wtf CBC?

For the longest time after I left journalism, friends would ask “do you miss it?” My most thoughtful response was always “Not really, except when there is a crisis.” The reason is that in a crisis you know that’s when the listeners or viewers are really paying attention. During a crisis is when the public is most reliant on you to bring them solid information they desperately want or need to know.  For a journalist, a crisis is when the juices flow. 

Moncton City police murders 1974. Photo Credit; CANCRIME.COM

I think back to the mid 70’s when I was a rookie reporter with CKCW radio in Moncton. One of the suspects in a double police murder in that city was at large, and the city was on edge. You knew when you went on the air with updates during those tense days that everyone was absolutely glued to their radio. I will never forget that feeling. The point is that it is in a crisis like that when the local news media matters most. 

Jump ahead fifty years or so. This time another crisis, same city. A man again at large after killing police officers. The city again on edge. The difference this time is social media, but even with that, people relied on the local media, the reporters they were familiar with, for the facts. 

There have been so many crisis over the years – floods, fires, major crimes, the list goes on. And in every one of them, it was the local news media that mattered most, that was called on to rise to the challenge. 

Photo Credit: Heywood.com

And now we find ourselves in the biggest crisis of our lifetimes, a time when journalists and newsrooms are more relied upon than ever. And with a crisis that touches all corners of our world, nothing is more important than our own corner. That’s what we want to know about most. How is this affecting us and our neighbours? 

So what in the world was CBC thinking? Were they sitting around strategizing about how to best handle this major story and someone said  “I know, we’ll close down the local supper hour news shows that our viewers are familiar with, and give them a show coordinated out of Toronto instead”? Was that it?   

Harry Forestell, host, The CBC News for New Brunswick Photo Credir: cbc.ca

The rationale from CBC was that this would consolidate their resources but at what cost? Now we have The CBC News for New Brunswick host Harry Forestell doing a regional insert in what used to be his provincial newscast. His role has been reduced to that of a regional reporter and the show reduced to an item or two in a bigger program. 

What these CBC managers apparently failed to consider, or understand, is the local audience. We want to hear, for example, if there are enough resources at our New Brunswick hospitals, is our government handling this as effectively as it should be, we want to see how our service sector employees are fairing with no income, and what our various New Brunswick landlords might be doing to help their tenants get through this.  And how are our homeless shelters and food banks coping? And what can I do to help right here in our province? You can see where I am going. There is no end to the angles that CBC’s New Brunswick reporters could and should be pursuing in the midst of this. 

And it’s not just about the content. It’s about seeing the show and reporters we have come to trust and rely on. It’s the reassurance that comes with familiarity. A token amount of local content woven into a national show won’t cut it when their competitors CTV and Global are continuing with their full regional shows. 

CBC head offices, downtown Toronto. Photo Credit: dreamstime.com

I think back to the late 80’s when I was part of the CBC Information Morning team in Fredericton. I don’t know to what point they still do it, but back then, every once in a while people from CBC’s head offices in Toronto would share their two cents on how they felt we were doing, quality-wise. In short, their view on how we measured up. I recall the day they criticized us for doing an item on deer hunting, a segment we did to coincide with the start of deer season. In their view this was a poor editorial choice because “nobody cares about that”. I could understand how they could come to that conclusion, as indeed there is no hunting in downtown Toronto. So how could CBC upper management on the top floors of the CBC Headquarters there, possibly see past the smog of the 401, to notice that the majority of New Brunswickers live in rural areas and that deer hunting was indeed “a thing” here. 

I mention this because I expect the eye rolling that greeted that CBC Toronto assessment way back then would have been repeated last week when this directive to suspend the supper hour news shows came down.   

It would appear narrow, centralist, out-of-touch thinking has survived through the generations at Mother Corp.  A difference perhaps is that back then it was easier for local CBC management to ignore edicts from on high than apparently it is now.  Or so I hear.  

Premier Higgs declares a State of Emergency over coronavirus. Photo Credit: Steve MacGillivray, Canadian Press

A pity really. Not only was it a bone-headed journalistic move to reduce local TV news, but in its shortsightedness it could very well mark the death knell for the local supper hour TV newscasts, in New Brunswick and other provinces. It takes what – 14 days to form a habit on average, according to the experts?  I expect many of the loyal viewers of the CBC News for New Brunswick, when they tuned in at 6:00 to find it wasn’t on, decided they may as well give Global or the CTV a try. And then they discover that Steve Murphy down there is Halifax doesn’t do that bad a show, and in fact has just as much or more New Brunswick content than CBC does. And perhaps the same with Global. And I expect many of those people, once their habit of watching one of those competitors is fixed, won’t be coming back. Given the change was made the middle of last week the damage to viewership numbers may already be done. 

I have to wonder if this could lead to CBC permanently eliminating or downsizing local TV newscasts? I may be way out in left field predicting this, and I hope I am, but is it out of the realm of possibility? Does this ill-advised decision move CBC local suppertime news down the road to irrelevance? If so it would be a damn shame because they do some solid journalism, often on important stories that no one else is inclined to touch. 

It’s as if CBC doesn’t have the good sense to get out of its own way sometimes.

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Cover photo credit: Tai’s Captures - Unsplash