Evan, I don't always agree with you, but on todays piece about the CBC I do. Rosemary Barton and the "At Issue" panel and David Cochrane provide the best, relevant reporting. But the CBC's other programming, not so great. They might want to take a look at our wonderful Knowledge Network in BC which provides us with lots of terrific Knowledge produced dramas and documentaries, along with the best of BBC and Australian TV.
i think the network needs a re-tool, not a rebuild. agreed with a lot of your points, but for a million reasons, i don't think it can possibly compete with the hbo's of the world in terms of original programming, regardless of the capital allocated. that pathway shouldn't even be in consideration imo. cbc gem is a genuinely decent app (albeit with glitches) that features good content. it just needs to be tweaked.
bbc is a good benchmark, but as you note by lumping them with hbo, the brits have been producing premium domestic content for generations. crave/bell has sort of taken on that mantle for the streaming era - that's where it would sit better anyways, i think.
my uninformed suggestions for the cable network would be something like the following; the best of the political shows, maybe an expanded version of the fifth estate (to hit the true crime segment), the national, hnic + the olympics (and other major sporting events they can get the rights to whenever), local news for the big city centres, the occasional documentary, murdoch mysteries / schitt's creek re-runs and maybe some expanded partnerships for new-ish cancon (late bloomer s1, but not necessarily s2 for example). all of which i think they're currently doing to some extent - it just needs the re-tool to really refine.
add some saturday morning / weekday afternoon kids programming like pbs, a couple canadian based nature series', a simple vice-like show or two with youtube-esque production covering food and lifestyle across the country hosted by a millenial/zoomer inspired by bourdain, and dig into the very deep archives to do more re-runs of old content. all of which should be possible by my crude understanding without an enormous injection of capital or poaching external talent.
finally, i'd love to see an active pushback to the 24/7 content machine that every network has become, and just call 2-5am a no-go zone with *nothing* airing. maybe even extend that to 1-7am for sundays. call it a move to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently. i'm not tapped in to what they're currently doing during those hours, but i think it's the kind of "perception" thing that boomers would eat up.
He was a terrible talking head. Sorry, but I watched him a few times, and he's just not that good at his job. His bitching about CBC seems like sour grapes to me. Trying to stir up trouble where there wasn't any. One of the cons dreams, or more specifically poilievres dreams, is to defend and shut down the CBC. What political leanings does this gentleman have? Just curious.
The CPC is fund-raising off Dhanraj's claim. Interesting timing for him to come out with these allegations - right after the date of the by-election has been announced. Coincidence?
I think not. They, the CPC maplemaga and extramaplemaga people like to think they're being all sneaky-quiet and under the radar. Sometimes not so much.
Brody Fenlon came to CBC Politics and tried to imitate CNN/FOX and it’s been downhill from there. Hiring (and losing) former Global talking heads and partisan Con ‘pundits’ has taken a toll.
That's not true, more BS conservative narrative. It's the cons who own the mainstream media, hence the NEED for CBC.
If Travis Danraj was let go because he wanted more "conservative voices," that's as much of a declaration of where the CBC stands as is possible in these fraught times, conditions which have been ENTIRELY created by what has become the Convoy Party of Canada.
And a conservative ANYTHING actually DOES bring "treason" to mind. Where have you been?
The convoy. Smith and Moe. Rustad. This bunch of "anti-government" twenty somethings in the military charged TODAY with terrorism by the RCMP. The spokeswoman pointing out that this is now a growing societal problem thanks to the stoking of social media algorithms courtesy of the "big tech bros" who we now KNOW are Trumpists. It's not just treason, it's genuinely trying to destroy DEMOCRACY, never mind this country or that.
And it's all about the "bros," who ARE the cons, who btw DID just use to be plain old progressive conservative Canadians before reformer Presto Manning got them, and ahhh, THOSE were the days. NOW they're "cons" and "proud boys" all, BOYS being the key word.
