By Ray Rivers
December 5, 2014
BURLINGTON, ON
The good old Soviet Union used to control its media for the good of the Fatherland, strengthening national spirt and resolve, and helping its people feel good about their otherwise miserable lives. After all, the Soviet empire was the inspiration for George Orwell’s classic epic ‘1984’.
The moderately free Russian press in the post-Soviet years has virtually now disappeared, after a decade or so of Mr. Putin leading the nation. And last year, after Ukraine’s corrupt Russian-puppet president fled to Moscow, Putin’s propaganda machine went into action, especially in Crimea and the Dunbas, areas where significant numbers of Russian speaking Ukrainians live.
Those folks were warned about Ukraine’s Neo-Nazi’s taking over Kiev’s streets, banning the Russian tongue and committing unspeakable crimes. The bigger the lie, the more likely it will be believed. They say ‘communication is the answer’ but in Ukraine’s case, without a trusted national and bilingual (Russian and Ukrainian) broadcaster, there was no way to counter the lies and to communicate the truth.
CBC – the public broadcaster that covers the country in two languages.
Canada, the UK and the USA all have public broadcast networks funded in part by combinations of advertising, donations or license fees, and public funding. In Canada’s case the CBC gets about a billion dollars a year, about two-thirds of its revenue, from the federal government. For that the corporation operates a network covering the entire country in our two official languages, as well as in a number of aboriginal tongues where needed, to make sure we all get the news.
Our Harper government has been slashing the CBC’s funding but that is not enough for the critics of the CBC, who voice that the service should be spun off, privatized or sold. They would like nothing better than to see such drastic budget cuts until a poverty-stricken and handicapped broadcaster fails, opening more air space for others, like the mega-sized and horizontally-integrated Bell media giant. The recent Ghomeshi mess has played into their hands, casting doubts on the capabilities of senior management, and further disillusioning an already skeptical public.
A graphic that will be remembered by many in Burlington.
Objectivity and fairness used to be the two pillars of broadcasting. The US first passed the Fairness Doctrine in 1949, requiring balanced reporting in all national media. This centrepiece of US broadcast policy was upheld by the courts until 1987, when President Reagan killed the doctrine in the name of free speech. So today the majority of Americans listen to the Australian-owned (Rupert Murdock) extremely right-wing FOX news. ‘Fair and balanced’ is the ironic logo of FOX, which is anything but.
It is arguable whether public attitudes in the US have been influenced by FOX or its philosophically opposed competitor, MSNBC. But why would anyone be surprised that we are undergoing an evolution in our thinking? I mean, most Russians believe that current Ukrainian leaders, including their Jewish prime minster, are Neo-Nazi’s – say a lie enough times and anyone will believe it.
The mandate of the CBC, here in Canada, does not specifically require fairness but the assumption of objectivity is inherent, since primary funding comes from Parliament. It is common place for conservative-minded critics to accuse the media of holding a ‘liberal’ bias – an accusation that flies in the face of the abundance of right-wing media (Sun, National Post, CTV) and so many of the various CBC news folk themselves (e.g. Senator Pamela Wallen or Peter Kent). And no objective review of CBC programs or personalities has ever shown significant bias, liberal or otherwise.
Did Canadians get the information they needed during the Quebec referendum debates? If they did – they got it from the CBC.
Compared to the BBC, with federal subsidy (collected through mandatory household licence fees) of over six billion dollars, the billion federal dollars to maintain the CBC doesn’t seem outrageous. Our Prime Minister spent more than that just to host the week-long G-20/G-8 summit back in 2010.
And for that money the CBC is the largest broadcaster in Canada and the only one with a specific mandate to promote Canadian culture. Its reach extends internationally as well as across Canada – making the broadcaster Canada’s best global ambassador. The CBC production “Little Mosque on the Prairie”, for example, has been syndicated world-wide including in Israel, The West Bank and Gaza.
When in the grip of either of our own sovereignty crises, the two Quebec referenda, every Canadian knew, at least, that they were getting the straight and honest goods – consistently and accurately. The decisions they ultimately made at the ballot box were based on all of the information, not just some separatist propaganda. Worth a billion dollars? Well why not just ask the Ukrainians what they think?
