CBC president and CEO Hubert Lacroix has had a rocky eight years at the helm of Canada’s public broadcaster, and the union that represents most of his employees is now calling for him to step down.
The Canadian Media Guild, which represents the employees of CBC’s English services as well as its French services outside Quebec and New Brunswick, says Lacroix and his board of directors have lost their legitimacy and the confidence of the staff.
While Lacroix has presided over budget cuts, asset sales and falling ratings, his biggest challenges have been ethical and personnel scandals that challenged the CBC’s personality-focused system. Here’s a look back at some of the biggest controversies involving CBC stars since Lacroix — who wasn’t immediately available for comment — took over.
Check them out 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 violating the Broadcast Act
The publisher of the Globe and Mail newspaper, Phillip Crawley, told members of Parliament who are examining Canada's beleaguered news industry that the Globe's ownership isn't seeking "handouts or subsidies — but we do like to play on a level playing field."
"It's not level if taxpayer dollars directed to the public broadcaster make the competition for digital ad dollars more difficult. The CBC is the Globe's largest competitor in the digital ad space amongst Canadian-based media."
Crawley, one of more than a half dozen witnesses appearing Tuesday, was flanked by an unlikely ally — Brian Lilley of Rebel Media, an online news and right-wing opinion outlet that delights in skewering the dreaded mainstream (or "lamestream") media, of which the Globe might be considered a charter member.
"You can't have a level playing field when the public broadcaster ... has decided that they want to be all things to all people," said Lilley.
"I will tell you emphatically that CBC has been violating the Broadcast Act and their mandate for a long time."
Read the full story here.
"It's not level if taxpayer dollars directed to the public broadcaster make the competition for digital ad dollars more difficult. The CBC is the Globe's largest competitor in the digital ad space amongst Canadian-based media."
Crawley, one of more than a half dozen witnesses appearing Tuesday, was flanked by an unlikely ally — Brian Lilley of Rebel Media, an online news and right-wing opinion outlet that delights in skewering the dreaded mainstream (or "lamestream") media, of which the Globe might be considered a charter member.
"You can't have a level playing field when the public broadcaster ... has decided that they want to be all things to all people," said Lilley.
"I will tell you emphatically that CBC has been violating the Broadcast Act and their mandate for a long time."
Read the full story here.
Andrew Scheer would axe CBC news
Conservative leadership candidate Andrew Scheer suggested that if he were to become prime minister, he would axe the news division of CBC.
“I think taxpayers are very frustrated by how much the CBC costs,” Scheer said in an interview with Hamilton Community News.
“I don’t know why this government is in the news business in this day and age with so many platforms with so many ways to disseminate information,” he told the paper, adding that, the government has a “glaring” conflict operating the CBC.
Read the full story here.
“I think taxpayers are very frustrated by how much the CBC costs,” Scheer said in an interview with Hamilton Community News.
“I don’t know why this government is in the news business in this day and age with so many platforms with so many ways to disseminate information,” he told the paper, adding that, the government has a “glaring” conflict operating the CBC.
Read the full story here.
CBC pension plan is flawed by design
In 2010, CBC employees contributed $26.9 million to their pensions, but $51.2
million was added by taxpayers. While the split is supposed to be 50/50, CBC has
chosen to ask taxpayers to fund the deficit without asking employees to contribute
more. To properly fund the pension solvency shortfall, the CBC, under normal
accounting rules, would be required to fund an extra $160 million each year over
the next five years.
The CBC pension is a mature plan: more than 9,066 retirees are receiving money from the plan but only 8,086 employees paying into it. Every employee fired from CBC increases the cash required from taxpayers to prop up a plan that is flawed by design.
Read the full story here.
The CBC pension is a mature plan: more than 9,066 retirees are receiving money from the plan but only 8,086 employees paying into it. Every employee fired from CBC increases the cash required from taxpayers to prop up a plan that is flawed by design.
Read the full story here.
CBC History Minefield
History is a minefield. Just ask the CBC, whose Canada 150 series, The Story of Us, has blown up in its face. The outrage is running high. With their blood still boiling after the Andrew Potter-McGill affair, Quebeckers say the French role in nation-building doesn’t get nearly enough play. On top of that, they’re incensed because the French fur traders and explorers are portrayed as scraggly ruffians with bad grooming. Major victim groups such as the Acadians are ignored (at least through the early episodes). The series is an insult to aboriginals, say some. Even the mayor of Annapolis Royal is upset because his town doesn’t get a mention, even though there was a settlement there. To set the record straight, he wants the CBC to do another episode – a prequel – presumably in time for tourist season.
