The Conservatives are hell bent upon killing the CBC. It is a sad time for Canadian "culture", and journalism...We have to unite behind one of Canada's greatest cultural institutions. Good to know the group below will be mobilizing in ridings where Conservatives won very slim victories...
Today, from the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, I received this email:
Dear Supporter ,
As you know, the CBC is in crisis. Eight hundred of its creative people – 10% of all its staff – are being laid off in order to deal with a $171 million shortfall which CBC's president, hand-picked by Stephen Harper, announced suddenly just weeks ago.
These cuts will decimate programming on radio and television, and will be particularly devastating in small and medium sized communities throughout Canada.
FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting is fighting these cuts by delivering a strong message to Harper and Ottawa that the government must invest in pubic broadcasting and not allow it to wither and die.
But we can't do it without your help.
We are calling on the federal government to adopt the 2008 recommendation of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to increase CBC's parliamentary grant from the present $33 per capita to $40. This would give CBC the money it needs to maintain and grow its services. It's a good first step.
The average per capita investment in public broadcasting in Western democracies is $80, so adopting the Heritage Committee's plan would bring us Canadians to only half that average.
So, how do we plan to get this message through to Harper, his caucus and the opposition parties?
For starters, over the next ten days, the House of Commons is not sitting. MP's are back in their ridings where they are more accessible than usual to their constituents. We are organizing a massive campaign to get the message out to all MP's through email, telephone and direct contact.
But we are also focusing on eighteen ridings where Conservative MP's won the last election with extremely slim margins over their opponents. These are MP's who will likely be especially sensitive to public opinion, and to facing angry constituents at the doorstep in the forthcoming election wearing responsibility for the evisceration of public broadcasting.
Imagine for a moment that Harper & Co. are thinking about a rescue for private TV broadcasters while leaving Canada's national treasure, the CBC, to wither and die. Canadians are justifiably angry about this turn of events. We must act now to focus our energy where it will do the most good.
Please take a moment right now to make an investment in our campaign for the future of the CBC.
Public broadcasting in Canada is at a tipping point. If we all join together we can turn this around and bequeath a strong CBC to our children and their children.
Whatever you can spare –$500, $250, $100, $50 or even $20 will make a huge contribution.
So, thanks, and please!
Best regards!
Ian Morrison
Spokesperson
FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting
6 comments:
I put my name on petition from Avaaz and they are have now about 124,000 names to help the CBC
Just a suggestion.
But if the CBC is so worried about regional broadcasting, perhaps if it sold of that big honking building in TO, they could probably afford to run in some of those smaller, cheaper, markets outside of the MTV.
I am of two minds here - that election for instance, Peter Manbridge barely could hide his distain for Layton, and the interview bias was so apparent, I wanted to throw up. Meanwhile, Ms. May got a free ride.
If it is a public broadcaster, it should act like one, and not be the "liberal media" pipeline.
That's how I see it. I use to be a big supporter of the CBC, now, not so much.
So although I am a big supporter of publicly owned news entity, I except the entity to be "fair."
If not, oh well.
So tell me why, in the end, I should be convinced to support their cause.
Gee Jan... it's funny you should say that, because there wasn't a day I didn't feel the same way about something the CBC was saying about the Liberals. Lol...
If you have a look at the McGill study, it shows that the Liberals were at the tail end of most of the negative press.
But - we all felt that way - as politicos we all hear the "negatives" about our guy. We tend to forget the positives. I mainly listen to CBC, and I recall a LOT of respect for Layton.
You have to keep in mind, if they are "neutral", they will tend to fall in the "middle" with their commentary - to appease left AND right. This just happens to be where another party resides. They're commenting based on where most of the reporters, and most Canadians sit: the middle, as that is the perceived "balanced" spot between sides (left and right).
Wondering if you ever heard support for the Conservatives on the main CBC programs?
If the thing is supposed to represent Canadians, then it needs to provide spokespeople and opinion from that side, too. We all pay the freight.
Until you can convince those folks that their views are given air time, in proportion, then expect push back.
In the very rural areas, the CBC stations are everywhere, in multiple, and sometimes only the CBC.
Funny thing is that so little was cut from Newsworld, and that is the stick in the eye to many...just saying.
CBC is a tad too biased for my taste. Why should taxpayers pay to support CBC if it is largely unsuccessful and cannot even retain a semblance of objectiveness?
I'm not a hockey fan, but I have to admit that the only thing CBC is good for is Hockey Night in Canada...
and Little Mosque on the Prairie, but that's just a show I happen to be entertained by.
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