CBC disappointed Canadians in NHL hockey deal

Whether one sees the cloudy future of the CBC as a source of deep angst or schadenfreude depends very much on one’s position on the partisan spectrum. What is clear, however, is that most Canadians agree on the source of this recent trouble for the CBC – the blockbuster deal between the NHL and Rogers. Let’s have a quick look at how the public saw that deal.

We asked Canadians about Rogers Communications Inc.’s $5.2 billion broadcast deal that effectively gives them exclusive rights to all NHL games for the next 12 years. In short, Canadians are most decidedly opposed to the deal and they foresee dire consequences for the future of the CBC.

Read the full story here.

CBC Needs Direct Funding from Its Audience

What does the future hold for our national broadcaster, which provides taxpayer-supported radio and television programming to Canadians across the country?

What we need to do is introduce a new culture of financing that would make Canadians realize the importance of supporting the public broadcaster's core mandate. Indeed, an organization tends to become much more responsive to the needs of its stakeholders when it has to ask for their support.

And what is that core mandate? It's not to produce variety shows, game shows or talk shows, which even when they are produced in Canada are largely a matter of entertainment, an area already amply supplied by private broadcasters. The crown corporation should concentrate instead on what the private sector cannot do, and refocus its efforts on the promotion of Canadian cultural and public affairs content. If it does that, and lets the private sector take care of the rest, there's no reason to fear for the future health of our streamlined, viewer-supported public broadcaster.

So by all means, let's save the CBC together. But let's make it a leaner, refocused CBC, and let's save it by having viewers fund it directly.

Read the full story here.

CBC report called inaccurate and ridiculous

The government of Canada is calling a CBC report that it is threatening to bring hate crime charges against advocates of a boycott of Israel “inaccurate and ridiculous.”

The CBC, however, is standing behind its report, saying “our reporter and our editors thought it was a strong, original story.”

On May 11, CBC ran an article on its website by veteran TV journalist Neil Macdonald, the network’s senior Washington correspondent and its former chief Middle East correspondent based in Israel, under the headline, “Ottawa threatening hate charges against those who boycott Israel.”

Honest Reporting asks the CBC to cite a specific statement by a government minister calling for use of the hate crimes laws against boycotters.

Honest Reporting noted that following its complaint, the headline on Macdonald’s article was changed to read, “Ottawa cites hate crime laws when asked about its ‘zero tolerance’ for Israel boycotters.”

Read the full story here.

CBC is wasting more of your money on brainwashing

Sheila Gunn Reid of The Rebel.Media reports: 

I have bad news and good news. 

The bad news is, CBC is wasting more of your money on brainwashing. 

The good news is, they’re brainwashing themselves rather than everybody else for once. 

According to the government’s open tenders website, CBC is looking to hire someone to help them with their “unconscious” bias towards various minorities and identity groups, but is that really where the CBC’s obvious bias problem exists?

Check out the Rebel Media here.

CBC runs story smearing University professor

CBC runs a story smearing University of Saskatchewan professor for alleged ties to Monsanto.

As universities encourage researchers to collaborate with industry, activists are looking to discredit academics they declare to be compromised. This week, an American anti-GMO activist organization, U.S. Right to Know, convinced someone at CBC that University of Saskatchewan professor Dr. Peter Phillips has been compromised by Monsanto.

Many in the academic community have leapt to the support of Dr. Phillips, saying he has not done anything wrong and has been fully transparent with his association with the seed company.

Some of the allegations would be considered a head scratcher in terms of their level of seriousness.

Read more here.

CBC president compares Netflix to colonial imperialism

There are parallels to be drawn between the growing influence and availability of Netflix programming around the world and the colonialism of the British and French empires, CBC president Catherine Tait said Thursday.

Tait compared Netflix’s rise across the globe to the “beginning of a new empire” during her appearance on a panel organized by the Canadian Media Producers Association in Ottawa, alongside Stephane Cardin, Netflix’s director of public policy for Canada.

She admitted that Netflix’s rise has contributed to today being “probably the most exciting time for screened entertainment … so for this, we are very grateful to Netflix.” But, she warned, a foreign company taking up an increasingly larger role in a country’s cultural industry comes with a price.

“Fast forward to what happens after imperialism and the damage that can do to local communities,” Tait said. “So all I would say is, let us be mindful of how it is we as Canadians respond to global companies coming into our country.”

Read the full story here.

Is the CBC giving us $1Billion dollars worth?