Following the path of least resistance, the CBC’s president has now issued a craven apology to all those who were, are and remain to be offended by any errors of commission, omission, or lack of sufficient air time. Their numbers will no doubt swell beyond counting. The truth is that the poor old CBC was doomed the moment it commissioned the project. History is so contentious these days, and identity groups so aggrieved, that almost everyone was bound to be upset.
In fact, the series is so politically correct that it makes your teeth ache.
Read the full story here.
Following the path of least resistance, the CBC’s president has now issued a craven apology to all those who were, are and remain to be offended by any errors of commission, omission, or lack of sufficient air time. Their numbers will no doubt swell beyond counting. The truth is that the poor old CBC was doomed the moment it commissioned the project. History is so contentious these days, and identity groups so aggrieved, that almost everyone was bound to be upset.
In fact, the series is so politically correct that it makes your teeth ache.
Read the full story here.
CBC president Hubert Lacroix defends American programming
CBC president Hubert Lacroix has defended the Canadian public broadcaster’s use of American syndicated game shows as lead-ins to its primetime schedule.
Lacroix told webcast for CBC listeners Wednesday that Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, acquired from CBS Paramount International Television, are cheaper to program than homegrown shows, and “raise the awareness of the rest of our programming schedule.”
The CBC topper also rejected criticism that the Canadian public broadcaster is airing primetime fluff to bolster ratings in competition with rivals like CTV and Global Television that air mostly popular U.S. network series in primetime.
Read the full story here.
Lacroix told webcast for CBC listeners Wednesday that Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, acquired from CBS Paramount International Television, are cheaper to program than homegrown shows, and “raise the awareness of the rest of our programming schedule.”
The CBC topper also rejected criticism that the Canadian public broadcaster is airing primetime fluff to bolster ratings in competition with rivals like CTV and Global Television that air mostly popular U.S. network series in primetime.
Read the full story here.
Why should the CBC be any different?
In an editorial for Newspapers Canada, Canadian Newspaper Association chair Bob Cox argues that it’s pointless—and maybe even a little corrupt—for the CBC to be reorienting itself toward online services, precisely because doing so is a business-savvy move—so business-savvy, in fact, that privately owned newspapers are already doing it of their own accord.
“There’s no need to pour tax dollars into something the the private sector is already doing without a subsidy, unless the goal is propaganda,” he writes. There’s a certain logic to this. Much of what the government does is aimed at serving the public good in ways private enterprise can’t. Why should the CBC be any different?
Read the full story here.
“There’s no need to pour tax dollars into something the the private sector is already doing without a subsidy, unless the goal is propaganda,” he writes. There’s a certain logic to this. Much of what the government does is aimed at serving the public good in ways private enterprise can’t. Why should the CBC be any different?
Read the full story here.
CBC's The National managing editor removed
CBC has removed the new managing editor of The National, the third media leader in Canada to lose his job or step down over the past week after weighing in on the toxic subject of cultural appropriation.
Steve Ladurantaye, who had been tapped in March to oversee the reinvention of CBC-TV’s flagship evening newscast, was reassigned Wednesday afternoon, less than one week after joining a number of other Canadian media executives last Thursday in a late-night Twitter conversation in which he issued a tweet that appeared to express support for their idea of a so-called “appropriation prize.”
Read the full story here.
Steve Ladurantaye, who had been tapped in March to oversee the reinvention of CBC-TV’s flagship evening newscast, was reassigned Wednesday afternoon, less than one week after joining a number of other Canadian media executives last Thursday in a late-night Twitter conversation in which he issued a tweet that appeared to express support for their idea of a so-called “appropriation prize.”
Read the full story here.
CBC described as a predator
Canadian journalism is in the midst of industrial and market failure. Print and broadcast journalism are struggling to adapt to both the economic models of the digital economy as well as the media consumption habits of digitally-enabled citizens. Meanwhile, our small size, lack of VC funding, large presence of U.S. digital journalism companies, combined with the rise of Facebook, Google and the pernicious effect of the ad-tech industry has led to a market failure in the funding model for Canadian digital journalism.
As a recent Public Policy Forum report (for which we were research principals) argues, it is time that Canadian media policy adapt to the realities of the digital age. While much of the coverage of the report has focused on the establishment of a Future of Journalism and Democracy Fund, in our minds the most critical recommendation concerns the CBC – namely, that the CBC should begin publishing all civic journalism content under a Creative Commons license.