So understandable that CBC doesn't know whether to shit or go blind as they say, because we can't seem to admit to the danger of the lunacy on the right, the actual mental derangement involved, any more than we can name that same feature of religious belief.
And the two are not unrelated, both are mindless cults.
You can't say that about the right at a time when Carney is the most openly pro-Trump world leader in the G7, basically gave Mango Mussolini a lap dance in the oval office, and is now tailoring legislation to appease the Trump white house. Again, maybe its the other way around.
Evan, I find it interesting that you argue that the CBC is not "left" for I disagree with you.
More specifically, I have found that the Ceeb identifies anyone who is even, oh, five degrees right of center as being "hard right" and using that as a dismissive and pejorative term. It further seems to me that when the Ceeb tries for "balance" in their interviews they have someone who is, perhaps, one degree right of center to "counterbalance" someone who is, oh, twenty degrees left of center.
I don't begrudge the exposing for discussion the message of left of center but I absolutely do despise the Ceeb approach that denies that anything that might, repeat might, indicate a traditional value or concept might, repeat might, have an element of merit.
Shocking to me to realise that when people are thinking about the CBC they are talking about television. I see myself as a big CBC defender but I don’t even own a tv. CBC for me is all about radio. To my mind the broadcaster is excessively generous to the Conservatives, treating Poilievre with a respect he doesn’t deserve. His defunding threats, his sloganeering, his sneering mistreatment of journalists should all have influenced their coverage of him. Instead they treated him as though he were a respectable political leader. Danraj’s allegations are a mystery to me.
Uh no. Like him or not (& I don't) Poilievre is the leader of a major political party - disrespecting Poilievre also means disrespecting conservative voters. And for CBC to treat him disrespectfully plays right into the CPC narrative that the media & CBC in particular are out to get Conservatives.
Evan, I don't always agree with you, but on todays piece about the CBC I do. Rosemary Barton and the "At Issue" panel and David Cochrane provide the best, relevant reporting. But the CBC's other programming, not so great. They might want to take a look at our wonderful Knowledge Network in BC which provides us with lots of terrific Knowledge produced dramas and documentaries, along with the best of BBC and Australian TV.
Travis Dhanraj struck me as more interested in being a provocateur than a journalist.
i think the network needs a re-tool, not a rebuild. agreed with a lot of your points, but for a million reasons, i don't think it can possibly compete with the hbo's of the world in terms of original programming, regardless of the capital allocated. that pathway shouldn't even be in consideration imo. cbc gem is a genuinely decent app (albeit with glitches) that features good content. it just needs to be tweaked.
bbc is a good benchmark, but as you note by lumping them with hbo, the brits have been producing premium domestic content for generations. crave/bell has sort of taken on that mantle for the streaming era - that's where it would sit better anyways, i think.
my uninformed suggestions for the cable network would be something like the following; the best of the political shows, maybe an expanded version of the fifth estate (to hit the true crime segment), the national, hnic + the olympics (and other major sporting events they can get the rights to whenever), local news for the big city centres, the occasional documentary, murdoch mysteries / schitt's creek re-runs and maybe some expanded partnerships for new-ish cancon (late bloomer s1, but not necessarily s2 for example). all of which i think they're currently doing to some extent - it just needs the re-tool to really refine.
add some saturday morning / weekday afternoon kids programming like pbs, a couple canadian based nature series', a simple vice-like show or two with youtube-esque production covering food and lifestyle across the country hosted by a millenial/zoomer inspired by bourdain, and dig into the very deep archives to do more re-runs of old content. all of which should be possible by my crude understanding without an enormous injection of capital or poaching external talent.
finally, i'd love to see an active pushback to the 24/7 content machine that every network has become, and just call 2-5am a no-go zone with *nothing* airing. maybe even extend that to 1-7am for sundays. call it a move to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used efficiently. i'm not tapped in to what they're currently doing during those hours, but i think it's the kind of "perception" thing that boomers would eat up.
