No, We Shouldn’t Defund the CBC

I received an email today from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a right-leaning organization that often opposes any social spending, about their latest efforts to push for defunding the CBC. I’m not going to get too in-depth about it here, but I subscribe to it so that I have an idea about what their latest crusade is.

As someone in journalism, albeit admittedly in a minor role, this topic touches me dearly, especially as something of an idealist. This is a really tough time for journalism as a whole, where you have AI companies scrapping everything to plagiarize it, Google making it tougher for good information to surface, Facebook blocking news on their platform (in Canada), layoffs everywhere in the field, consolidation, and rich people buying up outlets to forward their own viewpoints.

Nothing is often as unpopular as a non-partisan viewpoint, which is what the CBC more or less does. They do a lot of in-depth reporting, look into citizen complaints that have gone unheard, hold the government to account, and do this generally at a fairly low cost. Part of why they can do this is that they are less reliant on a falling apart advertising ecosystem, and have a secure line of funding that helps them employ journalists, and create Canadian content.

I will include what I replied to the CTF with here, so you can see my thoughts on it, and if you are interested in me elaborating or sharing some more, let me know. This is less of a long planned-out post and more of a ‘I am tired of ‘defund the CBC’ rhetoric quick reply, and that admittedly does show in places. If you want me to go into more details or stuff — as I said tell me!

Good evening,

I disagree with this take entirely.

An arms-length and separate organization that is state-funded is able to produce content that may otherwise not be pushed because of market forces, or because of Billionaires buying up multiple outlets and shutting out criticism or areas of coverage. We’ve been seeing a lot of journalistic layoffs, and we’ve seen the ownership of them condense more and more into a few powerful hands.

The government has little direct impact on the CBC, and we see from the organization often reporting that is critical of whatever government there is of the day. We see that this can work in multiple other countries too, where the lessened amount to focus on getting every dollar lets more money and time be put in reporting important stories that might get otherwise overlooked or go unreported. Many websites are forced to focus heavily on SEO, or whatever is trending to attempt to get enough page views to support a collapsing and struggling advertising market while companies like Facebook and Google lie about a number of things, and AI companies steal content from them all. And then you have large corporations or rich people decided to buy them, and directing them — sometimes disastrously.

I’m not particularly fond of bonuses, however, it has become sadly part of the structure that major corporations have put in CEO, and executive pay. Failing to offer them could create a situation where you are unable to keep leaders for long.

Perhaps a different remedy would be to propose a law or regulation that caps the renumeration of executives to some multiple of the median or average of the average employee? Or maybe banning Stock Options in many corporations that are used to juice these types of bonuses? That would create more money going to people, and remove the pressure from CBC to offer these bonuses.

I fail to see how removing an organization that provides easily accessible non-partisan news, and does a lot of investigative reporting in favor of citizens is in the public interest.

Don Parsons

If you want to see what the CTF wrote originally here it is:

Hey there,

Just making sure you saw this note about the CBC wasting even MORE of your money on bonuses.

I know it can be like drinking from a firehose! The CBC admits “some groups” don’t want them to hand out bonuses to executives. The good news is thousands of people are signing the petition to defund the CBC. Journalists should not be paid by the government. I wanted to make sure you saw the petition in case you want to join the fight to defund the CBC.

Have a good one,

Kris.

Hi Don,

You’re paying for more CBC bonuses.

The CBC just quietly rubberstamped another round of bonuses for 1,200 non-union staff, managers and executives. And you’re paying for it.

We don’t know how much these new bonuses will cost you yet. The state broadcaster hasn’t disclosed that yet. But you can be sure that your Canadian Taxpayers Federation investigative journalist will dig it up.

Last year, CBC handed out $15 million in bonuses. The CBC’s bonuses have cost you $114 million since 2015.

The CBC approved these new bonuses even as it acknowledged “the views expressed by some that [bonuses] should not be awarded.”

The CBC now promises to hire a “third-party human resources consulting firm” to review its compensation, including bonuses.

You don’t need the CBC wasting more of your money hiring consultants. You need the CBC to end the bonuses, especially when it’s losing viewers, firing employees and begging the government for more subsidies.

If you’re sick and tired of the CBC taking more than $1 billion from taxpayers every year, then you can join the taxpayer army committed to defunding the CBC. The first step is for you to add your name to the list of people fighting to defund the CBC.

Will you sign the petition?

To Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:

The CBC costs taxpayers more than $1 billion per year and the federal government is giving media organizations a $600-million bailout.

Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to fund the CBC and other media organizations. We should be able to choose which organization we want to support with our own money.

We, the undersigned, call on the federal government to defund the CBC and end its media bailout.

YES — I’ll sign the petition (just click this link to automatically add your name)

No — I’d rather not sign the petition today (if you want to tell us why, you can click here)

Note: If the automatic link doesn’t work on your device, you can also sign the petition at this link: www.taxpayer.com/petitions/defund-the-cbc-and-end-media-bailout

After you sign the petition keep an eye on your email inbox. We will let you know when you have a good opportunity to push the government to end these taxpayer-funded bonuses and defund the CBC.

Thank you for fighting for taxpayers — you’re making a difference!

Franco Terrazzano
Federal Director — Canadian Taxpayers Federation
PS: It only takes a minute to sign the petition and show your support for defunding the CBC: https://www.taxpayer.com/petitions/defund-the-cbc-and-end-media-bailout