Topic
As CRTC scrutinizes public broadcaster, advocates say feds aren't delivering on promises.
Facing twin threats: CBC needs protection from defunding and privatization, say Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
After promising the broadcaster's budget was safe, the harsh truth came clear yesterday.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio and television licenses in French and English are up for renewal from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for the first time in 12 years. The hearings that began on Monday, Nov. 19 also cover other aspects of the CBC’s future, such as specifying how much of each broadcast day is Canadian content, deciding on prime time programming, and deleting the expectation of minimum broadcasts hours for children and youth programming.
Though the CRTC has no authority over the CBC's finances, an independent watchdog organization called The Friends of Canadian Broadcasting will use the hearings to highlight the gap between what the CBC is supposed to do and the money Parliament allots to it, and urge the CRTC to protect the broadcaster from the twin threats of defunding and privatization.
The Friends drafted a policy brief on the hearings which shows that despite promises from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, there is a 37 per cent gap between the increases in overall government spending and the CBC's decreasing portion of funding during the years 2006 to 2015.
The Friends' brief also says that the CBC has moved away from its cultural mandate in favour of more commercially successful programming, and should return to it, by putting Radio Two's emphasis back on classical music and by renewing English Television's commitment to 80 per cent Canadian content and to children and youth programming.
The CBC has suffered years of slashed funding and a loss of sports programming revenues due to the recent hockey lockout, putting everything from Hockey Night in Canada to Monster Math Squad in jeopardy.
Ian Morrison, the Friends' spokesperson, has been travelling across Canada this week. After attending the opening of the CRTC hearings in Gatineau on Monday, he attended a candidates meeting in Calgary on Tuesday, and attended another candidates meeting in Victoria on Wednesday, to be followed by a return to Gatineau on Friday to appear before the CRTC. He says that the CBC is a well-regarded institution across the country, and the Friends enjoy strong support nationwide, particularly in British Columbia.
'They have to keep cutting and cutting'
"Harper once told me, in a small crowd of people, that he didn't really like public broadcasting very much. I think he's constrained by public opinion," Morrison says. "Now that they're in a majority government situation, there are a number of back benchers who are putting forward resolutions to de-fund the CBC, things of that nature."
"A lot of the things that have happened are a combination of bad judgment at the top inside the corporation and the fact that they have to keep cutting and cutting and cutting, despite the promises of the Harper government, that they would maintain or increase funding." He views the system of the prime ministerial patronage system of appointing the CBC's board and president as "a kind of cancer."
"It's a little like the Republicans in the United States not liking PBS or National Public Radio," he says. "The neo-conservatives within the Conservative party think that the role of the government is national defence and things of that nature, guarding the borders, police, prisons, things like that. The don't understand the importance of investing in culture and innovation and things of that nature."
The funding issue influences the decisions about what kind of programming CBC will offer. Will it serve some ideal of the public good, or will it present commercially popular shows and advertising? Money "drives their editorial decisions. So, hockey, for example, has a huge amount of time, but children's programming does not. Commercial activity isn't neutral in a cultural and programming way."
"If it becomes excessively commercial, more than it is now, it becomes less distinctive and less worthy of the support of the public, so it's a kind of a death spiral if it takes that route. To dramatize that, we have said, as opposed to being a public service broadcaster it will eventually just become a private broadcaster that loses a billion dollars a year."
Forty years of funding decreases
The CBC's troubles have run deeper and longer than just the current Conservative majority government.
Richard Stursberg, former head of English services at CBC from 2004 to 2006, and author of Tower of Babble: Sins, Secrets and Successes inside the CBC (Douglas & McIntyre, 2012) says that for decades the CBC has actually been tortured with the death of a thousand cuts, with the worst coming under Liberal governments. "The CBC has not had any increases, it has only had decreases, in its permanent funding for 30 or 40 years. It's a very difficult situation."
At CBC, Stursberg had "a simple view. The only way that the CBC was going to survive and succeed was by making great shows that Canadians would actually want to watch... This is not a view that is necessarily widely shared. Where some people say the corporation should not be doing popular shows, it should be doing ballet on TV. I think that if it goes down that direction, then it will cut itself off from the Canadian public generally, who pay their taxes."