There has been much written about the declining media presence in this country, paper-thin newspapers, all struggling for survival. Video supplanting the written word, the truism of a picture being worth a thousand words is now being fully tested.

Monies that used to be spent in covering detailed stories, are now being spent on staged newsrooms, filled with massive monitors, all to give an impression of being technically advanced, cutting edge, trying to appear more like NASA’s control room.

Which leads into the role in Canada of the CBC in all this, the government funded Liberal backed and supported Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

This tax payer funded agency in 2016/2017 had a budget of $1.09 billion.

66% of that funding comes from government, which of course means the taxpayers. Only 8% comes from subscribers and a paltry 18% from advertising. They do not need to play by the same rules of fiscal responsibility when it comes to reporting of the news. The government-supported CBC does not have to compete on a level playing field with the privately held television networks, or the newspapers. They have the advantage.

The CBC survives only because they are funded. And generously funded. They have lost their way, they have lost sight of the rules of honest journalism. What is covered in terms of news is often just the regurgitated stories of other news agencies.

Read the full story here.

CBC Corrects False Neil Macdonald Claim

Once again, Neil Macdonald has spread mistruths about Israel, abetted by the CBC News website. Once again, HRC has caught him in the act prompting the CBC to issue a “clarification” for his falsely claiming that Israel restricts food aid to Gaza.

On March 10, Macdonald penned a column on CBC Opinion entitled: “Anti-BDS laws are more than words. They are a legal attempt to punish a passive act” where Macdonald erroneously wrote the following:

Washington, for example, was furious when Venezuelan troops blocked foreign food shipments and shot protesters, but regards Israel’s blockade of foreign food aid to Gaza and its troops shooting Gazan protesters — which Israel defends on security grounds — as completely justified.”

Contrary to Macdonald’s claims, Israel doesn’t block foreign food aid to Gaza. It enforces a UN-approved legal maritime blockade of Gaza as Hamas transfers weaponry to Palestinian terrorists. Israel regularly transfers thousands of tonnes of food aid on a weekly basis to Gazans. The aid just has to be screened for security reasons by Israel.

Read the full report here.

CBC News recognized the errors its journalists made

On January 21, HonestReporting Canada contacted senior CBC News executives to inform the CBC that on January 19, CBC TV and Online both erroneously reported that Conservative leader Andrew Scheer had pledged to move Canada’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Instead, Scheer repeated his pledge of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. With regards to moving the Canadian embassy to Jerusalem, the Conservative Party of Canada says that matter will be considered should the party form government.

CBC Online erroneously reported the following: “He (Scheer) reiterated his pledge to move Canada’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and said the Conservatives could appeal to young people by fighting for “free speech” on university campuses and changing mortgage rules to make it easier to buy a home.”

In light of this information, we asked CBC News to broadcast an on-air and print correction to remedy these important errors.

We are pleased to note that CBC News has been cooperative and has recognized the errors its journalists made.

Read the full story here.

CBC Radio Airs One-Sided Report

On the morning of February 28, CBC Radio aired a grossly one-sided anti-Israel report about UN investigations of riots at the Gaza-Israel border.

This report was unfair, unbalanced and was certainly one-sided.

The CBC report did not acknowledge Israel’s perspective ...

Read the full report here.

CBC struggles to land its jokes

The CBC—once the home of world-class comedy—now struggles to land its jokes. And with more competition than ever before, it’s losing its place in the cultural firmament.

It wasn’t so long ago that the CBC was known as the Canadian home of strong satire and sketch.

But now, when Canada needs a compelling comedic voice more than ever, the CBC’s output has largely grown stale and irrelevant.

CBC Comedy’s Twitter account has around 5,300 followers, and many tweets linking to their written comedy, like “Big reveal at gender reveal party is that no one wants to be there whatsoever,” lack a single reply or like. It’s the Internet equivalent of a tumbleweed. There have even been campaigns to kill CBC Comedy, suggesting it’s a poor use of taxpayer money.

As it currently exists, the CBC gives talented creators little incentive to write anything better and smarter. It’s time to stop coasting off of legacy work, establish a clear direction, recognize comedians as artists, and properly promote those artists through social media and streaming services. Until they do, Canadians will rightfully continue to ignore CBC Comedy in favour of the many superior alternatives.

Read the full opinion piece here.

Union membership at odds with CBC Management

This year has a lot in store for us as media workers at the public broadcaster, and as members of the Canadian Media Guild (CMG). Our union’s membership numbers were stable last year at CBC/Radio-Canada owing to additional government funding from the Liberal government after decades of cuts.

