A friend of mine and I have been having a difference of opinion about how truthful the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation really is.
She contends that they would never air stories that portray the powers that be in a poor light. My belief is that they generally (with some exceptions…) tend to be fair and balanced.
I decided to conduct a straw poll amongst a wide swath of people. I spoke to people with very, very different political stripes, hoping to see if I was really misguided in my belief. Amongst the group of them, there was a liberal organizer, a conservative pollster, an ex patriot American, a communist, a Brit, a member of the green party, and a person who voted for the Alberta separatist party.
To adhere with privacy legislation, and for the sake of maintaining friendships I have omitted names.
My thinking in speaking to these people was this: To get a better understanding of the CBC. What do these people really think? These are people that I trust, and having known them for years, I know they will tell me the truth. I insisted that they didn't hold back.
Without exception I got the same answers. Every single one of them said the same thing. In terms of news, the CBC does seem to report things in a credible, honest way.
They majority of them also agreed that the CBC is arrogant. (Of this I have no doubt…) the belief is that they tend to cater to an elitist crowd. (I totally believe this to be true…) They don't reflect the day-to-day tastes of the average Canadian. (Again… no argument here…)
However, to back up my belief that the CBC is not afraid of the government, and is willing to get to the heart of the matter, I submit the following little nuggets I have tripped over while scouring the net.
1) They are no friend to the liberal government, and if you really look back at their treatment of Chrétien it was rarely if ever flattering...
2) They hounded him over the sponsorship scandal, which (and this is important to note…) they broke to the public... and have been active in approaching key witnesses to get at the story with more depth.
3) They were constantly critical over the PMO during most of his tenure. In fact relations between CBC news and his office were so frosty, that it has been cited by some media consultants as one the actual reasons for CBC losing 36 percent of it's operating budget during his years as prime minister. Chrétien actually tried to legislate new controls over the CBC, and was forced to back down.
4) They chided him over his treatment of the "pepper spray incident" which was another story they broke.
5) They broke the story of his not attending the funeral of the King of Syria, and demanded to know why he went skiing instead. They were very direct in reporting this breach of protocol.
6) They broke the helicopter scandal.
7) They broke the Sgro scandal, and have maintained consistent pressure on her office. (Again not proving to be too liberal friendly...)
8) They were the first media outlet in Canada to point out that Martin had dropped the ball in the first few days of the Sponsorship scandal, and appeared to be in “over his head…”
9) They were the first media outlet in Canada to call into question any “conflict of interest” issues in Martin handing off his shipping company to his sons, while he was in office.
I agree that the CBC may have it's own agenda, but being the government's parrot is not one of them.
In fact, if you compare the CBC to Fox News, CBC looks like the bastion of balance. They have spent time with both conservatives and liberals alike. Legally, as part of their mandate, they are obliged to. They are also obliged to give them equal time. This doesn't mean they have to put up with someone as vicious as Bill O'Reilly, or Ann Coulter. (And who would really want to anyway?) No one should be allowed to fire their bigoted volleys at whom ever they choose on national television. (Although to the CBC's credit, they did offer O'Reilly a chance to defend his positions and he declined.)
I remember watching a political debate on CBC. They were very careful to not express any political affiliation. In fact, they were very good at getting the opinions of pundits representing every party. (Including the Greens and other fringe parties.)
Some people out west may argue that Stockwell Day got a bit of a public fucking at the hands of the CBC, but one could also argue that Stockwell did pretty good at doing it to himself. If you insist on making a buffoon out of yourself in front of cameras then, that's pretty much your own fault.
More than anything, I think the CBC has an image problem. It may be time to clean it up a little, and offer Canadians something a little more Canadian.
No comments:
Post a Comment