CBC BOD needs new appointment process

A member of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's board of directors has resigned from his position to seek the presidency of the Conservative Party of Canada, The Tyee has learned.

Meanwhile, a CBC watchdog group said Mitchell's move, and the number of other appointees with political ties, show why there is a need for a new board appointment process for the public broadcaster.

The group's spokesman, Ian Morrison, said that while Mitchell did the right thing by stepping down to seek the party presidency, the situation again highlights how the CBC's board can be too easily loaded up with those close to political interests.

Such appointments can cause a problem even after a party is ousted, Morrison said, explaining how the Liberals must now rely on a board appointed by their political enemies to spend a $675-million cash injection to the CBC in coming years.

Morrison said that the Liberals have also done their share of appointing political friends to the CBC board in the past, and argues that many Canadians want change.

Read the full story here..

CBC needs an adult in charge

As CBC supporters must know by now from bitter experience, you can rely on the public broadcaster. It always lets you down. Always.

Last week’s farcical barring and un-barring of Linden MacIntyre from CBC News Network, where he was due to promote his final fifth estate report, had the air and dynamic of awful workplace panic with an added tincture of spite.

It’s not over, this farce, and it might be getting worse. At this point you have to ask – Is there no adult in charge at CBC?  The childish behaviour has become breathtaking.

Read the full story here.

CBC cannot even know what its problems really are

What a cathartic and rejuvenating process the entire Jian Ghomeshi sexual assault scandal has turned out to be, hasn’t it? Admittedly not so much for the victims, who now would seem to number in the dozens, many of them employees at the CBC. Exposed to near daily predations and humiliations of Canada’s most narcissistic public broadcasting star, by all accounts enabled by management, their lives have no doubt been scarred after enduring such a toxic, mortifying workplace.

But putting aside all that unpleasant human devastation, look how positively things have turned out for the CBC and its egotistical, domineering former star. In a statement to staff on Wednesday, the broadcaster’s CEO, Hubert Lacroix and vice-president of “people and culture,” Josée Girard, highlighted how the CBC has grown stronger in the scandal’s wake.

Have a look at the CBC’s own internal investigation, the “Rubin report.”

This is the report, mind you, whose rigorousness was widely doubted, given that it was restricted to probing just two CBC shows, participation was voluntary (and many staff refused), the investigator, Janice Rubin, had a pre-existing relationship with CBC producers, and employees were cautioned not to participate by their union — since executives made it clear their testimonies could be used against them.

Outside the CBC the report has even been called a coverup.

Lacking any real market signals that hold it to account, the CBC might say it’s turned over a new leaf. It might even believe it. But it has no way to know if it’s really fixed its problems. In fact, it cannot even know what its problems really are.

Read the full story in the Financial Post here.

CBC president Hubert Lacroix and board must go

A petition among CBC and Radio-Canada employees says president Hubert Lacroix and board of directors “no longer have legitimacy.”

The two unions representing the vast majority of CBC and Radio-Canada employees across the country are calling for president and CEO Hubert Lacroix and the board of directors to step down, citing a lack of confidence in their leadership.

“We concluded that they no longer have legitimacy,” Isabelle Montpetit, president of Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada, told the Star.

Lacroix, who was reappointed to a second five-year term in 2012, was not made available for an interview. Rémi Racine, chair of the 12-member board, did not return a request for comment.

Read the full story here.

CBC’s Peter Mansbridge is the million-dollar anchor

Ever since the late 80s when he used an offer from one of the American television networks as leverage to replace Knowlton Nash as anchor, Peter Mansbridge has been very adept at influencing CBC news management. The National is now built around his persona.

The National was once the leading newscast in the country, handily beating the competition in raw numbers, but also in breaking news stories. Sadly, its best days are behind it and have been for some years. And, Mr. Mansbridge, with all his awards and honours, has presided over this decline.

It’s been reported, but not confirmed by Mr. Mansbridge or the CBC, that the host of The National is paid over $1 million a year; this at a time when the national broadcaster claims to be cash strapped.

So here’s yet another suggestion. Take the million bucks, hire more reporters and editors, go back to the half-hour format that Canadians clearly prefer, and use a staff announcer, a la Earl Cameron, to read the introductions to the reporter’s stories.

Read the full story here.

