Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Evan Solomon fired by CBC
This is puzzling news. Evan Solomon was quite good host of Power and Politics. I watched this program every once in a while. I thought it was quite informative. I don't understand what's going on at CBC. It looks that Harper Government has cut CBC funding by over $200 millions and some employees were making money on the side. Few others are doing it too including Peter Mansbridge, the host of CBC National, -giving speeches unrelated to news and charging high fees.
Read more here.
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The loss of Solomon is a blow to all of us, LD. He was one of the shining lights and one of the few true critical thinkers at the Corporation. I will miss him a great deal.
ReplyDeleteLorne, I fully agree with you. It is confusing that he had informed CBC about his dealings a year earlier and it was okay with CBC. Why are they firing him now?
ReplyDeleteAt this point, LD, I'm far from sure that the CBC can be salvaged (which, after all, would be perfect for SHPM). I long ago gave up watching Canadian television news. I was with CBC television news before and straight through law school and sensed its inevitable decline as the struggle between information and entertainment in news coverage was lost.
ReplyDeleteFew people appreciate that, in an entire half-hour newscast, there are fewer words than found on the front page of a broadsheet newspaper. Within that news budget, puff pieces squeeze out hard news. Important news of the sort people need to inform their decisions is routinely discarded to make room for infotainment.
There's an incredible amount of quality news available online, most of it free. I begin each morning with the excellent Sydney Morning Herald, the Guardian, the BBC, and about 40-others in declining order. After that I'll scan through my lists of progressive and environmental sites and once a week or so I'll take a glance at the major think tanks.
Mark Twain wrote that those who don't read newspapers are uninformed but those who do are misinformed. I can only imagine his apoplexy had he experienced television news.
Thank you Mound for that great comment, I always value your input, your experience and insights. You’re very right about infotainment. With news budgets being cut, journalists lack the resources for real investigative journalism, the kind of research for in depth stories that capture all sides of an issue. I’ve seen this in the Maritime provinces where I live. There are some very talented journalists, but lack of resources and tight deadlines prevent them from doing their jobs.
ReplyDeleteInstead it’s sensationalism, the headline, a grab for ratings rather than substance.No doubt Harper’s cuts are making this worse for the CBC.