Stursberg oversaw a new wave of popular programming like Battle of the Blades, Dragon's Den, Little Mosque on the Prairie and The Border. He sees these as distinctly Canadian, even Dragon's Den, which he acknowledges was based on a Japanese format. "They're completely Canadian. They reflect our sensibility and our sense of humour, and Canadians love them."
Stursberg doesn't see "popular" and "commercial" as the same thing. "I never know what it means when people say, 'Make it more commercial.' I am not recommending that we sell the CBC. I am not recommending that we privatize it. I'm saying that what really counts is all these individual Canadians out there who cough up all this money for the CBC, [...] and it seems to me that we should be saying, 'What would you like that we have in programming?' I wouldn't call that commercial. I would call that fair, and I would call it sensible in terms of the very nature of the medium itself."
Source: Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
Stursberg says that the real underlying problem with both funding and content of the CBC is there is no agreement over what it should be or do. "When I say 'popular,' you say 'commercial,' and you say it in a kind of negative way. Many people do. That's not an at-all atypical view. Many people think that the CBC should be much more high minded than that. That's a big cleavage, and it's not unique to you. That's a cleavage throughout the government, throughout the population, throughout the history of the corporation. For the corporation to succeed, that matter must be resolved." Without a consensus on the corporation's purpose, there is no agreement over how it should be funded or what it should produce.
Stursberg also says he is surprised at the lack of media coverage of the CRTC hearings about the CBC, also citing the lack of coverage of the bankruptcy of Canadian publisher Douglas & McIntyre, which published his book. "I was struck by the fact that that they opened the hearings Monday, and they have about two weeks of hearings about the future of the CBC. For the first time in 12 years, we've had hearings about the future of the corporation. I opened up the major papers, and I read the Globe and the Post and the Star this morning. No mention. Something's going on here."
"It's very important that Canadians actually make their views known about it. I think it's very important that Canadians not sit passively and not do anything. I think it's really important that they write to the commission and that they write to the government and they tell people this is an important institution and that it should be well-treated and well-financed." ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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jozero
25 weeks ago
Who are these 'friends' ?
You what I see when I travel across Canada, or hang out with fellow Canadians? I see diversity, people proud of their past and proud of being Canadian.
You know what I don't see ? Folks turning up the Beethoven. If these Friends of the CBC are actually representing Canada perhaps they should look around a bit more. All it seems like is they are just pushing their own interests and pretending its a mandate from the people, or their dreamed up concept of a high minded Canada. They would be a lot more believable if they weren't pushing ideas like "putting Radio Two's emphasis back on classical music ". How about celebrating Canada as it is now, instead of how it was in 1965.
I love the CBC mix of programming on radio and tv. It celebrates Canada, from the NHL to Paul Kennedy's Ideas. Diversity is good, kind of reflects Canada no ?
alive
25 weeks ago
reality check
There are very few households in Canada without a CD player or better; should they prefer classic music they will no doubt already have it on disk, Ipod or whatever!
People tune in to get what is not available on the other stations, such as unbiased information and news updates.
CBC tends to go overboard on their "main story" and bore everybody to tears by repeating details with different reporters endlessly, and then skipping other news items to make up for the wasted time.
Keeping that clown hockey commentator on salary is a waste, he is an embarrassement to thinking people; likewise that grumpy Rex Murphy and his fancy vocabulary is overdoing it in the opposite direction.
Living on the west Coast it is a constant slap in the face that everything is as if only Ontario is a part of Canada!
Kevin the billionare sound like a bad politician never acknowledging concrete fact to interfere with his distorded opinions!
Too often the program goes blank and nobody bothers to get it back in service!
And we are paying for this?
Sounds like too many chiefs creating a mess, maybe get things working and then see if more funding is needed -- it is not meant to be a semi retirement heaven for artsy-fartsy dreamers.
woodworker
25 weeks ago
Let the friends support it.
I listen to listener support commercial free radio via the internet most of the time. Get CBC off the public dole and let their friends support them. They have become very irrelivant is today's world of satelite radio and internet streaming.
grapes
25 weeks ago
CBC Radio better than our government.
I attended a meeting with my local Conservative MP and from his comments I could see that he was not a fan of CBC. I myself like CBC radio. I do not watch TV but I listen to the interviews and other programs on the radio. I feel it united us as a country and informs me of things that I need to know. If you gave me a choice, to keep CBC or the Conservatives, hands down I would choose CBC.
