We do not do reality programming. If we only were chasing rating points, we could do reality programming… But we don't do that.
– Robert Rabinovitch, CBC president, October 2005
The news industry is dying. That’s a hard truth. For a long time I have tried to believe otherwise – as someone who works in the industry, I desperately want to believe otherwise – but it’s difficult to be optimistic when journalists are constantly getting booted out of newsrooms due to shrinking budgets. Even Peter Mansbridge is pissed about poor managerial decisions that have pushed the National’s timeslot around.
You know it’s bad when the ratings-obsessed managers at the CBC decide to bump The National, its flagship news program, to make room for The One: Making a Music Star – a so-called reality TV show (and, an American program at that).
I know we in Alberta won’t be affected by the dumb CBC decision (the move only affects Ontario and Quebec), but still I have to ask: what the hell is the CBC thinking? Kirstine Layfield, the CBC’s executive director of network programming, calls the move "a huge opportunity" for the public broadcaster (how so?) that’s part of a "long-term strategy" (towards what?).
The CBC has weird strategies lately, to say the least. Typically, the CBC informs and enlightens Canadians with documentaries and, of course, news programs like The National. Loyal CBC viewers love the public broadcaster because it offers something different than the private broadcasters.
But, CBC management seems to want the public broadcaster to emulate private stations and cash in on the "reality" TV trend, which really defeats the purpose of being a public broadcaster.
There is wisdom in the words of retired CBC broadcaster Knowlton Nash, who openly lashed out at his former employer for the move: "If the CBC really wants reality TV, let people get the reality of what's happening in the world by turning on The National at 10 p.m. every night." Sensible people everywhere can say amen to that, but sensible people are apparently not decision-makers at the CBC.
Mansbridge and his colleagues at The National are just the latest victims of the movement from journalism to cheap, mindless entertainment in media. The shift is affecting news organizations everywhere.
Closer to home, journalists at the Calgary Sun are feeling the pinch of a media company trying to operate on the cheap, as Quebecor Inc. cut 120 jobs across the Sun Media chain in June. Quebecor described its layoffs as a process of "streamlining" to focus on becoming a "multi-platform" news provider – in other words, less print, more Internet.
As a result of the Sun Media cuts, the Calgary Sun has dumped its library staff, and film critic Louis B. Hobson has been sent into early retirement. Mike Bell, the Sun’s longtime music critic (and former Fast Forward entertainment editor), has been relocated to the sports section.
So, now we’ll have even less local arts coverage in Calgary. There have been days where the entire front page of the Calgary Herald’s entertainment section has been wire copy. Now the Sun will have less local arts copy, too.
This, of course, bodes well for publications like the one you’re holding – publications that give a damn about what’s happening locally and want to contribute to a thriving arts community. But it’s a sad blow to arts organizations in Calgary that need to reach wider audiences.
Media executives concerned with "streamlining" should take a close look at the $20 bills they are so busy chasing. There, they will find in tiny print a quote by writer Gabrielle Roy that will give some food for thought: "Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?"
Watch Dawg is a semi-regular column that puts corporate and media activity under the microscope. Check out the Watch Dawg blog at http://watchdawg.typepad.com. |
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