada’s state broadcaster has been busy proving themselves to be one of the most devoted enemies of freedom of speech and information sharing in the country.
They were relentless in their effort to maintain control of information for their own purposes even if it meant going against the principle of free speech, copyright law and access to information that they themselves rely on.
See the full story here.
They were relentless in their effort to maintain control of information for their own purposes even if it meant going against the principle of free speech, copyright law and access to information that they themselves rely on.
See the full story here.
CBC says Peter Mansbridge makes just $80,000
CBC president Hubert Lacroix insulted and disrespected taxpayers by not fully disclosing the salaries of high-level CBC employees, said senators on a committee studying the public broadcaster's future.
Lacroix responded to the Senate's committee on transport and communications' request for financial disclosure by submitting 184 pages of base employee salary scales that senators said left out the full take-home income of many of the corporation's big-name personalities.
For instance, Lacroix's submission revealed that the host of CBC's The National, Peter Mansbridge, one of the most famous journalists in Canada, makes roughly $80,000 -- the same as a lower-level reporter.
Read the full story here.
Lacroix responded to the Senate's committee on transport and communications' request for financial disclosure by submitting 184 pages of base employee salary scales that senators said left out the full take-home income of many of the corporation's big-name personalities.
For instance, Lacroix's submission revealed that the host of CBC's The National, Peter Mansbridge, one of the most famous journalists in Canada, makes roughly $80,000 -- the same as a lower-level reporter.
Read the full story here.
Former senior executive suing CBC
Fired over the Ghomeshi affair, a former senior executive is suing the CBC for more than $640,000, saying he was scapegoated and sacrificed in a face-saving effort by senior management.
Todd Spencer, 45, accuses the national broadcaster of blaming him for the public mess over former star host Jian Ghomeshi. Yet, top management – up to and including CBC president Hubert Lacroix – were “deeply involved with and aware of” the investigation that he and others carried out into allegations against Mr. Ghomeshi, he says.
“The CBC terminated Spencer’s employment for cause for political reasons and has used Spencer as a scapegoat for the Ghomeshi affair,” a legal filing with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice says. “Spencer states that the CBC fired him to send a message to the Canadian public that the CBC takes matters of workplace harassment seriously.”
Read the full story here.
Todd Spencer, 45, accuses the national broadcaster of blaming him for the public mess over former star host Jian Ghomeshi. Yet, top management – up to and including CBC president Hubert Lacroix – were “deeply involved with and aware of” the investigation that he and others carried out into allegations against Mr. Ghomeshi, he says.
“The CBC terminated Spencer’s employment for cause for political reasons and has used Spencer as a scapegoat for the Ghomeshi affair,” a legal filing with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice says. “Spencer states that the CBC fired him to send a message to the Canadian public that the CBC takes matters of workplace harassment seriously.”
Read the full story here.
Rein in CBC to protect Canadian journalism
Private industry has to compete with its arms held behind its back
There is trouble in today’s news media industry. Large newspaper chains such as Postmedia have made staff cuts to offset reduced revenues. Newspapers and local TV newsrooms, which often provide communities with their only source of local content, are struggling. An Ontario daily paper recently shut down. Many now wonder what the future of journalism will look like.
A common proposal to reverse this decline is for government to subsidize newspapers, just as government subsidizes CBC to the tune of $1 billion a year. Proponents of the idea say that subsidies would lessen the importance of readers and advertising dollars on the bottom line, and allow local news providers to remain open. Subsidies would surely stabilize an uncertain employment market for print journalists, as it has for CBC.
Read the full story here.
There is trouble in today’s news media industry. Large newspaper chains such as Postmedia have made staff cuts to offset reduced revenues. Newspapers and local TV newsrooms, which often provide communities with their only source of local content, are struggling. An Ontario daily paper recently shut down. Many now wonder what the future of journalism will look like.
A common proposal to reverse this decline is for government to subsidize newspapers, just as government subsidizes CBC to the tune of $1 billion a year. Proponents of the idea say that subsidies would lessen the importance of readers and advertising dollars on the bottom line, and allow local news providers to remain open. Subsidies would surely stabilize an uncertain employment market for print journalists, as it has for CBC.
Read the full story here.
Few Canadians loyal to CBC
Decades ago CBC was the only Canadian TV or radio station most Canadians could receive. It was a necessity, not a convenience. A handful of private radio stations existed in major cities in the 1920s; but in the 1930s Parliament created the CBC and rapidly it became the most important radio broadcaster in the country.