CBC Fifth Estate film found at fault

After winning his case in Ontario’s Superior Court, Dr. Leenen said, ‘Four years ago we proposed to settle this law suit for $10,000 and an on-air apology. It was refused…The Fifth Estate persisted and took me through 10 weeks of trial.’

The trial judge awarded very high damages for libel against The Fifth Estate and the CBC as well as individual reporters and producers. The CBC appealed. Ontario’s Court of Appeal disagreed with the CBC, and ruled that Dr. Leenen had been libelled. Finally, the CBC tried to take the case to Canada’s highest court, the Supreme Court of Canada.

Read the full story here.

Peter Mansbridge presided over CBC decline

In the matter of Peter Mansbridge stepping down from CBC’s The National, this might seem ungracious and harsh, but it’s about bloody time.

Mansbridge has spent 28 years as anchor and chief correspondent for CBC Television’s flagship newscast and that’s a very, very long time for anyone to be in a position of on-air authority in the TV business, a business that has changed so much. The traditional anchor position, which Mansbridge embodies in every scintilla in his on-air persona, is outdated and, essentially, redundant.

We have, in fact, shown too much deference to Mansbridge and his ilk for too long.

Yet, what Mansbridge has presided over is a decline. The National no longer has anything like the impact and audience it once had.

Read the full story here.

CBC Peter Mansbridge Secret Liberal Ties

Why did Peter Mansbridge keep his relationship with top Trudeau Liberals a secret?

Like the fact that Mansbridge jetted to Italy to preside over the luxury wedding of Kate Purchase, Justin Trudeau’s director of communications, to Perry Tsergas, another top Liberal operative?

And why was Kate Purchase’s father, Bruce Anderson, allowed to have a seat on Mansbridge’s exclusive “At Issue” TV panel for years — even though he was in an obvious conflict of interest?

What other private dealings does Mansbridge have with the ruling Liberal Party that he hasn’t disclosed?

This is a shocking story.

But it has been virtually ignored by the mainstream media. Imagine their national freak-out if a top CBC journalist had a personal relationship with Stephen Harper’s communications director — and put his father on a CBC panel. What a double-standard!

How can the CBC even pretend to be independent and unbiased now?

Read the full story here.

CBC root problem is inexperienced President and BOD

The long series of ill-formed, unaccountable decisions... makes it clear that an inexperienced, government-appointed president and board of directors is a root problem.

Looking back, it really began in 1992 when CBC TV took a gamble that ignored its most important asset, the public. Then-president Gerard Veilleux and his board of directors moved the flagship national news program from 10 .p.m to 9 p.m. The president claimed preposterously that people were going to bed earlier; research showed that was untrue, and managers thought there were enough internal checks and balances to stop the move to 9 p.m. They were wrong. The change was made and the audience plummeted to new lows.

CBC has announced a new strategy that could equal the 1992 disaster of moving The National. CBC is making Internet services the top priority and CBC TV the lowest.

CBC/SRC.ca's average moment audience for its Internet services, according to comScore, was about 10,000 people in a recent month. This is a small number considering there are 35 million people in Canada; it is in the realm of niche rather than mass media. It is worth mentioning that CBC Internet services are not start-ups, but have been around for 20 years. An hour can't go by without CBC radio and TV reminding you a dozen times to check out CBC.ca, yet the audience remains minuscule.

CBC viewers, listeners and readers may be engaged in different activities but these numerical differences are huge. Yet CBC is reducing the emphasis on established mass media, radio/TV, and increasing the focus on niche, digital media, which will compete with Internet behemoths like Facebook and YouTube.

The CBC's fateful decision to move the national news and the long series of ill-formed, unaccountable decisions since then, makes it clear that an inexperienced, government-appointed president and board of directors is a root problem. The government's review should address this problem.

Read the full story here.

CBC Peter Mansbridge Exposed

Anyone who enjoys a good fairy tale ought to check out the career of Peter Mansbridge, the CBC’s national news reader, as it draws to a close.

In his younger years, Mansbridge never claimed to be a crack reporter or an astute interviewer. He admits he just followed the money, going from radio reporter to television host, competent in both, excelling in neither.

His usefulness had little to do with talent, but he had a testosterone-induced authority and an emotional remoteness that the times and the media required.

Mansbridge’s parting self-reverence has provoked a wave of discontent and a clear lack of gratitude for his services, especially from journalists who understand the difference between kitchen workers and the maitre d’hotel.

