The CBC is not its board

By Montreal Simon

Ever since the CBC was hit by the Ghomeshi scandal, and now the Amanda Lang Affair, the CBC haters in this country have been having a ball.

Trying to use the scandals as just another excuse to kill the corporation. For those Cons hate it so much with a zealotry that borders on insanity.

But what I find even more disturbing is that some progressive bloggers have been throwing up their hands and declaring that the CBC is beyond saving, and should simply be scrapped. Just like that.

I won’t mention their names for I have no desire to publicly embarrass them. But I do think they need to be reminded that the CBC, flawed as it may be, is still a precious Canadian institution that should not be destroyed that casually.

And what also needs to be said is that the CBC is NOT its Con board.

Nor is the CBC some of its hapless bosses, who operate in an incestuous bubble of a management cult, and are so detached from reality they apparently think it’s OK for their “stars” to make even more money with speaking engagements.

As long as they list them.

And who pamper those “stars” like gods. Make them think they can get away with anything. Even though they aren’t the CBC either.

Not Jian Ghomeshi, not Amanda Lang, not Peter Mansbridge, the supreme god of them all.

And certainly not Rex Murphy …

The ratty little right-wing demagogue, climate change denier, and shameless oil whore, who should have been fired by those useless managers long ago.

What the CBC is, are thousands of ordinary employees who do a creditable, occasionally brilliant job of operating radio and TV and internet networks that must span a giant country in two official languages. While receiving a pitiful amount of support from taxpayers.

Thousands of writers, camera people, editors, technicians, and others who work hard for the little money they receive, and in the case of the young the lousy contracts they are given, to do the best job they can.

But who those progressives I mentioned before, would throw into the street. Just like that.

Even though they should know that they include people like Kathie Tomlinson …

The hardworking reporter who broke the story on the foreign workers at the Royal Bank, stood up to the pressure from Amanda Lang, who should have been told to mind her own business affairs.

And who when asked to comment on this outrageous memo from the CBC News honcho Jennifer McGuire.

It is unfortunate that our internal processes are fodder for external debate by people who have their own agendas. If there are any concerns about what we put to air, by all means take them forward and let’s have a robust discussion. Half-truths based on anonymous sources is not going to achieve anything constructive.

Did also have the courage to make her feelings clear in this interview.

As a result of this, many people – including me – are asking one simple question. Why it is ever OK to have any perceived conflict of interest, under any circumstances?

This is not about Amanda Lang.

It is about the long standing belief most journalists have — that conflicts should be avoided at all costs or explicitly declared up front.

I come from the ranks of reporters who would go to a news conference and not even take a muffin or a cup of coffee. These are deeply held views by the vast majority of journalists I know. I heard a lot of people saying that today.

And by so doing did credit to herself, to the best principles of journalism, and to the CBC I admire, and the one worth saving.

And for those so-called progressives to call for it to be so casually scrapped, for the baby to be thrown out with the bathwater, is simply outrageous.

For it only plays into the hands of Stephen Harper who was recently quoted as saying this:

“First we’re going to get them on their knees and then we’re going to restructure them.”

And has been slowly strangling that national institution, as he strangled our precious National Film Board, from the moment he came to power.

The CBC can and should be saved. It can be better, it can and should be more edgy and creative. We can fire the Con board and some of its hapless managers. We can get rid of some of its swaggering gods. And rein in its wretched American-style celebrity culture.

But none of that will happen, nor will the CBC get the money it needs to be excellent.

Until we start at the top and get rid of this monster …

Update: More fuel for that bonfire of the vanities.
“According to two separate accounts, several staffers took pictures of the fridge magnet message, but Andrew Ferguson, Executive Producer of News Now soon approached and ordered all employees to destroy the pictures from their phones, “before Jesse Brown finds out about this.”

Because if that is true, it appears that those managers are more concerned about their image than they are about the safety of their employees.

If that’s true, then they clearly cannot be trusted to investigate themselves.

And for the safety of those who work there, especially younger women. The managers must be fired.

And the police must be called in …