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23 June 2006
Commentary
CBC needs to fight the threat
of privatization
Canadian
Media Guild | TNG Canada
Local 30213
By LISE LAREAU
It is time to get Canadians
excited again about public broadcasting, instead
of simply focusing on one problematic programming
decision. There is no question that CBC TV is taking
a direction that should be troubling to Canadians – and
is worthy of a national debate.
Our public broadcasting network
is now completely obsessed with ratings and revenue
targets, to the point that it is measuring the performance
of journalists who create news and current affairs
shows according to audience numbers. CBC TV has stooped
to using employees and audiences to make money. And
that means that it is not treating viewers respectfully
as citizens with a desire to know and be engaged
in the important isssues of our day. It is abandoning
innovative and, yes, distinctive programming that
doesn’t garner one million eyeballs
right away.
This is Wonderland and Da
Vinci’s
City Hall are gone, victims of the quest for ratings-above-all-else.
ZeD TV and Morgan Waters, two critically-acclaimed
shows for younger audiences, were also axed this year.
For now, CBC TV runs on a slightly
different business model from the private TV networks
in Canada. A big part of CBC’s government subsidy
comes directly from a parliamentary appropriation.
And there lies the kernel of public television. Private
networks, on the other hand, make do quite nicely
with subsidies composed of grants from the Canadian
Television Fund and tax credits, as well as from
regulations that allow them to simulcast U.S. fare
and reap the commercial rewards.
But it doesn’t take much imagination in this
political climate to figure out that the more CBC goes
down the commercial route, the more likely – and
quickly – it will be privatized altogether. As
the National Citizens Coalition – former home
of Prime Minister Stephen Harper – asked this
week, if CBC TV acts like a private network, why should
it receive any parliamentary appropriation? CBC brass
has not responded to that question yet. For Canadians’ sake,
and particularly for the sake of cultural workers in
this country, I hope they have a very good answer.
If CBC TV goes the way of a fully commercial network,
that will be the end of English Canadian programming
on the public airwaves in prime time. The private networks
have made it plain as day. It is not profitable to
run Canadian shows, even subsidized ones, when you
can simply, and more cheaply, buy the licence to run
a pre-made American show that will draw more viewers
and garner four times the amount of advertising dollars.
So, instead of just one American reality show pre-empting
the National, the CBC schedule could easily soon be
filled with crime procedurals (CSI and its clones)
and reality shows.
We must never forget that it is actually possible
to have a real public broadcaster in Canada. A Senate
committee has endorsed the idea. Most Canadians say
they want it. Many other countries have one.
But defeatism will not help us.
The NDP, the Liberals and the
Bloc Québécois
all voted last month in favour of a motion to “maintain
or enhance” parliamentary funding for public
broadcasting. The Conservatives voted against the motion
and have said nothing of substance on their plans for
the CBC. Canadians deserve to know what our government
has in mind.
In the meantime, the people in this country who support
the idea of public broadcasting, and can imagine the
possibilities beyond the current reality, should make
their views known whenever and wherever they get a
chance.
(This article first appeared on the Canadian
Media Guild website.)
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