That's the view of a former CBC insider Richard Stursberg who headed the network's English services from 2004 until his 2010 dismissal.
Stursberg, now a Toronto-based consultant, has written Tower of Babble, Sins, Secrets and Successes Inside the CBC, which spills beans on shenanigans he observed while in "the job I had loved more than any other in my life."
I developed my take on CBC back in the '80s, as Newfoundland and Labrador reporter for The National.
It was a complicated work-place because of a mandate requiring it, among many other things, to showcase Canadian content, to "reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences."
Often, the Crown corporation felt more like a bureaucracy than a broadcast organization.
But I'm also a huge admirer. Given the complicated existence CBC leads, it is remark-able it has consistently delivered such quality fare even as it has had to deal with massive budgetary cuts meted out both by the Chretien government and now, the Harper team.
The book takes readers into the bowels of the $1.5-billion operation ($1 billion of which comes from Ottawa), revealing how the broadcast sausage is produced.
Stursberg's goal while at CBC was to push it to focus on winning audience share rather than broadcasting intellectual content aimed at elites. He believed content could be both Canadian and entertaining.
It was an uphill battle and he acknowledges being "insubordinate and arrogant." He says CBC bosses viewed him as too competitive and commercial.
Stursberg derisively depicts CBC's traditional audience - the highbrow ballet and opera lovers - as "the Constituency," and maintains it wasn't numerous enough to keep CBC competitive.
He claims credit for a "growth strategy" - aimed at popularizing CBC-TV with shows such as Battle of the Blades and Dragons' Den.
He also was behind an over-haul of a truculent, demoralized news department he calls "Fort News," which saw more business reporting and had The National's host Peter Mans-bridge abandon his chair and desk to deliver the news while standing.
Improved ratings by 2009-10 show Stursberg largely achieved what he set out to do, although that wasn't enough to endear him to his higher ups.
Now departed from Mother Corp., he blows a whistle on disproportionate funding for Radio Canada, the CBC's French-language service which, he writes, gobbles 40 per cent of funding to serve about a 25-per-cent share of Canada's population.
He predicts, "very stormy seas" for CBC which, he believes, soon won't be unable to afford to keep its most valuable property, Hockey Night in Canada.
Stursberg depicts CBC president Hubert Lacroix as a laconic cold fish, lacking a clear idea of where he wants to take the public broadcaster.
He notes, after recently spending millions on consulting fees and holding innumerable internal discussions, CBC recently developed a vacuous future plan, absurdly titled 2015: Everyone, Every Way.
The Harper government's recent cuts won't help matters. Worthy and entertaining shows such as Battle of the Blades and Connect have been chopped.
Sadly for CBC and those who enjoy its programming, governments of all stripes consistently view the corporation as biased against them; and hence, always are prepared to swing a fiscal wrecking ball in its direction.
Source: vancouver sun
Author: Barbara Yaffe
No comments:
Post a Comment