In an ironic twist, Mansbridge now finds himself on the sharp end of serious journalism, exposed as making an obscene amount of money for merely putting his voice to the labours of researchers, writers, editors, producers and technicians. The website Canadaland reports (and Mansbridge has not denied ) his most recent salary is just over $1 million a year, plus perks, earning him three times the salary of the prime minister. As the news business is driven to its knees, his negotiated pension will be $500,000 a year, enough to hire 10 journalists with student loans to pay off.

Read the full story in the Winnipeg Free Press here.

CBC pension plan responds to critics

Debra Alves, the plan’s managing director and CEO, describes the challenges of managing a public sector pension plan in a rough environment.

• How would you respond to critics of public sector pension plans attacking them as “pension Ponzi schemes”?

• Will the 10% reduction in the CBC/Radio-Canada budget mean layoffs and, therefore, fewer employees as active contributors to the plan?

• What is the biggest issue that the pension plan faces?

See the answers here.

Surpluses in CBC Pension Fund?

GREAT REASONS TO BE A MEMBER OF THE CBC PENSIONERS NATIONAL ASSOCIATION:

The CBC Pensioners National Association is the sole unified voice advocating on your behalf – with the CBC, with government and in the national community of retirees.

• Thanks to the vigilance and determination of the CBCPNA and its members, we have an agreement with the CBC for sharing surpluses in the Pension Fund – a significant benefit for both today’s pensioners and those who will follow us. There is power in numbers.

• The CBC recognizes the CBCPNA as the vehicle for appointing pensioners’ representatives to critical corporate committees

See even more here.

Synchronous Decline of Peter Mansbridge and The CBC

The (Toronto) Star's Rick Salutin wrote a piece entitled CBC’s Peter Mansbridge coulda bin a contender. Somewhat dirgelike in tone, Salutin asserts that Mansbridge just seems to have given up on doing any substantive journalism, contrasting him with the redoubtable Walter Cronkite, who he describes as ... ready to stand up against the state and the flow and was solid as the bronze statue of the American revolutionary minuteman who stood “by the rude bridge that spanned the flood/ His flag to April’s breeze unfurled.”

Mansbridge, on the other hand, has happily gone with the flow — and the pressure. CBC has become numero uno for crime stories, weather coverage (today’s snow), product launches, celebrities and awards gossip. None of this is new, or news, and CBC itself doesn’t contest the point.

Read the full editorial here.

CBC Peter Mansbridge $10,000 a week retirement

It will come as a relief to Canadians that Peter Mansbridge won’t need to drive for Uber to make ends meet after he signs off from The National next year.

But we don’t have to wait to find out about Mansbridge’s pension. He did not correct Canadaland when it reported that he will pull down $500,000 a year when he is finally dragged out of the studio. If that indeed is the real figure, it is not a pension, it is looting the public purse, because all of this, the outrageous salary, the unnecessary perks, the pension that is really a cash-for-life lottery win ($10,000 a week) each and every year of his retirement, is paid for by the “cash-strapped” CBC, a.k.a. the government; a.k.a. the taxpayer; a.k.a you and me.

Think about it. Is Mansbridge really worth three times more than the prime minister? Has he really earned a pension three times larger than Stephen Harper’s? Should he really be getting double the salary of his own CEO? These questions loom larger when it is remembered that the audience for the National has dropped like a stone since Mansbridge assumed the chair. Today, Lisa LaFlamme at CTV, without the billion dollar grant, is the market leader with twice the audience of the National.

Read the full story here.

Peter Mansbridge Big Bucks

In the wake of Peter Mansbridge's retirement announcement, a new report suggests the CBC veteran won't be living on cat food.

Canadaland reports that Mansbridge makes a whopping $1.1 million per year and is in line to receive a $500,000 yearly pension. Mansbridge told the website the report contains "utter falsehoods."

Citing internal CBC documents, here's what Canadaland is reporting:

Annual base salary: $832,080.80 Overtime buyout: $122,684.00 Wardrobe: $20,000 Speaking engagements: In the wake of a scandal, CBC mandated its stars could not do pay-for-play speaking engagements. Canadaland reports that Mansbridge squeezed the corp for an extra $400,000 in lieu of the speaking gigs.

When he retires, Mansbridge will once again be allowed to pursue lucrative speaking gigs to top off his CBC pension and any other work he does for the network.