He was a terrible talking head. Sorry, but I watched him a few times, and he's just not that good at his job. His bitching about CBC seems like sour grapes to me. Trying to stir up trouble where there wasn't any. One of the cons dreams, or more specifically poilievres dreams, is to defend and shut down the CBC. What political leanings does this gentleman have? Just curious.
The CPC is fund-raising off Dhanraj's claim. Interesting timing for him to come out with these allegations - right after the date of the by-election has been announced. Coincidence?
I think not. They, the CPC maplemaga and extramaplemaga people like to think they're being all sneaky-quiet and under the radar. Sometimes not so much.
Defund, not defend.
I like your corrective word as a full explanation for the needed action for the Ceeb, hence my approval.
Brody Fenlon came to CBC Politics and tried to imitate CNN/FOX and it’s been downhill from there. Hiring (and losing) former Global talking heads and partisan Con ‘pundits’ has taken a toll.
Traviss did have a conservative edge. So have others. And he had a defensiveness in my opinion.
A “conservative edge”? 😮 That’s close to treason in today’s Liberal subsidized mainstream media. Crucify him!
That's not true, more BS conservative narrative. It's the cons who own the mainstream media, hence the NEED for CBC.
If Travis Danraj was let go because he wanted more "conservative voices," that's as much of a declaration of where the CBC stands as is possible in these fraught times, conditions which have been ENTIRELY created by what has become the Convoy Party of Canada.
And a conservative ANYTHING actually DOES bring "treason" to mind. Where have you been?
The convoy. Smith and Moe. Rustad. This bunch of "anti-government" twenty somethings in the military charged TODAY with terrorism by the RCMP. The spokeswoman pointing out that this is now a growing societal problem thanks to the stoking of social media algorithms courtesy of the "big tech bros" who we now KNOW are Trumpists. It's not just treason, it's genuinely trying to destroy DEMOCRACY, never mind this country or that.
And it's all about the "bros," who ARE the cons, who btw DID just use to be plain old progressive conservative Canadians before reformer Presto Manning got them, and ahhh, THOSE were the days. NOW they're "cons" and "proud boys" all, BOYS being the key word.
So understandable that CBC doesn't know whether to shit or go blind as they say, because we can't seem to admit to the danger of the lunacy on the right, the actual mental derangement involved, any more than we can name that same feature of religious belief.
And the two are not unrelated, both are mindless cults.
You can't say that about the right at a time when Carney is the most openly pro-Trump world leader in the G7, basically gave Mango Mussolini a lap dance in the oval office, and is now tailoring legislation to appease the Trump white house. Again, maybe its the other way around.
Except it's NOT. Like I said, the BS CONSERVATIVE narrative. Everything you just wrote is exactly that.
You've been algorithmed.
BTW, what is the LIBERAL "narrative?"
The BBC sets a good example.
Evan, I find it interesting that you argue that the CBC is not "left" for I disagree with you.
More specifically, I have found that the Ceeb identifies anyone who is even, oh, five degrees right of center as being "hard right" and using that as a dismissive and pejorative term. It further seems to me that when the Ceeb tries for "balance" in their interviews they have someone who is, perhaps, one degree right of center to "counterbalance" someone who is, oh, twenty degrees left of center.
I don't begrudge the exposing for discussion the message of left of center but I absolutely do despise the Ceeb approach that denies that anything that might, repeat might, indicate a traditional value or concept might, repeat might, have an element of merit.
Shocking to me to realise that when people are thinking about the CBC they are talking about television. I see myself as a big CBC defender but I don’t even own a tv. CBC for me is all about radio. To my mind the broadcaster is excessively generous to the Conservatives, treating Poilievre with a respect he doesn’t deserve. His defunding threats, his sloganeering, his sneering mistreatment of journalists should all have influenced their coverage of him. Instead they treated him as though he were a respectable political leader. Danraj’s allegations are a mystery to me.
Uh no. Like him or not (& I don't) Poilievre is the leader of a major political party - disrespecting Poilievre also means disrespecting conservative voters. And for CBC to treat him disrespectfully plays right into the CPC narrative that the media & CBC in particular are out to get Conservatives.