Rightly or wrongly, many people that we spoke to for this project, in both the traditional and new media, described the CBC as a “predator.” This should concern all proponents of the CBC.
Read the full story here.
As a recent Public Policy Forum report (for which we were research principals) argues, it is time that Canadian media policy adapt to the realities of the digital age. While much of the coverage of the report has focused on the establishment of a Future of Journalism and Democracy Fund, in our minds the most critical recommendation concerns the CBC – namely, that the CBC should begin publishing all civic journalism content under a Creative Commons license.
Rightly or wrongly, many people that we spoke to for this project, in both the traditional and new media, described the CBC as a “predator.” This should concern all proponents of the CBC.
Read the full story here.
CBC mandate must be revisited
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.
Government calls for CBC to be accountable ...
The CBC’s president says the public broadcaster will not use its $675-million windfall from Tuesday’s federal budget to restore what it lost through years of cutbacks, and will instead spend on current priorities such as digital platforms, local news bureaus and original programs.
But the CBC alone may not get to decide all priorities. The government has promised to hammer out a five-year “accountability plan” with the broadcaster.
Read the full story here.
But the CBC alone may not get to decide all priorities. The government has promised to hammer out a five-year “accountability plan” with the broadcaster.
Read the full story here.
Liberals Say CBC Mandate Would Include Promoting, Distributing Canadian Films
At a debate on the future of the arts industry, Liberal incumbent Stephane Dion said the party would temporarily add promoting and distributing Canadian feature films to the public broadcaster's mandate.
Dion said the CBC's role as a platform for Canadian arts and culture is "paramount," something he said was made clear during recent consultations.
"The role all witnesses at the hearings wanted the CBC to play in the distribution and marketing of Canadian feature films is something we'll put in the mandate of the CBC — not only the amount of money but we'll negotiate a mandate of five years," he said.
Read the full story here.
Dion said the CBC's role as a platform for Canadian arts and culture is "paramount," something he said was made clear during recent consultations.
"The role all witnesses at the hearings wanted the CBC to play in the distribution and marketing of Canadian feature films is something we'll put in the mandate of the CBC — not only the amount of money but we'll negotiate a mandate of five years," he said.
Read the full story here.
CBC has trouble understanding today's youth
Like many 70-plus Canadians, the CBC has trouble understanding today's youth. It's being left behind by changing technology and struggling to maintain its lifestyle on a fixed income that's been shrinking for the better part of three decades.
In 2007, a federal government report recommended that the "government of Canada commit to stable, multi-year funding for CBC/Radio-Canada." The Harper Conservatives not only ignored that advice but actually slashed the broadcaster's budget.
While Harper has proven he's no fan of the CBC, to be fair, kicking the corporation in the teeth is a bipartisan tradition that goes back decades to Brian Mulroney, but Jean Chretien did the most damage.
If anything, the fact that parties on both sides of the aisle seem united in their disdain for the CBC proves that the corporation is probably an institution worth saving, says Ian Morrison, spokesperson for the watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
According to Morrison, one of the big problems with the CBC is that its board of directors and president are government-appointed.
"There's a cancer at the top, and that is the political patronage system of its governance," he says. "It does not ensure that the best and the brightest are there."
Current CBC president Hubert Lacroix was a corporate lawyer with little experience in broadcasting or managing a large enterprise before his appointment, notes Morrison.
According to former head of CBC English broadcasting Richard Stursberg, who served under Lacroix for two years before he was sacked in 2010, Lacroix is no exception.
"It's interesting if you look back over all the presidents. I don't think any of them had a media background," says Stursberg. "I don't think most of them had ever run anything bigger than a bath."
Read the full story here.
In 2007, a federal government report recommended that the "government of Canada commit to stable, multi-year funding for CBC/Radio-Canada." The Harper Conservatives not only ignored that advice but actually slashed the broadcaster's budget.
While Harper has proven he's no fan of the CBC, to be fair, kicking the corporation in the teeth is a bipartisan tradition that goes back decades to Brian Mulroney, but Jean Chretien did the most damage.
If anything, the fact that parties on both sides of the aisle seem united in their disdain for the CBC proves that the corporation is probably an institution worth saving, says Ian Morrison, spokesperson for the watchdog group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
According to Morrison, one of the big problems with the CBC is that its board of directors and president are government-appointed.
"There's a cancer at the top, and that is the political patronage system of its governance," he says. "It does not ensure that the best and the brightest are there."
