From the National Post:
- Providing viewers with a Canadian alternative by Jeff Keay, head of media relations, English communications, CBC/Radio- Canada
“But while we’re happy that millions of Canadians are enjoying shows like Hockey Night in Canada, Rick Mercer Report, This Hour Has 22 Minutes (which are, for the record, consistently winning their time slots) and Little Mosque on the Prairie, we also believe there is a place for other Canadian programs like Trudeau, Rene Levesque, and October 1970. While they may not attract large audiences, they are nonetheless important because they reflect our public service mandate.”
- Answering the CBC
“Does the CBC deliver more Canadian-made programs than the other network? Sure. Problem is, a lot of it is quite bad. They produce two news-comedy shows (22 Minutes and Air Farce) that are virtually indistinguishable and the much-hyped Little Mosque on the Prairie that, as yet, has made me neither laugh nor see Canadian multiculturalism in any kind of new light. And the shows look terrible, too. Little Mosque, 22 Minutes and Air Farce all lack the kind of professional production and cinematography that make CTV’s Corner Gas look and feel like a real TV show. There’s no mistaking the second-rate production values of CBC’s home-made programs.”
EDIT: The first article is in response to this Feb. 15 article:
- Whither Mother Corp?
“There are probably more Canadians who complain about CBC television than actually watch it. The public network, which was already in ratings free fall before its month-long 2005 staff lockout, has seen its viewership numbers drop even faster since. On a typical evening, under 700,000 Canadians tune into the Ceeb for any part of prime time, down from about 900,000 prelockout and over 1.5 million a decade ago.”
re: Whither Mother Corp?
Wow, talk about biased journalism!
To slam one news broadcast to promote Global news, owned by canwest which owns the National Post:
“A suppertime national newscast can succeed: Global National with Kevin Newman proves that. With more than one million viewers a night, it is the most-watched newscast in the country, outpacing both CTV and CBC’s national efforts.”
What ever happened to full disclosure? or is everyone just suposed to “know” the bias?
And to also call the CTF a tax:
” grants extracted from private broadcasters through the Canadian Television Tax, er, I mean Fund…”
Perhaps Canwest should stop taking money from the fund.
Oh yeah, Canwest doesn’t produce any Canadian TV shows.
Sorry, I forgot about the high production values of “The Jane Show”
Disgusting, weak journalism.
Yep. Skewed quite clearly, all of that. As if Canwest doesn’t have a vested interest in CBC’s destruction, both fiscal and ideological.
Oh my God! Is this Goldstein guy for real? He can’t tell the difference between 22 Minutes and Air Farce? He claims CBC programs are “quite bad” compared to the Canadian-made programs delivered by “the other network” (singular). And as an example of a high quality product, he gives American Idol!?
We all know that the CBC inhabits a netherworld. They have a mandate to provide Canadian programming but are only given a shoestring budget to do so and then is expected to compete with the cream of the crop of American shows ( We also all know CTV and Global generally don’t buy US shows that are tanking there.) That is hardly a level playing field and this is an apples to oranges comparison.
The folks at Canwest and elsewhere who want everything to be privatived conveniently overlook this fact when CBC bashing. The goal of these articles is to rally support to put everything in private, commercial driven, ratings driven hands with all the hype, dumbing down and sensationalism that comes with it.
The CBC needs to become a real public broadcaster; be fully funded, commercial free and provide high quality entertainment and educational shows. I enjoy watching PBS in the US and the offierings from the BBC for much of their offering is like this and would like to see something similar but with a Canadian focus here.