On May 9th, there were discussions in this paper on whether or not Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) should continue to exist may need review. Mr. T. Kevin Beatty wrote "like the train and airline business, it's time to get out of the broadcasting business". Not all agree that selling our transportation systems was in Canada's best interest. I suggest that far many more do not believe CBC should be abandoned, either.
Mr. Beatty mentioned small broadcasters were eaten up in the '90s by large firms, like Rogers and Bell. He confirmed that due to the cost of running them, many stations went dark at night. He is right. CBC Radio, though, existed long before other broadcasters, large and small. It does not advertise and cannot have stolen private advertising dollars.
The writer mentioned he only listens to CBC when "driving around this vast country". Indeed, we are all lucky to hear CBC while driving all across this vast country. We are very lucky to benefit from the professional, non-partisan and independent thinkers of our public broadcaster.
We read; "young people...require just snippets of information" but "do not have time for more." Beatty feels youth live in a digital world and receive their entertainment elsewhere. However, whether on radio, TV, podcast, tablet, cell, or online, CBC continues to broadcast both snippets, and multi-sided, in-depth information for all to access. CBC is much more than entertainment.
Yes, as suggested, CBC could become a P3 broadcaster (private/public funding), like the NPR model in the States. However, we have but one-tenth the population, with one-tenth the dollars available to a network of "900 public (US) radio stations". I imagine just how badly that might work.
CBC is not and should not be privately funded. Public dollars push public interest, which means everyone's interest; every business and every political view, every culture and every government. Every corner of this country is represented on CBC.
Losing CBC would not be in the best interest of Canadians. Never envisioned as a money maker for private interests, CBC is still intended to broadcast Canadian and world news with a Canadian public voice to the entire world.
CBC is followed world-wide, from the U.K. to Uruguay, from the USA to Russia.
There is nothing more Canadian than that. Canada is CBC and CBC is Canada.
Jan Manning, Prince George