Van Isle
25 weeks ago
Hello woodworker. Before I
Hello woodworker. Before I retired I use to work at times (for weeks) in isolated and semi-isolated areas. The only way for me to find out what was happening in this world was the CBC. Sorry, commerical radio just doesn't cut it for people who live and work outside populated area's. I find that certain people who live in the lower mainland have the Toronto syndrome; they think they're in the centre of the universe.
J Money
25 weeks ago
I tend to agree that the
I tend to agree that the Friends, while doing some very important work, does have some misguided views on a culturally-relevant CBC.
As a person in their mid-30s, their stance on Radio 2 (and Espace Musique) is ridiculous. Especially so with the format change on Espace Musique, never before has public radio been so relevant and so enlightening to listen to. Before Stursberg changed their formats, I only knew of one 70-year-old who listened to Radio 2. With the format change, most of my friends and colleagues now listen to these services. The array of Canadian and world music (especially on Espace Musique) is mind-blowing.
I'm fully cognizant of the dangers of a commercialised CBC. Having said that, in many (not all) ways, Richard Stursberg did the corporation a huge favour.
Bemoaning a five-year-old format change Radio 2 is not going to help the cause of Public Broadcasting.
carfreecity
25 weeks ago
dragons and pucksters
i don't miss the hockey games at all
this American dominated male bloodspot turns me off entirely;however, I do did tune in to the Olympic games
The CBC is employing those greedy dragons and some of them seem to be on the payroll twice
I want Kevin O'leary lynched.
Just as I became familiar with Mark Kelly, he was cut.
All across Canada there are fabulous plays being produced and hundreds of good films made. Why are they not shown on our CBC to keep us connected with each other?
A small nick to NHL team and company's salaries could produce a fair amount of programming.
Oh, no, that would be too socialistic wouldn't it.
schultzy
25 weeks ago
Supercilious CBC
CBC—love it or hate it—it’s still here,but nowhere near what it could be! I remember the original “This Hour Has 7 Days “program( just at the end of the last ice age)when investigative reporting and satire were the basis of this brilliant programing.Yes—the producers probably crossed the political ‘line’ too often—but most listeners ‘loved’ it. So what wrong with the listeners ‘loving it’? The government of the day had the power to order change but not the stomach to stand the chastisement (though likely warranted?).
I do listen to the ‘mushier’ pablum on local radio(where’s Jack Webster, Rafe Mair and some of the past local ‘interesting-challenging’ hosts)—Political correctness has taken us too far in the wrong direction.We’re afraid to offend and yet we still do—but less frequently;or maybe more discretely? (the open mike sometimes still catches us off guard).
Back to (CBC) Mother Corp.—Sometimes those annoying screaming ninny,inane commercials on local radio drive me to the CBC only to be greeted by some supercilious CBC’er—fortunately I do have Sirius in my car –so I can avoid road rage symptoms and carry on –I can listen to NPR—or even FOX(for laughs)—or nice quiet ,commercial free music of my choice(and yes I choose to pay for that service).
BUT I also pay for the CBC —approx. a billion dollars per year! What’s that costing each Canadian—approx. $300 per year—for the 10% or so of us that MAY listen, it means that the LISTENERS should be paying more like $3000 per year for their privilege!
So what to do---yes,likely the CBC has a purpose but being a mouthpiece for the ‘governing party’ is not I want to fund(we are mystified about CBC government guidelines for the CBC—apparently so are the CBC management!)—is the PBS formula a model?
Should CBC be allowed to disappear?—not likely.Tell our leaders to produce a proposal for public review and debate and then produce a budget and marching orders for CBC that mirrors what we want .Yes there will be times when ‘corrections’ may be required—but let’s at least start with a public review and new corporate mandate for Mother Corp!
Paul Forseth
25 weeks ago
They are now at a 10% cut
They are now at a 10% cut from the high point or 6.5 % down, since Conservatives took office. In the time of restraint, the top-heavy bureaucracy of the CBC could do with greater internal savings efforts. Imagine, if this organization had no subsidies, like their competition private broadcasters, just what internal discipline they would require. Anyone within the industry knows of the operational differences of largess in personnel and even equipment used, between the CBC and their private competitors. The only real accountability is the one from the marketplace for this type of enterprise. Technology has now permitted the ability to go to a full market driven enterprise, and the “mother-ship” thinking is now outmoded.