The 1950s was also a golden age for CBC TV because of its near monopoly of the television audience across the country.
CBC TV finds itself today in a very fragile position, as desperate as radio’s was 50 years ago. Today CBC TV is only one (two if you count its news channel) of hundreds of channels, with less and less to distinguish it from private channels.
CBC airs many of the same programs one finds on private channels: Hollywood movies, NHL hockey, the Olympics, news and information that increasingly mimic the style of private TV, and, until recently, daily U.S. game shows. Most importantly, virtually all the same commercials that are aired on private TV also appear on CBC.
CBC TV does have an audience reach much larger than CBC Radio. About four in five Canadians are regular viewers; but, according to CBC, CBC’s share of total viewing time is now on average about 5 percent. That is a tiny fraction of what it was in the 1960s or even the 1970s and ’80s. There are parts of the day and seasons of the year when the audience share is 3 to 4 percent.
A large number of Canadians find something worth watching occasionally on CBC. But few are loyal to the service. The average Canadian spends only about 70 hours per year watching CBC TV, including NHL hockey and foreign programs. Remove those programs and the number is only about 35 hours per year.
Read the full story here.
The 1950s was also a golden age for CBC TV because of its near monopoly of the television audience across the country.
CBC TV finds itself today in a very fragile position, as desperate as radio’s was 50 years ago. Today CBC TV is only one (two if you count its news channel) of hundreds of channels, with less and less to distinguish it from private channels.
CBC airs many of the same programs one finds on private channels: Hollywood movies, NHL hockey, the Olympics, news and information that increasingly mimic the style of private TV, and, until recently, daily U.S. game shows. Most importantly, virtually all the same commercials that are aired on private TV also appear on CBC.
CBC TV does have an audience reach much larger than CBC Radio. About four in five Canadians are regular viewers; but, according to CBC, CBC’s share of total viewing time is now on average about 5 percent. That is a tiny fraction of what it was in the 1960s or even the 1970s and ’80s. There are parts of the day and seasons of the year when the audience share is 3 to 4 percent.
A large number of Canadians find something worth watching occasionally on CBC. But few are loyal to the service. The average Canadian spends only about 70 hours per year watching CBC TV, including NHL hockey and foreign programs. Remove those programs and the number is only about 35 hours per year.
Read the full story here.
No accountability at CBC could destroy industry balance
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.”
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.”
Read the full story here.
Should CBC be more like HBO
The problem the CBC faces is that whatever their motives might be, its antagonists are, on the whole, right (you should pardon the expression). They are right in terms of the immediate controversy, i.e., whether the corporation is obliged to comply with access to information requests, even from its competitors: clearly, under the law, it must. While the law makes exception for certain types of documents, it cannot be up to the CBC alone to decide which documents qualify for this exception, as a court has lately ruled.
And they’re right in their more general proposition: that it is long past time for fundamental reform of the corporation’s mandate and structure. Put simply, the case for a publicly funded television network has collapsed.
Fast-forward five years from now, and it’s quite clear that television will no longer be delivered in the form of separate channels, each streaming a series of programs one after the other. Turn on your TV, rather, and you’ll see a screen full of icons representing the shows you subscribe to: the iTunes model. Indeed, that’s how many people watch TV now.
Put it all together, and there is simply no case for continuing to aim hundreds of millions of dollars every year at a single point on the dial. It’s not good for taxpayers. It’s not good for viewers. And it’s not good for the CBC itself, and the people who work there. The best television, as on HBO, emerges from a partnership between creative producers and a passionate, demanding, discerning audience.
So big change is coming. That much is certain. The question is whether the CBC will get out in front of it, or whether it will drag its heels, hankering after a world that has gone and isn’t coming back.
Perhaps the present controversy will clinch the case. So long as the CBC is dependent on the public purse, it will always be vulnerable to political pressure and the vagaries of budget cuts. Freed from that dependence, it would be free to chart its own course, accountable neither to advertisers nor to backbenchers, but to those best and wisest of judges, its viewers.
Read the full story here.
And they’re right in their more general proposition: that it is long past time for fundamental reform of the corporation’s mandate and structure. Put simply, the case for a publicly funded television network has collapsed.
Fast-forward five years from now, and it’s quite clear that television will no longer be delivered in the form of separate channels, each streaming a series of programs one after the other. Turn on your TV, rather, and you’ll see a screen full of icons representing the shows you subscribe to: the iTunes model. Indeed, that’s how many people watch TV now.