Current CBC president Hubert Lacroix was a corporate lawyer with little experience in broadcasting or managing a large enterprise before his appointment, notes Morrison.
According to former head of CBC English broadcasting Richard Stursberg, who served under Lacroix for two years before he was sacked in 2010, Lacroix is no exception.
"It's interesting if you look back over all the presidents. I don't think any of them had a media background," says Stursberg. "I don't think most of them had ever run anything bigger than a bath."
Read the full story here.
CBC listeners were misled
On May 3, HonestReporting Canada filed a complaint with CBC Editor-in-Chief Jennifer McGuire bringing our concerns to the CBC’s attention regarding a biased radio report it aired about the treatment and conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
On April 30 at 8:13pm, CBC Radio aired a report by Irris Makler on a hunger strike which has been carried out by hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, along with other Palestinians elsewhere in solidarity with the prisoners, and British students abroad.
Ms. Makler’s report noted that Israel’s Ofer prison has been a focus of the protests. Makler stated the following: “The hunger strikers are demanding better medical treatment, more family visits, and crucially, an end to Israel’s controversial policy of detention without trial.”
HonestReporting Canada contends that this CBC Radio report was deficient on two grounds:
- No context was given to explain that Israel contends that its prison system is in adherence to Israeli law and international standards
- CBC listeners were misled into thinking that Israel detains Palestinian “political prisoners,” not individuals incarcerated for terror-related offences
Read the full story here.
CBC criticized over digital news
The publisher of the Globe and Mail newspaper, Philip Crawley, told members of Parliament who are examining Canada's beleaguered news industry that the Globe's ownership isn't seeking "handouts or subsidies — but we do like to play on a level playing field."
"It's not level if taxpayer dollars directed to the public broadcaster make the competition for digital ad dollars more difficult. The CBC is the Globe's largest competitor in the digital ad space amongst Canadian-based media."
The Commons committee is examining the state of Canada's media industry, with a particular emphasis on how structural changes to the market created by the digital age have undercut local news reporting. It's a global, multi-headed problem.
Through it all, the CBC has been a frequent target of testimony at the hearings, which began last February.
"My colleagues and I in the industry do not support the notion that handing out more money to the CBC helps local or national newspapers," Crawley, who also serves as co-chair of The Canadian Press news agency, said Tuesday.
Read the full story here.
"It's not level if taxpayer dollars directed to the public broadcaster make the competition for digital ad dollars more difficult. The CBC is the Globe's largest competitor in the digital ad space amongst Canadian-based media."
The Commons committee is examining the state of Canada's media industry, with a particular emphasis on how structural changes to the market created by the digital age have undercut local news reporting. It's a global, multi-headed problem.
Through it all, the CBC has been a frequent target of testimony at the hearings, which began last February.
"My colleagues and I in the industry do not support the notion that handing out more money to the CBC helps local or national newspapers," Crawley, who also serves as co-chair of The Canadian Press news agency, said Tuesday.
Read the full story here.
CBC challenged on story in Venezuela
This is an opinion piece submitted to us following a story published by the CBC. They wanted to present a very different side to the story that the CBC put forward.
We welcome stories from our readers when they feel that the CBC has wrongly portrayed events in their opinion and want our readers to make up their minds when all sides of the story are presented.
___________________________
I was shocked when I read the tweet from a
Canadian news company, CBC https://twitter.com/CBCNews/status/859241139819483136
blaming the opposition for trying to stage a coup in Venezuela, my country.
Considering, as we all know, the statement from the Canadian
Government regarding Venezuela, this article left me a bit perplexed:
http://www.international.gc.ca/oas-oea/2017-04-Resolution_Venezuela.aspx?lang=eng
Venezuela is a rich country, although paradoxically dying of
hunger, lack of medicines, and social disregard by the government.
Ever since Hugo Chavez started governing my country, companies
were expropiated, private properties taken away from their rightful owners so
“the people” could use them. You can turn to the news and check what the
situation of those properties, then seized by the government is now:
Non-productive and abandoned because “the people” lacked the expertise to take
care of anything they were given, and in turn the government could not care
less, already having met its goal: it had already sent the message that it
cared for the less fortunate in Venezuela, but it was all a façade: it kept
making them poorer by the day. All Chavez pretended was to give the idea of taking
care of the less fortunate when all he wanted was power and riches.
Where Chavez did well was at making friends: He made sure all
his revolutionary neighbors had substantial help from him, giving oil at
ridiculous terms, mostly in exchange of loyalty. He used Venezuela as his
personal wallet. This fortuneless man ended up amassing one of the biggest
fortunes of Latin America. During his time in office, Venezuela started to be
known for drug traficking.