Our union told the Corporation at our last corporate steering committee (a joint union-management meeting) that, given the cuts of previous years and rising workloads, we want to see the new public funds invested to support our members and the work we do, through an increase in unionized jobs at the public broadcaster.

CBC management made a submission to the CRTC consultation last December repeating a desire to move to an ad-free model in return for additional dollars in government funding. The suggestion that this approach would be an economic benefit to other media companies is far from persuasive and appears, in any case, to be a misplaced focus given the numerous changes we are currently experiencing in the media landscape.

The fact is that such a shift would remove a valuable funding stream. CBC needs as many funding tools as possible until there is a major, well-thought-out adjustment in our funding model.

An advertising-free model would also affect hundreds of our members at CBC, not only in Revenue and Media Sales but also in many other departments that interact with them. The effect would be to shrink CBC even further.

Read the full report here.

CBC article was a purposeful and blatant attack on the Jewish state

At the end of my recent sabbatical in Israel, I was sent a CBC article that featured a beautiful photograph of my son, Yonah, in his IDF uniform. At the top of the piece were a number of meaningful quotes about why he chose to become a lone soldier. It seemed like a good story.

But as I read on, I became confused, chagrined, angry and sad. I found myself screaming within. Tears were falling down my face. Innuendos, partial truths, vicious lies, slander and propaganda were hitting me from all directions.

It is fair and understandable for one to honestly challenge a specific policy of Israel’s in the context of loving Israel. But, in my opinion, the CBC article was a purposeful and blatant attack on the Jewish state.

Read the full story here.

CBC is growing obsolete and people favour other sources

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.

Not only are CBC employees overpaid, their performance has been questionable. Their advertising revenues have fallen 32 per cent in just the last year, and 12.2 per cent annually for the past five years. Those five years may have been difficult for the industry, but private broadcasters saw annual declines of just 1.7 per cent. On account of CBC's consistent decline, taxpayers provided 68.5 per cent of funding in 2015.

Read the full report here.

CBC Produced Appalling Coverage

Though Israel won widespread praise for its leading role and brave humanitarian efforts in the daring rescue of hundreds of individuals associated with Syria’s White Helmets, our public broadcaster, the CBC, produced truly appalling coverage that maligned Israel’s efforts.

Amazingly, though media outlets wide and far prominently acknowledged Israel’s integral role in the dangerous rescue mission, a CBCNews.ca report on July 22 failed to even mention Israel’s efforts at all.

Read the full story here.

The Rebel Bests CBC News

The Rebel now has 300,000 YouTube subscribers — more than CBC News.

CBC News — the folks who get $1.2 billion from Justin Trudeau each year — have just 221,000 YouTube subscribers. That’s a government subsidy of $5,400 per subscriber, per year.

Read the full story here.

CBC reinterprets its mandate every few years

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. Yet, CBC/Radio-Canada seems frozen in time.

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. The viewership for its English service in particular has reached new lows. To stay relevant, it reinterprets its mandate every few years, going from crisis to crisis.

Read the full speech here.

CNN trumps CBC

The Atlanta-based U.S. cable news network has seen ratings soar in Canada in the run up to the presidential election, “Trumping” the competition.

For the final presidential debate on Oct. 19, CNN saw its share of Canadian viewers climb above the 1.5 million mark in overnight estimates. Broken down into half-hour periods, CNN pulled an estimated 1.2, 1.3, 1.5 and 1.1 million viewers between the hours of 9:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. ET.

That dwarfs the overnight estimates registered by CBC News Network, which drew 428,000, 400,000, 300,000 and 194,000 on the same day and times.

Read the full story here.

Why The New CBC 'National' Flopped

10 Reasons Why The New CBC 'National' Flopped: It feels disjointed and disorganized. It feels chaotic.

#10 - It didn't blow me away. And, with their ratings plummeting ever-downward, it needed to. The new and improved "National" looked like the tall foreheads at CBC didn't want to make any actual decisions — about one anchor, about one format, about one feel to it all — so they just threw everything into the blender, and are expecting us all to consume the results.

My hunch? We won't.

Read all 10 reasons here.

Justin Trudeau's CBC and State Funded Propaganda

Trudeau's government is increasing the already heavily bloated funding to levels that are completely obscene. Hundreds of millions in tax dollars are being funnelled to an organization that refuses to provide quality fact-based journalism. 

The CBC has become nothing more than a tool for the Trudeau Liberals to pump dangerous and divisive identity politics into our culture. We are being forced to fund the destruction of our own society.

Read the full story here.