Commentary Defunding the CBC Thur Apri 20, 2023

The commentary discusses the labeling of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as government-funded by Twitter. CBC rejects this label, stating that they do not have government involvement over editorial content. Other publicly funded broadcasters like NPR, BBC, and ABC also object to the label. However, all of these broadcasters receive government funding, raising questions about government influence. Some voices in Canada, including Conservative Party leader Pierre Polyev, call for defunding CBC to reduce the country's deficit. However, defunding CBC abruptly would lead to job losses and negative economic impact. The solution may be to reduce CBC's funding and encourage them to produce better content to attract viewers. The ultimate goal is for CBC to operate like a privately funded media company. Good afternoon. This is Thursday, April the 20th, and here's my commentary for the week. This week, the commentary is about funding for the CBC. Twitter has labeled the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as a government-funded media. They did this on April the 16th. Twitter's platform, under the leadership of business tycoon Elon Musk, had recently applied similar labels to the National Public Broadcaster in the U.S. and the British Broadcast Corporation in the U.K. as well as the National Broadcaster of Australia. According to Twitter, the label is used in cases where the government provides some or all of the outlet's funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over the editorial content. CBC, of course, rejected Twitter's labeling. CBC's Director of Media Relations, Leon Maher, said Twitter's own policy defines government-funded media as where the government may have varying degrees of government involvement over the editorial content, which is clearly not the case with the CBC. The National Broadcaster receives $1.2 billion in funding from the federal government, and of course, that would catch the attention of Twitter and Elon Musk. To the surprise of no one, NPR in the U.S., the BBC in the U.K., and ABC in Australia all objected strenuously to the labeling. All of these publicly funded broadcasters adamantly declare they are free from government influence and consequently should not be labeled as a government-funded media. However, the fact of the matter is all of them receive millions of dollars, and in the case of CBC, over a billion dollars from the government. There is more than one way for a government to influence a national broadcaster, and it doesn't need to be through putting pressure on reporters to slant stories in favor of the government. The question is how much influence does the government have over the hiring of personnel for these government-funded organizations. If I'm running a company and I want there to be harmony among the staff, then I will ensure those hired hold similar ideas. Now, I'm not suggesting the government of any of these organizations apply pressure to influence the hiring of reporters and staff, but I wouldn't be overly surprised if evidence came to light that showed that to be true. There are a significant number of voices in Canada who are calling for the defunding of CBC. The most significant of those voices, of course, is Pierre Polyev, the leader of the Conservative Party, who says he will defund the CBC should he be elected Prime Minister. Let's be realistic. $1.2 billion is an awful lot of money, especially when the country is running such a high deficit. Taking $1.2 billion off the expense column would go a long way to bring the country back into balanced budget. The other matter that needs to be taken into consideration, and this is not insignificant, is the number of people who would be put out of work. These are ordinary folk who work hard day in and day out to keep the CBC on the air. Having that many people suddenly lose their jobs, apart from the humanitarian side of the issue, would also have a significant negative impact on the Canadian economy. So then a sudden defunding of the CBC, seems to me, would be both heartless and economically damaging. So then what is the solution? I would suggest that $1.2 billion is an excessive amount, especially when you take into consideration the listening audience of the CBC is in constant decline. In the private sector, the customer is king. Without customers, there's no company. Consequently, every private organization is fixated on sales. Since the CBC doesn't have that worry to contend with, a fixation on viewership is not necessary for them to continue to survive. As someone who is involved with a privately owned radio station, listenership is of great concern to us. It determines our ability to sell advertising, and that's where we get our revenue to stay on air. If we have a show, and we know that people tune out when the show is on, guess what? That show doesn't continue to exist. We will replace it with something that is more palatable to our listeners. It seems to me that placing the CBC in such a position would be advantageous to stimulating the CBC to producing better on-air content. Certainly the CBC has had some notable winners over the years. They have also had some real duds. Right now, their on-air news is notably poor. It has lost the trust of Canadians, and so they tune out. The CBC, mindful of their lack of viewership, are soliciting the government for more money. I would think that would be a good reason for the government to provide less money. I would also go so far as to say they should be able to survive on half the amount of money they presently get. Certainly that would mean a certain amount of layoffs, and it would also mean significant salary cuts for some of their higher paid personnel. At the moment, the CBC does not need to sell advertising. That circumstance needs to change. The ultimate goal will be to continually reduce the funding of the CBC so that they operate like any other privately funded media company. So while I am not in favor of complete defunding of the CBC, I do believe that their funding needs to be significantly cut from where it is right now. I also believe that the CBC, if they are to continue to exist, need to pick up the slack and produce better content and be more fixated on what the viewers in Canada want from them as a broadcaster. If they go out of business, that will be a tragedy. But there are many businesses that have gone belly up in the last number of years. There will be somebody else that will enter the picture to pick up the slack. Well, that's my opinion for this Thursday afternoon, April the 20th. My name is Gordon Wilson.