Booker
25 weeks ago
stop the cuts
We do need to increase the funding for the CBC to improve, but there also have to be improvements in its management. Too often it seems like a sinecure for aging broadcasters. Often it's just really dull and that doesn't do anyone any good. The CBC should focus on original programming and be fairly ruthless about cutting shows that viewers and listeners don't want. But, original programming is expensive (that's why private broadcasters mostly avoid it), so it needs proper funding.
Skywalker
25 weeks ago
The CBC suffers from too much political interference.
There is a lot wrong with the current CBC that only came about as the funds were being eroded. There is value in a national broadcaster that everyone has access to and without commercials is a real plus. Business should not be able to dictate content just by threatening to cut advertising nor should politicians be able to do that by cutting funding. Let the agency probe, investigate, satirize, report on events, etc. without interference. Cutting funding means we get the same pablum we now get from all the other networks. We get a rich loud-mouth, news entertainment, fluff pieces, as well as the west coast isolated as opinions from the west don't penetrate the eastern psyche.
A national broadcaster is worth it just look as the U.S.A.. The last thing we need is Sun News calling itself "news". Cut the milquetoast eastern commentators who have been at it far too long and change them once in a while. You don't need pundits drinking their own bathwater and thinking it is an opinion worth listening to.
Langley_Brian
25 weeks ago
Defund the CBC
Not sure which British Columbian's are being polled when Ion Morrison says that BC supports the CBC. I don't know anyone who likes the CBC in BC. The way HNIC has treated the Canuck's over the years with their bias slant against Vancouver and the rest of B.C. Also their is zero creative content on CBC that involves British Columbia. I believe the last show that was set in B.C. was Davinci's Inquest which was 7 years ago. Before that it was the Beachcombers 22 years ago. Personally I dont care anymore, I'm pretty apathetic about the existence of the CBC. I just don't believe some provinces should be paying for productions and other services in Toronto and Halifax.
freewilly
25 weeks ago
Local Television Satellite Solution (LTSS) program
A few local people in our village applied for the 'Local Television Satellite Solution (LTSS) program'. So if one has been recieving CBC by antannae for over 3 months they are eligible to recieve a box and dish. According to my friend he recieved the dish but no box, another person recieved nothing at all.
Seems like a generous program considering you will only get one station or maybe its a way for a cable company to seduce people into getting cable service? Hmmm Maybe thetyee could investigate.....
woodworker
25 weeks ago
classical music
Back in the day when CBC was the only radio station out in the boonies I would listen to the classical music on occasion and what it taught me was to hate it. The stuff they played was really really bad. Later I listened to some records borrowed from a friend and found some good stuff and learned to appreciate it. Good thing that CBC has mostly dropped the classical and did the music genre a favour.
Librarian
25 weeks ago
CBC 'starving' ?
I am an enthusiastic CBC follower, but there is no doubt in my mind that
it cannot continue to provide all the services it does. To whit -
Radio: 2 channels each in English and French, both AM & FM
Television: 2 channels each in English and French
CBC North
News Network
Bold
Documentary
Radio Canada International (RCI) - addressing the following languages:
English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Chinese, Russian
In order to do all this adequately is impossible on the funds Parliament provides. Hence, the outrageous amount of advertising and self-promoting fillers we are subjected to on the television networks. Cutbacks of some kind are inevitable if the CBC feels all of this is necessary. I don't. Couldn't we lose some of this coverage and perhaps shorten the broadcasting hours?
And, for sure, stop miring itself in the ratings wars that commercial media feels it must address?
freewilly
25 weeks ago
@Langley_Brian
'Not sure which British Columbian's are being polled when Ion Morrison says that BC supports the CBC. I don't know anyone who likes the CBC in BC.
Dude you must hang around with some pretty dull people.
Starting with CBC radio 1, we rely on it. Its the only station we recieve in our small remote village. And if anyone says oh you can listen to stations on the Internet, we pay a high price for our bandwidth unlike people in the lowermainland.