When Maduro arrived in power, his only merit was having been
appointed by Chavez. It was apparent that this clueless man with no studies had
an impossible task to accomplish: inflation ratse were soaring, the militias
were everywhere cand ontrolling everything. Day in and day out, much like his
predecessor, he claimed that somebody, somewhere was staging a coup d’état
against him, he accussed Spain, the USA, Colombia, any country could be guilty,
just seach on youtube: “Maduro Acusa”:
I could keep on adding links, maybe one per month ever since he
first sat in office, 4 years ago.
As everyone knows, drug trafficking has become a major issue in
Venezuela: two nephews of Venezuela’s first lady are awaiting sentence for drug
trafficking into the United States. Tareck al Aisami, Vicepresident of
Venezuela, is suspected to be a drug lord; he is actually facing many sanctions
from USA’s Government.
Another one of the big names in Venezuela is Diosdado Cabello,
he is a military man and a polititian. He was the President of the National
Assembly until Dec 2015 there are many reports on him for being a member of the
drug cartel “El Cartel de los Soles”
On January 17th 2017, Mr Cabello said that “No more
elections will be held, what we will have is even more revolution”
The government shows pictures of young masked students throwing
pebbles at national guards, they must have their face covered or else they go
detained just by being in the street. And if they throw pebbles or return the
gas bombs they are thrown at is only because they have no means of defending
themselves under the constant agression of the government and militia forces.
The government declares my country as a democracy. Yet why are
they even holding political prisoners and why do they forbid visits to them
from both their families and their legal representatives? There are documents
ordering the release of many prisoners and yet they are still incarcerated.
There is permission granted to Lilian Tintori to visit opposition leader
Leopoldo Lopez and yet she has not been able to see him for the las 32 days.
All Venezuela wants is Humanitarian help: food, medicines,
release and political rehabilitation of political prisioners, Peace and
Freedom. If violence escalates, we Venezuelans, hold the government
responsible.
The government calls it a revolution, talks about war. But we
say, war is when both sides are armed.
What I clearly see in Venezuela is GENOCIDE.
* I asked permission to a journalist, Pableysa Ostos, to post a
picture taken by her in Puerto Ordaz.
https://twitter.com/PableOstos/status/859811251354046464
Respectfully submitted,
Carmen F.
CBC in midst of identity crisis
People inside will tell you that, from day to day, marching orders change, priorities shift and budgetary restraints are slapped on and off like rusty handcuffs. Outsiders who deal with the broadcaster will tell you that, on any given day, the CBC appears to be quite good at one thing: internal confusion.
This identity crisis is rooted in its very DNA.
The Broadcasting Act, which guides the CBC, was last amended in 1991. This means the CBC mandate was forged in a year when Brian Mulroney was prime minister, the GST was introduced and the average Canadian surfed about 20 channels.
There were no DVDs, PVRs, on-demand video, satellite radio, content streams, smartphones, tablets, Apple TV, YouTube, Pandora, Netflix, Amazon or even the Internet as we know it.
As technology reshaped media, CBC TV has tried to be all things to all Canadians.
And it has failed.
Read the full story here.
CBC reports Venezuela's opposition trying to stage a coup
Pro- and anti-government rallies totalling hundreds of thousands of people jammed Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, on Monday.
Supporters of President Nicolas Maduro accused opponents of trying to foment a coup d'état, but opposition leaders promised to continue protests that have shut down major cities over the past month.
See the news report here.
BUT ... is there another story? Do you have a twitter account? CBC news recently ran this story on their twitter account (@CBCNews) and this is a sampling of responses to that story:
- A completely biased article!
They don't even bother to verify the information and sources before publication. Shame on @CBCNews - Again, @CBC and @CBCNews shamefully publishing pieces on #Venezuela that use pro-govt spin at every opportunity. Anyone paying attention?
- 1 more reply
- CBC where are you getting your news? This is so biased in favor of a regime that's killing its citizens you should be embarrassed.
- Tweet unavailable
- Hey @ReeseErlich Why don't you write about the arming of up to 500k paramilitaries "colectivos" to defend the revolution?
- People are being tortured for voicing their discontent against the dictatorship
- 1 more reply
- How the hell unarmed civilians can start a coup against a dictator who controls the army ?
- CBC just WRONG. Not opposition staging a coup but Marxist regime staging a coup against Venezuelan constitution and National Assembly.
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