The Potential Of Public Media: A Case Study of Reimagine CBC

Tara Mahoney

doi:10.21810/strm.v6i1.85

Abstract

In the spring of 2014, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) announced that it will cut 657 positions and get out of the business of airing professional sports, a pillar of its programming for more than 60 years. As part of a plan to confront a $130-million revenue shortfall projected for the 2014-15 broadcast year, the cuts represent about 8 per cent of the broadcasterâ€™s total work force, compensating for lower ratings and an industry-wide slump in the TV ad market (Houpt & Simon, 2014). Viewed by some as a sign of the imminent collapse and possible restructuring of the CBC (Rowland, 2013), the sidelining of the public service mandate (in favor of the commercial mandate for ratings and profit) offers an opportunity to reimagine what public service media means.

Highlights

In the spring of 2014, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) announced that it will cut 657 positions and get out of the business of airing professional sports, a pillar of its programming for more than 60 years
In a sociopolitical context of unprecedented disengagement from traditional political organizations, eroding faith in modernist institutions, growing individualism, and neo-liberal globalization (Bastedo, Chu, Hilderman & Turcotte, 2011, p. 2), this paper explores how the CBC could do more than reporting on events, but rather compelling and engaging citizens to act together in decisions about public media
In the process the campaign reached out to the president of the CBC, Herbert Lacoix, for his public endorsement of the process. He responded with an encouraging letter of support, which was used to leverage internal decision-making after the Reimagine CBC engagement process was over

Summary

Introduction

In the spring of 2014, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) announced that it will cut 657 positions and get out of the business of airing professional sports, a pillar of its programming for more than 60 years. Public sphere theorist Jürgen Habermas argues that with the rise of late capitalism, citizens are susceptible to becoming passive consumers of goods, services, political administration, and spectacle He suggests that neglecting a more participatory approach, public opinion may shift from debate, discussion, and reflection (what he refers to as communicative action) to the manufactured opinion of polls and spin The “cultural turn” employs a radical democratic view of the public sphere by contending that one individual can encompass several (even contradictory) political positions at a particular point in time by virtue of multiple group identities or memberships This emphasis on difference and highlighting tensions requires new ways of framing social reality that “de-naturalize” conventional perceptions and entrenched ideological positions In regard to citizen participation, Johnson’s “good ideas” come not from sitting “around in glorious isolation”, but from bringing more ideas into the mix (Seltzer & Mahmoudi, 2012, p. 6)

Reimagine CBC

Findings

Conclusion