CBC to study whether they are biased

[FlamesAddiction]

There are a lot of people biased against the CBC as well.

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I think that CBC is an absolute necessity.

Do you think there should be a government run national newspaper too? What about a weekly magazine? A monthly magazine, all delivered to your door funded by tax dollars?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

Sorry, but that is the same silly argument people throw out when they complain about government spending at any level.

"Why should I have to pay School taxes if I don't have children?"

"Why should my health care dollars pay for smokers/fatties/extreme sports injuries."

"Why should my tax dollars be used for avalanche rescue/a stupid pedestrian bridge/roads when I don't use them/etc."

We all share these costs because we are a SOCIETY.

School is essential, health care is supposed to be a universal right when you talk about government subscribed health care.

Avalanche rescue saves lives, and non sole sourced pedestrian bridges are useful.

A T.V. station is a luxury, and a service that is covered through private enterprise, and in the particular case of CBC a waste of 1.1 billion dollars that isn't even being spent efficiently.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by Flame Of Liberty

Do you think there should be a government run national newspaper too? What about a weekly magazine? A monthly magazine, all delivered to your door funded by tax dollars?

How about a radio station?

Actually, that might not be a bad idea since my choices here in Ottawa are centre-right (Citizen) and extreme-right (Sun). They are often giving the Sun away for free here and I refuse to touch it.... "Women should be back in the kitchen where they belong" type stuff....

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

School is essential, health care is supposed to be a universal right when you talk about government subscribed health care.

Avalanche rescue saves lives, and non sole sourced pedestrian bridges are useful.

A T.V. station is a luxury, and a service that is covered through private enterprise, and in the particular case of CBC a waste of 1.1 billion dollars that isn't even being spent efficiently.

I think access to information and ideas is a universal right. More important than infrastructure and health care. Access to information not filtered via corporate interests in necessary.

This idea that information is a right is why people are suggesting that internet access should be essential.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I think access to information and ideas is a universal right. More important than infrastructure and health care. Access to information not filtered via corporate interests in necessary.

This idea that information is a right is why people are suggesting that internet access should be essential.

With or without CBC there is no lack of access to information. Its not like CBC is breaking any new ground, or bringing in information before anyone else.

I agree that there is a right to information. I don't believe that CBC offers anything relevant to that. that can't be provided publicly by any of the other massive amounts of media outlets.

You can't even argue about the unbiased nature of CBC in delivering this news or information, as they like any other media outlet has their own slant, CBC is not exclusive in their views.

[transplant99]

I think access to information and ideas is a universal right. More important than infrastructure and health care

Ideas and information are more important than clean tap water and being made well when ill?

That might be the most assinine thing ever uttered.....ever.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I think that CBC is an absolute necessity. What Alberta calls "biased", most of the rest of country calls "evenhanded" and it's CTV and the other private broadcasters that are biased.

The irony of YOU preaching the concepts of bias and neutrality is rather staggering. Especially given your distinction between the "neutral CBC" and "biased private networks" just so happens to fall along political lines.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

I think access to information and ideas is a universal right.

Since when was crappy Canadian programming and high priced American programming a "universal right"?

CBC once served a purpose like this, I agree. It does not anymore. The programming it offers really is no different than any private network, and as such should be treated and funded like a private network. The only unique thing CBC offers Canadians is a romanticized view of the CBC itself. Strip down the romance, and you have a taxpayer funded CTV.

[GirlySports]

I love CBC news and don't think it's biased. I like the documentaries and all the CBC Podcasts are really good too.

Their hockey..that's a different story.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I love CBC news and don't think it's biased. I like the documentaries and all the CBC Podcasts are really good too.

Their hockey..that's a different story.

I don't want to wade too much into this, but felt the need to respond to the bolded part. All news is biased. There's no getting around it. Even if everything a story reports is an undeniable fact or statistic, there is always information being left out, word selection presenting it in a certain light, etc. Every media outlet has a bias or slant, it's just the nature of the beast. In fact the thread title is a bit of a head-scratcher in itself. It shouldn't be a case of studying if there is a bias, it is how much of one there is, and what direction it takes.

For the record, I don't mind CBC television news, and would probably choose to watch it over CTV and Global, if I actually watched television news often enough. I must say I like CBC radio though and wonder why I don't listen to it more often because I do enjoy some of their progams. I like it when late at night they will broadcast a feed from radio stations in other countries. It gives an interesting perspective. As for CBC-TV's non-hockey programming, it is mostly unappealing to me. There's the odd show I like though.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

(1) It doesn't need to be a business model. That's the point. Just like the BBC or PBS, it doesn't need to turn a profit.

