Today's
Vancouver Sun ran an editorial (lefty rant),
The CBC at 75, by Janice Kennedy:
Poor Rob Ford. ...
... it’s an article of faith among red-blooded Canadian neo-cons everywhere that the CBC is an instrument of the liberal devil, one you must never, ever watch, listen to or in any way support.
... The CBC, long — and unfairly — viewed as a mouthpiece for the left, has become one of the Canadian right’s favourite bugbears.
... For the life of me, I don’t understand it.
... we should be celebrating. Canadians across the spectrum — yes, even Rob Ford — have countless reasons to be thankful for the CBC. Let’s honour 75 rich years by demanding many more to come.
I couldn't resist sending in my comments (to the digital edition):
Privatize the CBC! It has become a fat, lazy, sloppy, unaccountable behemoth with an overblown sense of entitlement. That’s what its $1.16 billion dollar annual subsidy from taxpayers, more than 2/3 of its revenue, has done for it. If that isn’t bad enough it is also insular and arrogant in refusing to comply with legal orders to obey access to information laws. Instead, it wastes taxpayer subsidies paying its lawyers to fight these orders in court.
As for Janice Kennedy’s dopey claim that the CBC is politically unbiased and "bends over backward to provide balance", maybe she can explain why it is that the vast majority of complaints about its bias come from right-wingers while its apologists, defenders and enthusiasts are all left-wingers. If the left loves the CBC so much they should put their money where their politics are and pay for it themselves - like I pay for my SunTV and Fox News subscriptions.
The CBC is by far the largest media corporation in the country, and it competes directly against smaller companies who receive no taxpayer subsidies. Clearly this is just wrong. There is nothing in the CBC mandate that can’t be accomplished more effectively and efficiently by the private sector. So, again, privatize the CBC. And if there’s a need to subsidize any part of its current mandate then outsource it on a competitive basis to all private media companies. The product would be better and less costly to taxpayers.