Put it all together, and there is simply no case for continuing to aim hundreds of millions of dollars every year at a single point on the dial. It’s not good for taxpayers. It’s not good for viewers. And it’s not good for the CBC itself, and the people who work there. The best television, as on HBO, emerges from a partnership between creative producers and a passionate, demanding, discerning audience.
So big change is coming. That much is certain. The question is whether the CBC will get out in front of it, or whether it will drag its heels, hankering after a world that has gone and isn’t coming back.
Perhaps the present controversy will clinch the case. So long as the CBC is dependent on the public purse, it will always be vulnerable to political pressure and the vagaries of budget cuts. Freed from that dependence, it would be free to chart its own course, accountable neither to advertisers nor to backbenchers, but to those best and wisest of judges, its viewers.
Read the full story here.
Private broadcasters cry foul over CBC plan
Canada’s largest private radio broadcaster has come out swinging against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s move to start selling advertising on its CBC Radio 2 and Espace Musique stations.
Astral Media, which is in the process of being sold to telecom giant BCE Inc., said it will oppose the CBC’s application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to change its licensing conditions to allow the two secondary CBC stations to begin airing commercials. It will likely get a chance to air its concerns at public hearings later this year.
Read the full story here.
Astral Media, which is in the process of being sold to telecom giant BCE Inc., said it will oppose the CBC’s application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to change its licensing conditions to allow the two secondary CBC stations to begin airing commercials. It will likely get a chance to air its concerns at public hearings later this year.
Read the full story here.
CBC Retracts Claim - Again
CBC Retracts Claim that Jewish Defense League of Canada (JDL) is a Terror Group, Again!
Yesterday, CBC News.ca issued the following retraction (what they called a “clarification”) after our public broadcaster’s news website falsely claimed that the Jewish Defense League of Canada (JDL) was a bona fide terror group:
In a CBC.ca article published yesterday, the following was incorrectly reported: “On the other side of the street, at a counter-protest organized by the Jewish Defence League, protesters waved Canadian and Israeli flags with signs that read “Canadian law, not sharia law” and “Democracy, not terrorism.” Khawaja calls the JDL, which the FBI has labelled a right-wing terrorist group, an “extremist organization.”
As HonestReporting Canada told CBC editors, the Jewish Defence League of Canada is not a listed terror organization here in Canada.
See the full story and on air apology here.
Yesterday, CBC News.ca issued the following retraction (what they called a “clarification”) after our public broadcaster’s news website falsely claimed that the Jewish Defense League of Canada (JDL) was a bona fide terror group:
In a CBC.ca article published yesterday, the following was incorrectly reported: “On the other side of the street, at a counter-protest organized by the Jewish Defence League, protesters waved Canadian and Israeli flags with signs that read “Canadian law, not sharia law” and “Democracy, not terrorism.” Khawaja calls the JDL, which the FBI has labelled a right-wing terrorist group, an “extremist organization.”
As HonestReporting Canada told CBC editors, the Jewish Defence League of Canada is not a listed terror organization here in Canada.
See the full story and on air apology here.
CBC 5 year accountability plan not clear
Lawyers, lobbyists, artists and various stakeholders are all gearing up for the Trudeau government’s ambitious plan to redraft the laws and policies that govern the country’s $48-billion cultural industries.
Most people found out about the sheer breadth of Ottawa’s strategy when Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said in The Globe and Mail on April 23 that the system is “broken” and “everything is on the table” in the bid to fix it.
Even before Ms. Joly announced the government’s sweeping review, a big shift was under way at the CBC. The latest federal budget pumps $150-million in extra annual funding into the public broadcaster, in support of its shift to a digital-first mentality.
In return for the cash infusion, the CBC must forge a five-year “accountability plan” with government, but it’s not yet clear – even to those in the CBC’s senior ranks – how that process will dovetail with the wider policy overhaul. Ms. Joly has also been tasked with reviewing the process for CBC board appointments.
Read the full story here.
Most people found out about the sheer breadth of Ottawa’s strategy when Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said in The Globe and Mail on April 23 that the system is “broken” and “everything is on the table” in the bid to fix it.
Even before Ms. Joly announced the government’s sweeping review, a big shift was under way at the CBC. The latest federal budget pumps $150-million in extra annual funding into the public broadcaster, in support of its shift to a digital-first mentality.