(2) Actually, 1.1B in taxes is tiny in comparison with other countries.... What does that work out to? $40 per person? Switzerland pays $154 per person. The average across the G20 is $80. I think the numbers would show that the CBC is UNDERfunded.

Can you pay my $40 then for this year?

[GirlySports]

Just the plain news can be unbiased.

"Today 154 people died as a bus fell off a cliff in Jibukistan, Observers say the bus hit a rock and swerved out of control"

That's it!

[CrusaderPi]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Just the plain news can be unbiased.

"Today 154 people died as a bus fell off a cliff in Jibukistan, Observers say the bus hit a rock and swerved out of control"

That's it!

Pffft lax conservative vehicle regulations caused that crash. Well, that and permissive liberal licensing policies.

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Just the plain news can be unbiased.

"Today 154 people died as a bus fell off a cliff in Jibukistan, Observers say the bus hit a rock thrown by a liberal MP after a night out with hookers and blow and swerved out of control"

That's it!

FYP if it was being reported by another channel.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

It might be due to me being a liberal/ndp leaning person over being conservative.

I personally see CTV as being the most biased by far, with Global only being slightly better, and CBC the most middle ground of the bunch.

It's the same with the American's networks, I find Fox and MSNBC to be nut job level of being biased with CNN leaning slightly left, but the most central of the 3.

I'm sure that conservative leaning people would flip CTV with CBC in my example above.

I would agree with you that it probably is because of ones political views.
For example, I agree with you about the American channels cause we would probably vote the same way down there (crappy two party system) but in Canada I would vote CPC.

[SeeBass]

Originally Posted by longsuffering

Sorry, but that is the same silly argument people throw out when they complain about government spending at any level.

"Why should I have to pay School taxes if I don't have children?"

"Why should my health care dollars pay for smokers/fatties/extreme sports injuries."

"Why should my tax dollars be used for avalanche rescue/a stupid pedestrian bridge/roads when I don't use them/etc."

We all share these costs because we are a SOCIETY.

You know there are taxes that are user pay only.

I don't think the original poster was way off base wishing the CBC was too.

[Bunk]

Biased toward what? A particular party? Liberal Party? Liberal ideas?

Any specific examples out there?

[Pastiche]

Did no one read Cowperson's article? Basically explains why the Conservative party is going after the CBC.

Charges of media bias, we concluded, may reflect more than self-serving attempts to secure preferential treatment. They may result from the operation of basic cognitive and perceptual mechanisms, mechanisms that should prove relevant to perceptions of fairness or objectivity in a wide range of mediation and negotiation contexts.

Basically the article says that people who are biased perceive bias against them much readier.

[zuluking]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

There was no potshot. Alberta is generally more conservative than the rest of the country. Therefore what someone with a conservative slant would find "biased" would be totally different. I think you will find most conservatives in the US would say that Fox is "fair and balanced" while CNN has a "liberal bias".

As for why the CBC is necessary, it is because as was stated earlier in this thread, they provide programming and a point of view that is unlikely to be found on a commercial network. Like PBS or the BBC, they provide a service to the public unlikely to be found elsewhere. Given that they are not slave to corporate interests, it gives them a unique perspective from which to operate. Take MarketPlace for example... Wendy Mesley recently took "Herbal Magic" to task for selling unnecessary diet products and lying to consumers about those products. Other stations would steer away from such stories to avoid drawing the ire of potential advertisers. Yes, CBC does have advertisers (which I disagree with... I think we should be paying the whole budget to avoid such conflicts of interest as I just suggested) but they are not preoccupied with making the revenues match expenses in ways that would require them to mold their programming to the goal of making a profit.

Yes, it was. You brought up a completely irrelevant point into the discussion. The article doesn't suggest that the CBC is reviewing itself for bias because Albertans think they're biased. Where does Alberta factor into the article or debate? It's just you trying to obfuscate the discussion by suggesting it's just those redneck Albertans ag'in kickin' up a 'fuss. The rest of the country is just fine with the CBC.

And if Marketplace is this big reason that CBC is on the air, then cut it back to a specialty channel. Call it the Corporate Ballbusting Corporation or something. Then you can trim off hundreds of millions of dollars of filler crap that would either never get produced (because it's awful) or imported American stuff (which the CBC is supposed to be the big defender against.)

You talk of the CBC in terms of what you wish it was, not in what it really is. And back to the topic of bias and that one is inherently biased to what they already believe, any bets on what the CBC is going to discover? I think they'll find that they're the most unbiased news organization ever in the history of the world.