Ray Rivers writes weekly on both federal and provincial politics, applying his more than 25 years as a federal bureaucrat to his thinking. Rivers was a candidate for provincial office in Burlington where he ran against Cam Jackson in 1995, the year Mike Harris and the Common Sense Revolution swept the province.
Background links:
CBC Factum US Fairness Dotrine US Freedom of Expression CBC Broadcasting
CBC Comment CBC Public Opinion CBC Information Ghomeshi and CBC BBC
Jack Fernihough; Liberal Propaganda Machine? Please. The CBC would just as soon uncover a Liberal scandal as Conservative one (think Sponsorship Scandal). One could almost say that you’ve heard the lie of the Right so often that you’ve come to believe it. Name calling gets us nowhere. The CBC is the best broadcaster in Canada, save Maybe TVO. WE can argue about value for money and by extension how much the CBC needs to do an effective job, that’s fair, but it’s logical that any media not driven by profits will be a better transmitter of news and information that all Canadians need, and want. The CBC represents the centre in Canadian politics, not the left. The centre is where most people reside.
The Sponsorship Scandal was 1996-2004 – quite a while ago. So kudos to the CBC if they did in fact “out” that story.
There have been plenty of other scandals since that have been non-reported, or under-reported by the CBC. Others have been over reported, and one commentor references the Bev Oda story of a very expensive glass of orange juice. The McGuinty era of 10 years was much ignored by CBC.
Fast forward – CBC had very meager reporting yesterday with respect to the the Ontario Auditor General’s report. Two articles, one telling us that a report was coming out today (more of a bulletin), and another with a synopsis of the AG’s report that was much more thoroughly reported by ALL other major news media.
Further, if the CBC really wanted to “just as soon uncover a Liberal scandal”, they would have taken the initiative to lift the lid on Jian Ghomeshi. Was it selectively omitted by whatever strange-powers-that-be that exist at the CBC? Mr. Ghomeshi would still be wooing his listeners today, if not for the Toronto Star. Let’s see if CBC takes the lead with the Benjamin Levin trial.
Great to see all you Liberals taxing and spending as usual. Not much on CBC either “entertains” or “informs” me better than any other network. They had me for while with Corner Gas. That’s about it.
Powerful transmitters? They all get satellite TV from Detroit in the “north”. That’s what they watch…the Red Wings. Holy cow, get into the 2000’s.
Things are more expensive in Canada ’cause we waste too much money. Oui Andre, c’est dommage pour nour autres qui doit payer pour celui.
As for Bill who gets his news from CBC and this website…broaden your horizons buddy. There are lots of other things to look at too.
We will get rid of CBC and sell it off to the private sector. We will. Count on it. Tick, tock,tick, tock.
Can’t wait till the discussion on LCBO.
Cheers!
The privatley owned media in Canada reflect the political bias of their owners. To claim that Sun News has unbiased reporting reflects more on your political views than your ability to recognize news over propaganda. As Ray has pointed out Harper has appointed former CBC reporters to the senate and others have been elected into Harper’s government, so the liberal bias is your perception rather than a fact.
Only CBC covers the entire country in both languages. CBC provides the only means for people in the far north to get news in their language. The CBC is a unifying force in our large and diverse country, we need to ensure it survives and is able to inform and entertain all Canadians.
Did someone claim that Sun News is unbiased? Sun News is biased. Metroland is biased. Globe and Mail is biased. The Burlington Gazette is biased. Ray Rivers is biased. I am biased. I’m pretty sure you are biased. The CBC is biased because, in my opinion, they practice selective omission in news reporting. Selective omission is a form of propaganda widely used by media for political or bureaucratic purposes. The CBC would be a more meaningful and worthwhile entity for Canada if they did not do that. It would contribute to a greater “free flow of information”.
Mandate and mission will be a balancing act for CBC. Is their mantra “Everyone everywhere” the mandate or the mission? The CBC needs to publicly define what its’ mission is in terms of news reporting/omitting.
Little Mosque on the Prairie and Murdoch Mysteries along will some other programs will have to substantiate themselves and stand on their own.
The CBC provides service (radio, television and internet and creates original content) to all Canadians of all ages, from St. John’s, to Iqaluit, to Yellowknife and Victoria and all places in between. I doubt any private investor could do it for less, or would even have such a vision.