Read the full story here.

CBC host Peter Mansbridge to be replaced by unpaid intern

Following Peter Mansbridge’s announcement that he will be retiring as host of The National in 2017, CBC has announced that they will be filling the role with an unpaid internship.

“Hosting CBC’s flagship show The National is a great way to get your foot in the door,” said CBC president Hubert Lacroix. “There’s no better way to learn this job than to start at the top, getting paid in experience.” 

The Craigslist job posting states that the CBC is looking for a young, telegenic person with an interest in broadcasting, a Masters Degree in journalism, 5 years of on air experience, a large social media presence and a willingness to work for free forever.

Read the full story here.

PS - This was too funny not to post!!

CBC Unveils Salaries Report

Four on-air employees at CBC/Radio-Canada earn more than $300,000, but the broadcaster won’t say which ones, arguing it would be a violation of the Privacy Act.

The CBC has released documents online, ahead of a Senate hearing, detailing salaries for their on-air talent and their management team. They show the four top-paid on-air employees earn an average of $485,667.

Another 15 employees make between $200,000 and $300,000.

Read the full story here.

How Much Does CBC Peter Mansbridge Make

He gets over $1.1 million per year and a pension of over $500,000 from the CBC for the rest of his life.

When the CBC implied their star anchor might be getting as little as $80,000 per year to Senate committee in 2014, the Senators called it “just not credible” and “an insult to the committee.” Mansbridge obviously earns more than that, and arguably should.

In fact, documents and information obtained by CANADALAND reveal Peter Mansbridge earns over 15 times what the CBC suggested he did, and will continue in retirement to earn over $500,000 per year from the public broadcaster for the rest of his life through a uniquely generous contract, which designates the brunt of his pay as pensionable base salary.

Sources with firsthand knowledge of the CBC’s inner workings tell us that in 2014, Mansbridge was irked by the CBC’s crackdown on speaking-circuit conflicts. The prohibition came in the wake of CANADALAND reports, including one revealing that Mansbridge received $28,000 for a speech to CAPP, the oil sands lobby group.

A trusted source says that in fall of 2014, Mansbridge demanded that the CBC compensate him for the corporate money he would now have to refuse, a figure he pegged at $250,000 a year. In effect, Mansbridge was asking the taxpayer-funded CBC to pay him to not moonlight for private companies he reports on as a journalist.

Read the full story here.

CRTC Orders CBC Radio 2 To Drop Ads

Here is the good news: the CRTC has ordered CBC/Radio-Canada to end paid advertising on Radio 2 and ICI Musique. The ban begins immediately.

The bad news is that CBC management still seems to think it was doing the right thing when it opened the two radio networks to commercial sponsorship three years ago, with the CRTC's wary approval.

A corporate spokesperson said Wednesday the withdrawal of permission shows "a lack of understanding about the reality of public broadcasting," and "does not help CBC/Radio-Canada serve Canadians."

Read the full story here.

CBC misjudged demand for radio ad sales

CBC/Radio-Canada’s poor numbers from its experiment with paid commercials on Radio 2 and Espace Musique show that the public broadcaster “clearly” misjudged the market for national advertising on its music-focused radio channels, one industry watcher says.

The CBC raised $1.1 million in revenue from ad sales on the two music-focused networks in the 2014 broadcast year, according to the CRTC’s annual report on the financial results of Canadian commercial radio stations.

That’s well below the $10 million the CBC hoped for when the CRTC approved its plan to air ads on the two channels.

Canadian Media Research Inc. president Barry Kiefl said the broadcaster assumed there would be much more demand for the four minutes of ads per hour dictated by the CRTC.

Read the full story here.

CBC’s money losing gift shop

Brian Lilley tells Ezra Levant how the CBC manages to lose money on their gift shop.

Click HERE to see the video interview.

CBC Needs To Stop Giving Animal Cruelty Airtime

As our national public broadcaster, the CBC should presumably reflect modern Canadian values, but when it comes to its coverage of the Calgary Stampede, it chooses to ignore the values of the majority of Canadians who are opposed to rodeos.

