The Liberal government annnounced members of a new adivisory panel Monday to “provide policy advice on how to strengthen and renew the public broadcaster so it can continue to fulfill its important social, cultural and democratic functions.” It includes two professors (one from California, one from Quebec), the chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, the head of a B.C. video-game industry group, a Quebec TV executive, and two independent media executives — one from a business publication, the other publishing LGBT content.
But CBC veterans and media observers predict the CBC will inevitably remain tethered to the status quo as it slides toward irrelevancy. And, in any event, it maybe too late now to make substantive changes as it runs head-long into a potential Conservative government that wants to pull the funding plug on the public broadcaster (or at least its English television programming).
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“This is a great idea, but I think it’s too late. The timing, as usual with the Liberal government, is always out of sync with what the country needs,” said Jeffrey Dvorkin, whose long career at the CBC included a stint as managing editor and chief journalist.
The panel has been tasked with providing advice to the public broadcaster on its governance and funding, reporting to Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, who has said she wants to modernize the CBC/Radio-Canada and adapt to a “rapidly changing broadcast and digital landscape.”
The review may have more basic goals in mind, such as securing multi-year funding that could make it trickier for Poilievre to slash the broadcaster’s funding if he becomes prime minister. In between verbal jousts with Poilievre, CBC president Catherine Tait has been arguing for long-term funding through a charter, like the BBC has in the U.K.
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The mandate is doomed to fail if the panel — and the leadership at the CBC — can’t reckon with the current high stakes facing the public broadcaster, said Peter Menzies, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and former vice-chair of the CRTC.
“There’s nobody there who I think is going to challenge the status quo, in any great sense. I think the panel is largely (about) how do we make the status quo better? What new ideas do we have for the status quo, as opposed to, ‘hey, we’re in a revolutionary time’,” said Menzies.
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Menzies said the fundamental problem with the CBC is that it’s not so much a public broadcaster as it is a publicly funded commercial broadcaster that is competing with private news organizations for eyeballs and advertising dollars.
The CBC’s gigantic footprint in Canadian journalism means most of the industry will be watching the mandate review and the political discussion around defunding the CBC with keen interest.
Dvorkin said the government doesn’t seem willing to grapple with the true scale of the decisions that need to be made about CBC/Radio-Canada. He expects a “retrenchment” at the public broadcaster that will mean a complete rethink of its priorities. That doesn’t seem likely in the year-and-a-half before the next election has to be called, he said.
“I think the Liberals are kind of kicking this ball down the field hoping that someone else will pick it up,” said Dvorkin.
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But CBC veterans and media observers predict the CBC will inevitably remain tethered to the status quo as it slides toward irrelevancy. And, in any event, it maybe too late now to make substantive changes as it runs head-long into a potential Conservative government that wants to pull the funding plug on the public broadcaster (or at least its English television programming).
CBC president requested a meeting over Poilievre's 'defund' promise, letter reveals — National Post
In the letter, CBC President Catherine Tait says that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has declined an invitation to meet with her
The panel has been tasked with providing advice to the public broadcaster on its governance and funding, reporting to Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, who has said she wants to modernize the CBC/Radio-Canada and adapt to a “rapidly changing broadcast and digital landscape.”
The review may have more basic goals in mind, such as securing multi-year funding that could make it trickier for Poilievre to slash the broadcaster’s funding if he becomes prime minister. In between verbal jousts with Poilievre, CBC president Catherine Tait has been arguing for long-term funding through a charter, like the BBC has in the U.K.
‘Embarrassing’: MPs react to Catherine Tait’s refusal to rule out bonuses amid CBC job cuts — National Post
CBC/Radio-Canada president says they're not bonuses but 'performance pay' for meeting targets
“There’s nobody there who I think is going to challenge the status quo, in any great sense. I think the panel is largely (about) how do we make the status quo better? What new ideas do we have for the status quo, as opposed to, ‘hey, we’re in a revolutionary time’,” said Menzies.
CBC head Catherine Tait tells MPs it's not her decision if she gets 'a bonus or not' amid planned layoffs — National Post
Tait told the heritage committee on Tuesday that the board of directors will rule by the end of the fiscal year, on March 31, whether executives will receive 'performance pay'
The CBC’s gigantic footprint in Canadian journalism means most of the industry will be watching the mandate review and the political discussion around defunding the CBC with keen interest.
Dvorkin said the government doesn’t seem willing to grapple with the true scale of the decisions that need to be made about CBC/Radio-Canada. He expects a “retrenchment” at the public broadcaster that will mean a complete rethink of its priorities. That doesn’t seem likely in the year-and-a-half before the next election has to be called, he said.
“I think the Liberals are kind of kicking this ball down the field hoping that someone else will pick it up,” said Dvorkin.
The Liberals new CBC advisory panel may be too late to save it from Poilievre's defunding — National Post
'The problem now is that creating a sense of community through public broadcasting has been kind of abandoned, whether it's at CBC or BBC or NPR,' says a former CBC journalist