I mainly get my Canadian news from the CBC via web and radio (and the Gazette for Burlington centric news!). I believe in having my information dispersed to me based on science and facts and without political bias.
With a budget of $1b on total expenditures of $276B (2012 numbers), that is $0.0036 (less than 1/2 of 1 cent) for every tax dollar sent into the Federal government’s coffers. That’s a pretty good deal.
What does $1B buy these days? It depends on who you are. Bev Oda could buy 62,500,000 glasses of OJ in London, UK at $16 per glass. That’s 2 glasses of orange juice per Canadian per year. I’d rather have the CBC.
CBC is a wholly, leftwing leviathan propaganda machine, which I resent paying for, completely.
Wow. Without the Liberal Propaganda machine soaking up 1 billion per year, we are not safe. Neither CTV, nor Global, nor radio nor newspapers can save us. Social media is too weak to help, obviously. Only the CBC can save Canada. Pay them the ransom or Putin takes over. Wow, Ray, wow.
Say it enough and you might believe it.
Where can one see this “objective review” where no bias was found? What Liberal was that review done by?
Also, one should deal in complete facts. PBS, in the United States, is government funded by less than 1/2 what the CBC sucks up in real dollars ($445 million vs $1 billion) while the population of the USA is 10 times greater than that of Canada. The direction is also to reduce gov’t funding for PBS. So, lets run with that and change CBC gov’t funding to the same as PBS, per capita. That would take CBC funding down to a little over $44 million or a NET SAVINGS to taxpayers of almost $960,000,000.
The savings? Gee, why not give me a tax cut before Putin gets here.
Wow… There will always be people who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Here is a fact: A valid comparison would compare apples to apples. The CBC is not comparable to NPR.
NPR’s operating costs are 5 to 7 times the $445M stated, so closer to $2.5B, or 2.5 times the cost of the CBC (I am taking Mr. River’s CBC cost numbers as fact.) True, the US government kicks in the $445M. The remainder of the funding is provided by individuals, private corporations and foundations (ie Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, Rockefellers etc.) The CBC does not canvas for donations.
For a numbers guy like yourself:
– There are economies of scale in the US, with their 10X greater population. (you remember Adam Smith?)
– A smaller geography allows them to use less hardware and less powerful transmitters
– NPR doesn’t create content in two official languages(!)
– Anything in Canada has historically been more expensive (why? Payments to the Queen? No one really knows.. and that too is a fact). Try pricing any vehicle in the US and Canada. It is more than a bit cheaper in the US. Or try buying a book. Check the prices in US and CDN on the back cover. Or check out your cell phone bill… C’est dommage for us.
It is the price of being a Canadian. You know, the people that are (in general) rational, have universal health care, know how to sharpen an ax, and look to places other than the US for examples of how to run a civil society.
Be proud of having something unique. Check out iTunes for the most popular podcasts. Many are from the CBC.
Ray:
How timely! Right now (Fri. Dec. 05) the CBC Toronto is hosting its annual open house and fundraiser for the Daily Bread Food Bank and you would not believe the participation. People show up as early as 1:00 AM in order to get into the Glenn Gould studio and watch the broadcasting of Metro Morning and all the other CBC shows during the day. There are literally thousands that come in all during the day to donate food and show their appreciation for our CBC. I am a big fan and cannot imagine getting my main news fix from anywhere else. They deserve the 1 billion in funding and perhaps, even more.
So good on you, Ray. I hope Stephen Harper reads this column.
John C.
Does the CBC give the Public $1 billion in value? No.
Does the free flow if information matter? Yes, but what is the correlation between the “free flow of information” and the CBC? Thankfully a broad base of other news media covers what the CBC selectively omits, or under-represents on a perpetual basis. The CBC has become a bureaucracy unto themselves, largely because of the way and to the degree in which they are funded.
CBCnewsworld or whatever name it uses now is so far ahead of CTV versions that there is no contest in my opinion. Only CBCnewsworld present an articulate cross party discussion of issues in Parliament. It is money well spent if we can keep Harper-Putin from controlling it to serve as a mouth piece for his plans. What Harper has done to scientific research disclosure is such a shame. I don’t think that Canada should be so smug as to think that it is only Putin who is hiding and twisting the truth about science. So far, he has not broken CBC’s new capabilities but with all the cut backs how long will this last? Comrade Harper will try very hard.