Rodeos subject animals to fear, stress and pain just to entertain a crowd. Three-month-old calves running at high speed are roped to a sudden halt, picked up, thrown to the ground and tied up. Steers have their necks twisted until they fall to the ground or are roped by the horns and hind legs, often stretching the animal off its feet. Horses and bulls are tormented by a "flank strap" tied around their hindquarters, which is tightened to make them buck. When it comes to ethically indefensible uses of animals, rodeo is near the top of the list.

Not only are the majority of Canadians opposed to all this, so are virtually all animal welfare agencies, including the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies and the national SPCAs of the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. These are the organizations entrusted with preventing cruelty to animals, yet their views are apparently meaningless to the CBC.

Read the full story here.

New CBC cash will have strings attached

The Liberal government is looking at the British Broadcasting Corporation as it examines the future of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a newly-released document indicates.

The Canadian Heritage department, whose minister Melanie Joly is responsible for the CBC/Radio-Canada, produced a detailed comparison in April of the two public broadcasters.

The document, obtained under the Access to Information Act, compares the mandate, funding and governance of the CBC and BBC, and looks ahead to coming changes for both institutions.

The March 22 Liberal budget provided $75 million to the CBC for 2016-17, with the amount rising to $150 million annually for the next four years.

But the budget also suggested there will be strings attached to the money, as the minister works with the CBC "to develop a five-year accountability plan." Joly has said she is willing to modify the mandate of the CBC.

Read the full story here.

Leenen v. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation et al

Leenen v. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation et al.
[Indexed as: Leenen v. Canadian Broadcasting Corp.] 

48 O.R. (3d) 656

[2000] O.J. No. 1359

Court File No. 99908/96

Ontario Superior Court of Justice

Cunningham J.

April 20, 2000

Torts -- Defamation -- Damages -- General damages -- Documentary television program produced by CBC on alleged dangers of particular drug defaming highly respected research scientist through innuendo that he supported prescribing of killer drugs, that he had conflict of interest, that he was receiving pay-off or kickback from pharmaceutical company and that he acted negligently or dishonestly as chair of ad hoc government advisory committee -- Plaintiff awarded general damages in amount of $400,000.

Torts -- Defamation -- Damages -- Aggravated damages -- Documentary television program produced by CBC on alleged dangers of particular drug defaming highly respected research scientist through innuendo that he supported prescribing of killer drugs, that he had conflict of interest, that he was receiving pay-off or kickback from pharmaceutical company and that he acted negligently or dishonestly as chair of ad hoc government advisory committee -- Plaintiff awarded aggravated damages in amount of $350,000.

Torts -- Defamation -- Damages -- Punitive damages -- Documentary television program produced by CBC on alleged dangers of particular drug defaming highly regarded research scientist through innuendo that he supported prescribing of killer drugs, that he had conflict of interest, that he was receiving pay-off or kickback from pharmaceutical company and that he acted negligently or dishonestly as chair of ad hoc government advisory committee -- Plaintiff awarded punitive damages in amount of $200,000.

Read the full court case here.

CBC Fifth Estate Accused of Sensationalistic Journalism of the Worst Sort

On Feb. 27, 1996, Dr. Martin Myers, a respected cardiologist at Toronto's Sunnybrook hospital, sat down to watch TV. He thought he was going to see a program in which he had taken part about the pharmaceutical industry. As an expert in heart drugs, he had given an interview to explain a complicated medical debate over a drug used to treat high blood pressure.

What he saw was a sensational exposé about killer drugs, kickback schemes and secret files. The tease for the program was a voice clip that said, "People are dying, people who don't need to die are dying."

Dr. Frans Leenen, a top research scientist with Ottawa's famous Heart Institute, also had been interviewed for the program. He was out of the country on Feb. 27, and didn't see it until he returned. He sat down to watch a videotape and learned that he, too, was accused of covering up the killer drugs. To clear their names, the doctors each sued for libel. Dr. Myers asked for an apology plus $25,000. Dr. Leenen asked for an apology plus $10,000. The CBC decided to fight.

A very expensive decision. Last November, a judge awarded Dr. Myers a hefty $200,000, plus interest and costs. Three weeks ago, Dr. Leenen won a breathtaking $950,000, plus interest and costs. His total settlement could amount to more than $2-million, a record for Canadian libel.

Worse still is the sting of the judgments. Both judges ruled that the journalists had twisted the facts and acted with malice. In the Leenen case, Mr. Justice Douglas Cunningham was scorching. "This was sensationalistic journalism of the worst sort and should serve as an embarrassment to this so-called 'flagship' investigative program," he thundered.

