"The government-controlled CBC" tells Harper to back off

[On Guard for Thee]

Ah, another patriot who wants somebody else to pay for his entertainment.

I'd be even more patriotic if I could get somebody else to pay my taxes.

[overthere]

I agree that we need a new business model for the CBC. Instead of criticizing what we now have, let's come up with innovative, creative ideas to make us proud of the CBC. I posted something in another thread a while ago about suggestions for improving the CBC but sadly, no one offered any suggestions. We are so very quick to criticize, but we lack the ingenuity and creativity to offer up suggestions for improvements.

I did offer suggestions, but I don't think that CBC supporters can objectively look at the entire premise of public broadcasting in Canada in the new millenia.

It's the same old Canuck meme; we just cannot have a mature discussion about what we think are our institutions, no matter how utterly shitty they may have become. Health care is another example, maybe worse than CBC since it is more important to each of us. We cannot speak of either without hysteria.

So we all understand the 'nationbuilding', advanced technology that radio waves represented in Canada in the 1930s.

TV was groundbreaking stuff in the 1950s.

I get that Foster Hewitt and then Don Messers Jubiless brought us all closer together for a group cuddle, made our vast country smaller.

But the world has changed. What is the purpose of CBC TV today? What justifies spending a billion per year on a TV network that very, very few of us watch? Network TV, including the CBC, is not doing well at all anywhere. What is it about the CBC that makes it worth so much to so very few who actually watch it?

[Spiderfish]

You're claiming they're partisan. That's something you can prove by showing partisan bias with examples, studies, anything... Feel free to prove me wrong.

Vote compass wasn't exactly a shining example of neutrality.

[Topaz]

Apparently if CBC keeps going on the same path it going to disappear altogether. I know some Canadians would like that but then we may have on US broadcasts filling our minds. In the next five years 1500 more people are going to lose their jobs. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/06/26/cbcs_leaders_bring_it_to_the_brink_of_an_existential_crisis_burman.html

[cybercoma]

It's really unfortunate because few other news corporations in Canada go into the kind of depth and detail that CBC's investigative journalists do. No other company has the local coverage that CBC has across the country. And CBC is a great platform for Canadian talent to present their work, which might otherwise be lost in the crowd.

On the last point, I know some people think that the arts should be based on capitalist ideals alone. However, there's value in some things that don't sell well, e.g., a documentary film that exposes problems or creative out-of-the-box art that's not yet mass consumed. More importantly, the CBC's mandate was to protect Canadian culture. It's a damn shame what's happening here.

[Michael Hardner]

the CBC's mandate was to protect Canadian culture. It's a damn shame what's happening here.

It is a shame, but I'm taking heart in the idea that they are looking to re-invent themselves. I think I heard the term digital platform being used.

This isn't about the CBC dying as much as it is the death of old media - look at newspapers, network news and radio they're all shrinking. The next thing we can anticipate is major changes to how democracy works, and to my mind for the better.

I have been saying this for awhile now: the current model is built around TV advertising - the democratic feedback system, the funding models, how issues are discussed... and when that changes everything will change.

[Michael Hardner]

Apparently if CBC keeps going on the same path it going to disappear altogether. I know some Canadians would like that but then we may have on US broadcasts filling our minds. In the next five years 1500 more people are going to lose their jobs. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/06/26/cbcs_leaders_bring_it_to_the_brink_of_an_existential_crisis_burman.html

I understand what Burnman is saying but funding is back to where it was around 2000.... we can still maintain a CBC at those levels. Plus, I think they are prioritizing news which I think is the most important thing.

Budget cite:

http://www.friends.ca/blog-post/10120

[Michael Hardner]

Also - I don't like the Canadian idea that everything we do needs to be preserved like a museum mummy.

Example: Mr. Dressup's glasses are being thrown away ! Nooooo ! They're so iconic ! Have the government buy them and put them in a glass case for future generations to wonder what they are !

The CBC did something great with CBC3 online a few years ago by giving a group of young, supersmart, talented people a small budget to create something great and they did it. The CBC needs to do more small budget experiments to breed projects that are truly relevant to Canadians and that strengthen our culture by looking forward and having the courage to be relevant.

[bush_cheney2004]

The CBC is collapsing like any other state/government controlled broadcaster that can't maintain an audience or political support. It is abandoning content production as a long lost cause given better domestic and international options and distribution channels. Its charter mission, to keep the American media hegemon at bay, is no longer relevant.

[waldo]

and once more, the purposeful wording used simply to incite... done for the brazillion time!

again... when is the CBC, just... the CBC?

is there a particular reason you continue to incessantly label the CBC as "state controlled"?

[On Guard for Thee]

The CBC is collapsing like any other state/government controlled broadcaster that can't maintain an audience or political support. It is abandoning content production as a long lost cause given better domestic and international options and distribution channels. Its charter mission, to keep the American media hegemon at bay, is no longer relevant.

You still think the CBC is state controlled. What are your thoughts on UFO's I wonder? We could use a few laughs.

[overthere]

It is a shame, but I'm taking heart in the idea that they are looking to re-invent themselves. I think I heard the term digital platform being used.

This isn't about the CBC dying as much as it is the death of old media - look at newspapers, network news and radio they're all shrinking. The next thing we can anticipate is major changes to how democracy works, and to my mind for the better.

I have been saying this for awhile now: the current model is built around TV advertising - the democratic feedback system, the funding models, how issues are discussed... and when that changes everything will change.

Agree about old media- and network TV is rapidly become a museum piece..

The mainstream networks like NBC, ABC, CBS are also in big trouble, even though they aren't burdened with much of the parochial nonsense and silly instituionlization dumped on the CBC. That ship is sailing, viewers aren't watching destination TV much anymore, and the old school networks supported by 15 minutes of ads every hour are just not going to survive. That includes CBC.

Why would advertisers pay hundreds of muillions of dollars to produce and broadcast ads that everybody simply fast forwards through?

Answer: they won't. Buh bye traditional network programming.