I Miss The CBC

Supposedly Conservatives are all destined to hate the Mother Corp. I don’t.

I miss it, but knew I would, as I’m not an angry frustrated conservative who believes the CBC, and all other so-called “mainstream media” (the infamous MSM), are out to get my party or politics.

I was pleasantly surprised to find conservative-leaning Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente – Who needs the CBC anyway? Um, I guess I do misses intelligent broadcasting.

Good friends, good conservative friends, with which I share many ideas on policy often claim they’d love to dismantle the CBC, but privately I think some of them would agree with Wente, and me, that ’life without the CBC is a big wasteland’.

The CBC is pitched to people with a flicker of interest in the world and an IQ above room temperature, which automatically excludes a good half the population. It’s supposed to be specialty programming. It specializes in Canada. No private broadcaster will ever do that. As for ratings—well, if you want to find out where the hustle for ratings leads, just check out CNN. In between natural disasters, CNN is runaway brides from end to end.

Its true. There’s precious little to turn to for television news – we can have CTV pick up on ridiculous Friday File stories when there are items of bigger import that go begging for coverage. Forget trying to find any serious documentary or investigative journalism on the tube when the CBC is off air. Radio? A mixed bag; very regional. Occasional flashes of light here and there depending on the show anchors but trending to the US style – angry men, and the occasional women, harping on a subject over and over – propaganda style – for an hour.

Those that argue the CBC has political biases should be arguing for more funding, not less, for the institution. Make sure they are fully funded and can follow all the stories of importance to Canadians, both at home and around the world. Fully funded, and appropriately directed (but not dictated to), the CBC can ensure a broad range of voices get our ear and eyeball time.

I’d rather have a supposedly biased news organization that offers material of substance than the commercial alternatives alone without a public broadcast competition. Give us intelligent content – the people will figure out for themselves what makes sense and what does not.

Until management and employees come to their senses, you can get at print and audio content from locked out employees at www.cbcunlocked.com and www.cbcunplugged.com.