Tara Henley: Why I quit the CBC (10)
Eestlased Kanadas | 03 Jan 2022  | EWR OnlineEWR
For months now, I’ve been getting complaints about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, where I’ve worked as a TV and radio producer, and occasional on-air columnist, for much of the past decade.

People want to know why, for example, non-binary Filipinos concerned about a lack of LGBT terms in Tagalog is an editorial priority for the CBC, when local issues of broad concern go unreported. Or why our pop culture radio show’s coverage of the Dave Chappelle Netflix special failed to include any of the legions of fans, or comics, that did not find it offensive. Or why, exactly, taxpayers should be funding articles that scold Canadians for using words such as “brainstorm” and “lame.”

When I started at the national public broadcaster in 2013, the network produced some of the best journalism in the country. By the time I resigned last month, it embodied some of the worst trends in mainstream media. In a short period of time, the CBC went from being a trusted source of news to churning out clickbait that reads like a parody of the student press.

Those of us on the inside know just how swiftly — and how dramatically — the politics of the public broadcaster have shifted.

It used to be that I was the one furthest to the left in any newsroom, occasionally causing strain in story meetings with my views on issues like the housing crisis. I am now easily the most conservative, frequently sparking tension by questioning identity politics. This happened in the span of about 18 months. My own politics did not change.

To work at the CBC in the current climate is to embrace cognitive dissonance and to abandon journalistic integrity.

It is to sign on, enthusiastically, to a radical political agenda that originated on Ivy League campuses in the United States and spread through American social media platforms that monetize outrage and stoke societal divisions. It is to pretend that the “woke” worldview is near universal — even if it is far from popular with those you know, and speak to, and interview, and read.

To work at the CBC now is to accept the idea that race is the most significant thing about a person, and that some races are more relevant to the public conversation than others. It is, in my newsroom, to fill out racial profile forms for every guest you book; to actively book more people of some races and less of others.

To work at the CBC is to submit to job interviews that are not about qualifications or experience — but instead demand the parroting of orthodoxies, the demonstration of fealty to dogma.

It is to become less adversarial to government and corporations and more hostile to ordinary people with ideas that Twitter doesn’t like.

It is to endlessly document microaggressions but pay little attention to evictions; to spotlight company’s political platitudes but have little interest in wages or working conditions. It is to allow sweeping societal changes like lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and school closures to roll out — with little debate. To see billionaires amass extraordinary wealth and bureaucrats amass enormous power — with little scrutiny. And to watch the most vulnerable among us die of drug overdoses — with little comment.

It is to consent to the idea that a growing list of subjects are off the table, that dialogue itself can be harmful. That the big issues of our time are all already settled.

It is to capitulate to certainty, to shut down critical thinking, to stamp out curiosity. To keep one’s mouth shut, to not ask questions, to not rock the boat.

How could good journalism possibly be done under such conditions? How could any of this possibly be healthy for society?

All of this raises larger questions about the direction that North America is headed. Questions about this new moment we are living through — and its impact on the body politic. On class divisions, and economic inequality. On education. On mental health. On literature, and comedy. On science. On liberalism, and democracy.

These questions keep me up at night.

I can no longer push them down. I will no longer hold them back. This Substack is an attempt to find some answers.

https://tarahenley.substack.co...

 

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Polls on PCs, CBC reports11 Jan 2022 16:12
Doug Ford's ON PCs have been getting complaints for months on their performance in polls they themselves commissioned for 35 weeks and paid for with the public purse. The results are interesting.

The CBC is doing its job in reporting on this, although the PC's refused a request under Ontario's freedom of information laws to make these publicly financed results public, delaying their release by 90 days until the winter break.

That doesn't shield them from widespread dissatisfaction and non- confidence in their handling of COVID 19 and areas such as education, the environment, and yes, the economy.

The Ford PC government's own polls are saying they're not thought to be doing their job. Don't shoot the messenger!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada...
Uno Raamat08 Jan 2022 12:42
At least you had a job.
Alfons08 Jan 2022 11:09
The following was penned by an ex-CBC employee, in full agreement with Tara Henley. How the times have changed.
In today's (Saturday) Toronto Star there is an "opinion" piece by Shree Paradkar. Known in our household as "pardikaka" for she is so "woke", so far left that she espouses what can only be described as reverse racist views. Anything involving white male European deeds from the past as well as from today are attacked, stridently so. Paradkar is perhaps the most leftist staff writer for the star. And that is saying something. And she writes nothing about systemic racism elsewhere - the caste system in India, for example. Tribal enmity and genocide historically and even today in Africa. Our First Nations slaughtering other tribes merely because they spoke a different dialect or even language. Just a few historical - and present day examples.
No journalistic integrity whatsoever. The title of the piece is "If only CBC were as woke as accused". It attacks Tara Henley's article, saying that it is baseless, not supported by facts. She does not identify Henley by name. Her proof is that it was published in The National Post (right-wing) and picked up and commented on by a number of blogs, newspapers and websites, most notably Fox. The last merits reading, it is, compared to Paradkar balanced and fairly nuanced. Even right-wingers can do that. The woke and far-left evidently cannot, as Henley wrote, Paradkar proves.
Our household never watches CBC, only listens to their radio programming, which is excellent. Maybe it is time to finally cancel the Star subscription. The better half agrees, but inertia gets in the way, and the weekend issues do have some interesting and balanced articles. PC is getting out of hand when it is slanted only one way.

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