Source : Vancouver Sun in The National Post

by Barbara Yaffe

Drug manufacturers ought to produce giant Prozac pills and use a flatbed truck to haul them over to CBC headquarters and all regional offices. The public radio and TV operation surely is one of the most demoralized institutions in Canada.

On Friday, the Canadian Media Guild agreed to a contract on behalf of 3,300 CBC journalists. That has renewed hope a settlement might soon be reached with 1,800 striking technicians.

But no matter how or when the dispute ends, no one can blame CBC workers if they all continue to suffer a huge morale problem.

The organization has been a national punching bag for years, subject to debilitating cuts at the hand of the federal Liberals. "If they let just one more person go, the whole thing falls apart," one cameraman told me recently, only half in jest. While it's true there once was fat at the CBC, it has long since been excised.

Sheila Copps, the Heritage Minister, who inexplicably is risking a trade war with the Americans for Canada's magazine industry, has barely batted an eyelash on the CBC's behalf. Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, still sizzling over the CBC's APEC coverage linking the PMO with a pepper spray incident, also is not an avid fan. He has long been critical of the CBC's French-language wing for a lack of patriotism.

Free-enterprise minded Reformers have never had much time for the publicly funded broadcaster, believing it should operate like PBS in the United States, raising funds from corporate donations.

So, here's where things stand: The CBC's staff roster, 10,000-strong when the Chrétienites came to power in '93, is now down to 7,000. CBC's government revenue has dropped from nearly $1-billion in '93 to $745-million this year. In fact, its reliance on government revenue fell from 76% in '95 to 67% today.

Accordingly, its television wing has had to become more commercial, even airing advertisements during its flagship news program, The National.

This, of course, has denigrated what was best about CBC-TV – its ability to focus on creative excellence without going after the buck. Without having serious news shows interrupted by 60-second pitches for super absorbent maxipads.

Anyone can nitpick over offerings on any network; TV just keeps getting worse every year. But by and large, the CBC, both radio and television, has showcased admirable fare that tends to be more highbrow than that of the commercial networks.

It also devotes genuine effort to keeping Canada in touch with its component parts. (Though it could do that better by offering simultaneous translation for French- and English-language programming.)

In my own three years at CBC in the early '80s, I travelled to the far reaches of Labrador in search of a good story. This is the sort of thing editors allow reporters to do when the preoccupation is serving the viewer, not maximizing dividends for shareholders.

What the CBC lacks is a champion – someone to defend its role in keeping this huge country connected. Someone with an understanding of media, prepared to offer justification for the dollars needed to sustain the CBC's work.

Both CBC president Perrin Beatty and his board of directors have failed to do this. They saw their job as
implementing cuts that were taking place across the board in Ottawa.

Mr. Beatty just passed along orders to cut, chop and dice. To be fair, the fault wasn't all his; he was muzzled by the system. A system that has the PM appointing the CBC's president, chair, and 10 other directors. Mr. Beatty, who steps down later this year, could not be expected to have challenged the person to whom he is beholden for his $173,000- to $228,000-a-year position.

Surely it would be better to allow interested people to apply for directors' jobs. They could submit themselves to a competition, with the arbiter being a professional search team. If we are to have a public broadcaster in Canada, it is crucial the institution be seen as independent.

Moreover, its executives must be unfettered in fighting on behalf of their charge, especially now that the deficit is gone. Why not Ian Morrison, head of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, as a candidate for CBC president?

Independent-minded directors could fight for cash while the government of the day would be left to weigh public opinion, then determine a final annual allocation.

If government keeps cutting and no one speaks out, after a while what remains of the CBC will not be worth saving.

© The National Post