CBC and bias

[Black Dog]

For people who think Canada's public broadcaster is too biased....

Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News

Thank you, Bush. Thank you, U.S.A.," a jubilant Iraqi-American told a camera crew in Kansas City for a segment about reaction to the fall of Baghdad. A second report told of "another success" in the Bush administration's "drive to strengthen aviation security"; the reporter called it "one of the most remarkable campaigns in aviation history." A third segment, broadcast in January, described the administration's determination to open markets for American farmers.

To a viewer, each report looked like any other 90-second segment on the local news. In fact, the federal government produced all three. The report from Kansas City was made by the State Department. The "reporter" covering airport safety was actually a public relations professional working under a false name for the Transportation Security Administration. The farming segment was done by the Agriculture Department's office of communications.

...

Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.

This winter, Washington has been roiled by revelations that a handful of columnists wrote in support of administration policies without disclosing they had accepted payments from the government. But the administration's efforts to generate positive news coverage have been considerably more pervasive than previously known. At the same time, records and interviews suggest widespread complicity or negligence by television stations, given industry ethics standards that discourage the broadcast of prepackaged news segments from any outside group without revealing the source.

Federal agencies are forthright with broadcasters about the origin of the news segments they distribute. The reports themselves, though, are designed to fit seamlessly into the typical local news broadcast. In most cases, the "reporters" are careful not to state in the segment that they work for the government. Their reports generally avoid overt ideological appeals. Instead, the government's news-making apparatus has produced a quiet drumbeat of broadcasts describing a vigilant and compassionate administration.

Some reports were produced to support the administration's most cherished policy objectives, like regime change in Iraq or Medicare reform. Others focused on less prominent matters, like the administration's efforts to offer free after-school tutoring, its campaign to curb childhood obesity, its initiatives to preserve forests and wetlands, its plans to fight computer viruses, even its attempts to fight holiday drunken driving. They often feature "interviews" with senior administration officials in which questions are scripted and answers rehearsed. Critics, though, are excluded, as are any hints of mismanagement, waste or controversy.

[Digby]

I just returned from the sea ,was out trawling (no fish) .

But any way got a TV in the wheel house of my boat .and we was far enough from land that i only could get one channel on my tv ,and i forgot to take any movies .

Wouldn't you know it the one channel that would come in clear was the CBC . I set the Other night to make a 6 hour tow and watched the CBC for 6 hours strait .

What has happened has it been completly taken over by leftist homosexuals? For me ,watching 6 hours of the cbc was almost torture . The national news was ok but every other program was torture .

I was some glad when i got close enough to land to pick up a other chanel . Im going shoping today for a bunch of movies for next trip ,or else some good books .

[Black Dog]

What has happened has it been completly taken over by leftist homosexuals? For me ,watching 6 hours of the cbc was almost torture . The national news was ok but every other program was torture .

I guess you didn't get the memo. The leftist homosexuals are all in charge now. Report to your nearest RCMP detachment for transfer to re-education camp and mandatory gay marriage.

[Fortunata]

I guess you didn't get the meno. The leftist homosexuals are all in charge now. Report to your nearest RCMP detachement for transfer to re-education camp and mandatory gay marriage.

[Digby]

Why they need reeducation camps ? I thought that was what the CBCs Job was?

one program i watched was about teenage sexuality . they had a poor young 16 year old fellow on there with green hair who was trying to figgure out if he was gay or bi or strait . He had a girlfriend but not for sex . Was getting a little from strange men i guess .

This canadian idenity thing I think has gone a bit too far trying to stay unamerican . They have made a homemade culture that don't really exist.

[Fortunata]

This canadian idenity thing I think has gone a bit too far trying to stay unamerican . They have made a homemade culture that don't really exist.

Do Canadians really feel unidentified? Media like to glom onto this but Canadians, like me, are tired of the whole thing. I know who I am and what my place is in this country and where I would put Canada in the world. I don't think a couple standard phrases can encompass the range of ethnicities and ideals that we as a people have.

I just wish the media would leave it alone already.