The Emperor's New Clues

[bcholmes]

Yesterday, page one of the Globe and Mail had a story about whether or not Prime Minister Chretien was sufficiently dapper at the recent G8 conference. Page one.

This wasn't the Toronto Sun, mind you. Or an infotainment rag. This was Canada's leading newspaper. I was talking about this with my partner this morning, and she said, "Well, you know they've come down in the world since the National Post."

I'm sure that if you asked the people at the Globe, they'd probably say that they print what the people want to read. But, at some level, I wonder: is the news of what's going on in the world too important to be left at the whim of popular opinion? Dare we have a free press that is the victim of public boredom with real news? (And am I just being elitist when I reject an article about Chretien's wardrobe as "not real news" or, at the very least, not worthy of page one?)

I guess that's one of the reasons why I've always rather admired the CBC and supported government funding of the CBC. Obviously, if the only news available was from the government, that'd be a problem.

But then you get other media arguing about how unfair it is to have to compete with the publically-funded CBC. How can a radio station, for example, ever hope to operate on equal footing with a station that isn't dependent on advertising revenues?

Hard questions, I'll grant.

Comments

So what was he wearing?

[snickerpuss.livejournal.com]

;)

[missshirley.livejournal.com]

But then you get other media arguing about how unfair it is to have to compete with the publically-funded CBC. How can a radio station, for example, ever hope to operate on equal footing with a station that isn't dependent on advertising revenues?

The Aspers don't exactly seem to be destitute. Same goes for Moses Znaimer.

Other stations compete by catering to the lowest common denominator audience; people for whom news is an update on Pamela Anderson's latest boob job, or folks that watch any of those "reality TV" shows.

I am an ardent fan of the CBC specifically because of the lack of necessity in dipping down to that lowest rung in the search for advertising dollars. You get insightful, unbiased news reporting, you get important specials and events aired without commercial breaks, you get a focus on Canadian content and shows instead of whatever slop Hollywood is force-feeding people this season.

I once watched a news piece on CTV where the anchorman referred to a group of anti-globalization protesters as "stupid idiots". Now how's that for unbiased and open-minded reporting? If the government ever decided to scrap the CBC, I'd be the first one there protesting by handcuffing myself to the door.

The CBC is not perfect; it's had it's share of issues over the years, to be sure, but it's miles above any of the other options in Canada or the US as far as news reporting goes. During the 9/11 thing, C-Span started picking up CBC reports to fluff out their news coverage, and it is rumoured that the US powers that be diligently watched the CBC reports to find out what was actually going on because the coverage by CNN and the other US networks was so inept.