In return for the cash infusion, the CBC must forge a five-year “accountability plan” with government, but it’s not yet clear – even to those in the CBC’s senior ranks – how that process will dovetail with the wider policy overhaul. Ms. Joly has also been tasked with reviewing the process for CBC board appointments.
Read the full story here.
What do Canadians want from CBC
Although they are talking of establishing a 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.
Because it’s 2016.
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?
Rather than modernize the CBC, the government should be updating the way it invests in quality Canadian programming. Without the costs of a broadcast network and various channels and websites, there would be more money to create content and more viewers, readers and revenues for private media companies with which the CBC currently competes.
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.
Because it’s 2016.
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?
Rather than modernize the CBC, the government should be updating the way it invests in quality Canadian programming. Without the costs of a broadcast network and various channels and websites, there would be more money to create content and more viewers, readers and revenues for private media companies with which the CBC currently competes.
Read the full story here.
CBC is a gravy train for elites
News media is undergoing a rapid and beautiful process of creative destruction: digitalization means vastly lower costs, fewer barriers to entry, and a wider variety of competing options for consumers to enjoy. Amid this innovation and weeding out stands the too-big-to-fail albatross, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Already costing taxpayers $1.04 billion in 2015 and facing rising competition, the CBC's fiscal burden is set to jump by $75 million in 2016 and $150 million in 2017. Regarding the higher price tag of the state broadcaster, Finance Minister Bill Morneau has deflected by saying that “believing in innovation is also believing in the talent and in the creativity of Canadians.” Apologists further contend this is necessary to save the CBC from "extinction."
That begs the question: if the CBC is growing obsolete and people favour other sources, ones that do not cost the taxpayer, how is that a bad thing?
The truth is that the CBC has become a gravy train for elites, with the backing of government unions. These elites have managed to persuade people that they are desperate and hard done by, while the average salary at the broadcaster is $100,528 per year. That is well into the top 10 per cent of all Canadian earners and 23 per cent more than the average earnings of a private-sector TV employee, even before the CBC's luxurious benefits.
Read the full story here.
Already costing taxpayers $1.04 billion in 2015 and facing rising competition, the CBC's fiscal burden is set to jump by $75 million in 2016 and $150 million in 2017. Regarding the higher price tag of the state broadcaster, Finance Minister Bill Morneau has deflected by saying that “believing in innovation is also believing in the talent and in the creativity of Canadians.” Apologists further contend this is necessary to save the CBC from "extinction."
That begs the question: if the CBC is growing obsolete and people favour other sources, ones that do not cost the taxpayer, how is that a bad thing?
The truth is that the CBC has become a gravy train for elites, with the backing of government unions. These elites have managed to persuade people that they are desperate and hard done by, while the average salary at the broadcaster is $100,528 per year. That is well into the top 10 per cent of all Canadian earners and 23 per cent more than the average earnings of a private-sector TV employee, even before the CBC's luxurious benefits.
Read the full story here.
CBC planning to pull away from television and radio
For the second time since the election of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government last fall, you could hear all employees at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) breathing a big sigh of relief.
The struggling public broadcaster received a reprieve from the new federal government after plans were announced today to provide the network with a $675-million investment over five years. CBC will receive a $75 million boost this year, followed by a $150 million annual increase until 2021.
More than 2,800 positions have been eliminated at the CBC since 2008 due to the Conservative government and changes in the media landscape.
In more recent years, the CBC lost the Canadian rights to cover the NHL in Canada; its once-leading sports department has been completely decimated, it is no longer able capable of broadcasting professional sports.
Its renowned documentary unit also no longer exists as part of the latest round in job cuts. Overall, quality original programming – a key mandate for the public broadcaster – has greatly suffered.
The latest plan indicated the CBC would pull away from television and radio and focus more of its resources on digital and mobile platforms.
Read the full story here.
The struggling public broadcaster received a reprieve from the new federal government after plans were announced today to provide the network with a $675-million investment over five years. CBC will receive a $75 million boost this year, followed by a $150 million annual increase until 2021.
More than 2,800 positions have been eliminated at the CBC since 2008 due to the Conservative government and changes in the media landscape.
In more recent years, the CBC lost the Canadian rights to cover the NHL in Canada; its once-leading sports department has been completely decimated, it is no longer able capable of broadcasting professional sports.
Its renowned documentary unit also no longer exists as part of the latest round in job cuts. Overall, quality original programming – a key mandate for the public broadcaster – has greatly suffered.
The latest plan indicated the CBC would pull away from television and radio and focus more of its resources on digital and mobile platforms.
Read the full story here.
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