Senate report says 'time for change' at the CBC
A new Senate report is calling for major changes at CBC/Radio-Canada. Conservative Senator Donald Plett, the deputy chair of the Senate's transport and communications committee, says, "Canadians want something else."
"Canadians are entitled to ask whether the more than $1 billion of taxpayers' money now going to the public broadcaster could be reallocated and used more efficiently in providing and promoting Canadian content."
Senator Plett compared the CBC to the UK's public broadcaster, the BBC. "We found that the CBC was less than transparent when it comes to reporting executive salaries...[At] the BBC I can go online and I can find out what every person is making
"The other thing that is wrong is when some of the highest paid [journalists] are doing speaking engagements that clearly, in many cases, could put them in a conflict, when they are doing speaking engagements on companies that they are reporting on."
Plett applauds the CBC's decision to reverse its policy of allowing employees to give speeches for money to outside groups. He maintains, however that major changes are needed in the way the CBC is governed. The report calls for the CBC's Board of Directors to take over supervision of the CBC's CEO, as well as its English and French language ombudsmen.
Board members are appointed by the Prime Minister, but Plett is not concerned about the possibility of political interference. "It would be impossible to argue that any board would be entirely independent. Somebody's appointing that board."
Nor does Plett believe the CBC needs more money. "Canadians don't want us to give the CBC more funding. They want the CBC to manage with the funding that they have."
The report calls for the CBC to find alternative sources of income and for a portion of its budget to be diverted to fund independent productions which might air on the CBC.
All of this is in stark contrast to what Liberal senator and committee member Art Eggleton is calling his minority report. Eggleton calls for an independent process to select CBC board members. He also says that the CBC funding should be increased at a stable level of approximately $40 per Canadian.
Listen to our interview with Eggleton here.
Update:
A follow-up e-mail from Senator Plett's office points to the BBC's policy on salary disclosure. It indicates that the BBC publishes exact compensation figures only for "senior managers who have a full-time equivalent salary £150,000 or more or who sit on a major divisional board." The BBC also publishes compensation information for on-air talent "in eight salary bands, with the total amount paid in each band and the number of individuals listed in most of those bands."
The CBC says that the Senate report fell short of expectations.
"Frankly, we were hoping for more," said spokeswoman Alexandra Fortier, manager of media relations and issues management. "This report fails to propose constructive suggestions to address any of the real challenges facing the broadcasting system."