In the information age, a strong public broadcaster is more important than ever

Many would argue that in the information age there is no longer a need for a national public broadcaster. Those that make that argument however, are already behind the times. The information age has rapidly turned into the age of information overload. In 2014 public broadcasting’s mission may have changed, but the need for it…

Jian Gomeshi’s case and the, uninformed, court of public opinion

As most people know by now, the CBC announced today that it is immediately cutting ties with Jian Gomeshi, the host of the program Q. Those who are following along will also know that just after 6 pm, Gomeshi posted his version of events on Facebook. The Facebook post said, in part “the implication may…

Will we fix the CBC or simply ignore it to death?

I never thought I’d agree with, former head of CBC English broadcasting, Richard Stursburg. During his time at the helm, he did almost as much damage to Canada’s public broadcaster as Stephen Harper has done. The ‘mother corp’ may never fully recover from his reign. However, he was correct when he told a Senate committee…

WNET Demonstrates the Need for PBS by Promoting Fake Reality Shows

There are currently hundreds of TV stations currently broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week but there are maybe 25 shows worth watching. Some of it may actually make you dumber and less informed. WNET has created a series of ads to show the state of television and demonstrate why public broadcasting is…

Fixing the CBC Means More Than Stopping Harper

This week the Canadian internets were abuzz with talk of Stephen Harper’s plan to control the CBC. The thing is that the CBC is horribly broken already and Stephen Harper’s latest authoritarian power grab is the least of their worries. As I understand it, Harper’s plan is to place someone on the CBC’s board to…

Fixing the CBC Means More Than Stopping Harper

This week the Canadian internets were abuzz with talk of Stephen Harper’s plan to control the CBC. The thing is that the CBC is horribly broken already and Stephen Harper’s latest authoritarian power grab is the least of their worries. As I understand it, Harper’s plan is to place someone on the CBC’s board to…

Our founder’s new project: Toronto Public Broadcasting

Some of you will remember the founder of the original parent website of this blog, Justin Beach. He hasn’t gone away completely, but has been keeping busy with a number of different projects, including the launching of a web-based public broadcasting operation focused on the city of Toronto. For details: http://torontopb.blogspot.ca/2012/05/introducing-toronto-public-broadcasting.html

Revisiting CKLN (Part two)

Episode 52 of This Is Toronto is now available! This latest edition is part two of a two-part series that revisits CKLN. The Ryerson-based station was forced to vacate 88.1FM, but will still broadcast online. www.thisistorontopodcast.blogspot.com NEXT EPISODE: June 3, 2011

Revisiting CKLN

Episode 51 of This Is Toronto is now available! This latest edition is part one of a two-part series that revisits CKLN. The Ryerson-based station was forced to vacate 88.1 FM, but is still broadcasting online. www.thisistorontopodcast.blogspot.com NEXT EPISODE: May 20, 2011