I like Stewart McLean, The irrelivant show, Ideas in the evening, Quirks and Quarks, the news, I love most of it. If I need to know what is going on locally on the Island. CBC is it.
CBC TV has created some of my favourite gems, the beachcombers, Codco, Kids in the Hall, this hour has 22 minutes, Twitch City on and on and on. So many great artists, actors, musicians and comedians have been nurtured and groomed by the CBC. Theres way too many great documentaries and science shows to mention. The DOc Zone, Nature of things
Heres a list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programs_broadcast_by_CBC_Television
I remember Pierre Burtons National Dream, a series that opened my eyes. I wish they would bring back some of these programs
Anyone who is apathetic about the CBC is just plain apathetic or isnt paying attention to media. CBC has done a good job of being something to all Canadians and promoting canadian talent. This is a big country with lots of different tastes. Long live the CBC!
Rolly-polly
25 weeks ago
uh
"I listen to listener support commercial free radio via the internet most of the time. Get CBC off the public dole and let their friends support them. They have become very irrelivant is today's world of satelite radio and internet streaming."
CBC has the HIGHEST ratings for their radio news in the country and provide a valuable service.
Dannyboy
25 weeks ago
They should be embarrassed
Any tv network that proclaims "Republic of Doyle" as a bold prime time must see tv event should be put out it's misery.
Frank
25 weeks ago
Its the other way around
There was a time when Canadian private broadcasters were necessary, but that time has come and gone.
Paul Forseth thinks private broadcasters do a great job yet the only thing they do is buy American shows and put them on here and then complain that people are able to watch the American channels they air on.
What is the point of CTV, Global etc when we can simply tune in ABC, NBC, CBS etc. Almost everyone has access to the American channels.
The CBC is the only broadcaster that has Canadian content.
Whenever anyone wants to know what's going on in Canada they turn to the CBC. The private broadcasters are nothing but fluff, they should have their liceneses revoked on the basis they haven't done anything meaningful in 30 years.
Frank
25 weeks ago
CBC
As for the CBC itself, I'd like to see them return to commercial-free kids programming from 8am to noon. Get the rights to the CFL back so those who don't get TSN (and that's a lot of people) can watch Cdn football.
And get rid of Kevin Leary, Rex Murphy, Andrew Coyne, Peter Mansbridge and all the other right-wingers hypocritically living off public dollars. The news part of CBC is way too right-wing and doesn't reflect the biases of the country.
Skywalker
25 weeks ago
Any TV network that runs...
...shows like Jerry Springer, Steve Wilcos, Maury, Popoff, survivor, and a host of other useless reality show like locker wars, pickers and such would do well to replace them with a Republic of Doyle or two. The private networks have nothing to show the CBC.
I agree with Frank. The CBC needs to stop trying to put on the same stuff the the American networks do when it comes to news and political panels. Kevin O'leary is our Donald Trump a man too much money and too big a mouth with too little a brain. We don't need that. More and more the CBC has developed an eastern focus and they seem to think Canada ends east of the Rockies. Much of this has to do with the continuous cuts in funding.
I remember the CBC when it was the station I had on all day and enjoyed it. Peter Gzowsky and the three wise men were great to listen to and there has not been a program like it even though they have tried but each time they try to cater to the younger crowd it comes of a dumber and superficial.
Feverish
25 weeks ago
Q
The program 'Q' alone makes CBC worthwhile. Add in the current, the Sunday edition, quirks & quarks, as it happens, wire-tap, spark, ideas, vinyl cafe, tapestry etc and we get one hell of an informative, thought provoking and entertaining list of nation-wide programs. (Can't figure why 'dispatches' got cut)
These programs provide perspectives that we can appreciate & savour and allow for more empathy to take hold in our diverse and extremely complex world. The CBC is a very important tool in hi-lighting the values of others in a way that helps all of us understand the people that populate our country and our planet.
TV is reliant on the visual where radio allows for, and requires, deeper contemplation. There are some top quality science, doc, sports and comedy programs on TV also, but the proportion of fantastic programs on Radio 1 make it the jewel in the crown corporation.
And then of course there is CBC music! If you have not discovered this on-line service yet, you are missing out. If all others go and we are left with R1 and CBC music, we will still be culturally richer for their vital contributions to our collective, national personality.