Read the full story here.

CBC workplace behaviour of Peter Mansbridge compared to Q host Jian Ghomeshi

Linden MacIntyre has not been barred from appearing on CBC News Network this week despite an internal memo to the contrary.

Jennifer Harwood, managing editor of CBC News Network, sent a memo to some staff late Wednesday stating that interviews with MacIntyre on the network this week have been cancelled.

The memo said the move came about because of MacIntyre’s recent comments to the Globe and Mail comparing the workplace behaviour of Peter Mansbridge to that of ousted Q host Jian Ghomeshi.

In the Globe interview, MacIntyre said Ghomeshi was “allowed to bully and abuse people,” adding that “that’s the way it works, whether it’s Mansbridge, (Peter) Gzowski, whatever. They were not like shrinking violets, either.”

Read the full story here.

CBC threatens to sue for using footage

On this page you will read how serious media bias is. After being invited to appear before a Parliament committee studying physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, on December 3, 1992 Cheryl Eckstein received a call from Kelly Chrichton, producer of the well known Canadian television production Fifth Estate.

Ms Chrichton immediately accused Mrs Eckstein of not returning her calls, alleging they totaled 5 in all. Ms Eckstein tried to assure Ms Chrichton that in fact she had only returned from a speaking engagement to her home city that day and had not even had the chance to check her messages. Further along in the conversation, Ms Chrichton warned Eckstein that CBC was going to sue Eckstein for using footage from a CBC program entitled "Selling Murder." The footage was of "Ich Klange An,- I Accuse" Ms Chrichton added in a very stern voice that anything Mrs Eckstein had to say she could say it to CBC's lawyers who would be getting in touch with her shortly.

Upon hanging up, Mrs. Eckstein immediately contacted Member of Parliament, Don Bourdria, who originally contacted Mrs Eckstein to appear before the committee. Eckstein related the conversation and threat to Boudria. Within hours, Mr Boudria called back and told her to watch the Parliamentary channel early next morning. That morning it was decided by Parliament to strike a new committee to investigate this threat.

Read the full story here.

CBC strategy includes cutting real estate and shedding jobs

CBC/Radio-Canada has released an ambitious strategy for transforming the public broadcaster into a leaner, more agile, digital-first operation, in the face of media convergence and successive waves of budget cuts.

The strategy, called “A space for us all” broadly proposes prioritising content for mobile consumption across all genres and platforms; preserving the broadcaster’s geographical reach, by making savings in programme length in some cases, such as newscasts; selling off real estate and production facilities; and, inevitably but incrementally – reducing the number of staff.

The broadcaster set out two key targets to reach by 2020: doubling digital reach to 18 million Canadians (more than half the population) using its digital services each month; and that 75 per cent of Canadians would express that CBC or Radio-Canada is very important to them personally.

The broadcaster also plans to cut its real estate ownership by 50 per cent. It has also estimates it will shed 1,000 to 1,500 jobs over five years. About 1,000 employees are eligible for retirement, and the CBC loses about 300 through attrition every year, it said.

Read the full story here.

CBC Execs Say Canadians Would Pay For CBC

The heads of CBC/Radio-Canada have told the country's broadcast regulator that Canadians are ready to pay to get the broadcaster's content even if many consider it an acquired right.

They say the current system has become less profitable because of the multiplication of platforms and new players in the market.

Read the full story here.

PS - Are YOU ready to pay more?

Why didn’t the CBC run any of the federal debates?

That private networks such as CTV and Global should, on their own, pass on a political debate probably shouldn’t shock us. Pre-empting scheduled programs, purchased at high prices from Hollywood, can put a network at a competitive disadvantage, costing viewers and, ultimately, advertising dollars. That’s part of the logic behind the traditional “consortium” model of organizing debates: If all the big networks run them, each serves the public interest without risking its own neck.

The CBC’s position is more complicated. Yes, it competes with the privates. But it also receives an annual federal subsidy meant to insulate it from competitive pressure, so it can serve a public-interest mandate. That mandate, to paraphrase the Broadcasting Act, requires the CBC to “inform and enlighten” with nationwide programming “by the most appropriate and efficient means and as resources become available for the purpose.” Surely, a federal election leaders’ debate—professionally produced and available free during prime time—fits that description.

Read the full story here.