Is the CBC Biased?
Is the CBC biased?
CBC president Hubert Lacroix aims to find out.
The CBC has commissioned a study to determine whether its news is biased, the president of the public broadcaster told the Senate finance committee this week.
“Our job — and we take it seriously — is to ensure that the information that we put out is fair and unbiased in everything that we do,” CBC President Hubert Lacroix said.
He said CBC asked outside experts to conduct an independent review of its news gathering and delivery last year.
Lacroix’s comments come on the heels of weeks of criticism from Conservative loyalists who disagreed with the CBC’s decision not to acknowledge that one of its house pollsters and frequent guest on the air also donated substantial sums to the Liberal Party. There’s more on that here.
The study itself was commissioned in January 2009. Results are expected this fall.
What do you think? Is the CBC biased?
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I don’t consider CBC news except maybe biased toward reality. That the CBC does not give equal time to “scientists” who think that dinosaurs never really existed doesn’t = bias. If only 1 in 4 pundits on the CBC think that Global Warming isn’t happening or isn’t man made – the CBC is actually being overly generous since only 1 in 100 scientists think that way.
What I’m more concerned about is the deterioration in quality. There have been several instances lately where the research/fact checking was incredibly lax and lead to some bad reporting Ann Coulter, for example, was not censored by anyone but Ann Coulter – but that wasn’t the CBC’s story.
I’m also concerned about the amount of trivia, fluff and nonsense clogging the arteries of CBC news. CBC is becoming increasingly irrelevant to me as a news source.
If it is biased, it’s a bias we need it to have in order to preserve an ongoing, true competition of ideas. I have no complaints with that.
Is the CBC biased?
Does a bear poop in the woods?
Yes and why is a so-called “Public” broadcaster being allowed to run TV commercials?
Stupidity!
Oh my goodness, yes. I can barely watch the news on the CBC.
CBC biased? Is the Pope Catholic? Good Lord, where do you start? The ‘news’ is purely progressive agenda propaganda, and Radio is even worse in that ALL their shows support their progressive views on all things Lefty. And it’s been that way for decades. There is nothing, nothing on CBC that I watch on purpose. Occassionally I’ll pass by CBC news on TV and stop momentarily, but the bias rears its head within minutes and I have to change it.
The CBC should be either completely defunded, or turned into the propaganda arm for Right-wingers for the next 20 years. After all, it’s our turn now.
Absolutely the CBC is biased! Aside from the fact that they use a Liberal pollster, the tone of accusation when discussing the Tories is always skeptical and full of accusations and innuendo. When it’s the Libs or NDP they are balanced and fair.
It’s not just a Left/Right bias either. The CBC is horribly condescending to Western Canadians and rural Canadians all the time, and has a savage anti-Christian bent.
Rather than doing an internal, opaque study of themselves that will surely absolve them of any bias, why not commission a poll of Canadians and see how many Canadians view the CBC as biased? After all, if they even APPEAR to be biased, they are failing at their jobs.
Well, it was biased when I stopped watching and listening a couple years ago. I doubt it has changed any.
yes
Biased? How about irrelevant, out-of-touch, incompetent as well? When will the pitching of our tax dollars down this black hole ever cease?
Is the CBC biased? Isn’t everyone? The trouble here is the denial that they are a liberal cheer leading section that takes every opportunity to make the CPC and Stephen Harper look bad for Canada. However, if you mean not supportive of the failed Trudeaupian multicult ideal, you’re right. I would defund the CBC in about five minutes rather than have to yell, “Speak for yourself!” every other five minutes.
Finally, the day it’s officially confirmed that AGW is a hoax and Al Gore a total fraud, I fully expect the CBC to do an hour special on its dangers, that very night.
CBC Pravda biased? To its very core.
I suspect the CBC after thoroughly investigating itself will find itself faultless and will absolve itself of all malfeasance.
As to the matter of methodology;
“CBC refused to comment on the study’s methodology Thursday.”
I also see no reason to delve into the unseemly business of methodology.
As to nominating worthy people to staff this investigation may I suggest; Heather Malik, Frank Graves, Marci McDonald, Mary Walsh & Ed Grimley.
Does the Pope like big hats?
Privatize the CBC, it serves no purpose and has degenerated into a gold plated employment agency for Liberal trough sucking cheerleaders.
Yes, from what I have observed while watching CBC News I would say that it definitely has a strong, persistent left-wing and anti-conservative bias. My concern is that because similar past studies (see http://ezralevant.com/2010/05/the-cbcs-leftwing-bias.html) have nevery been published, how much confidence can we have that this will bring about any real and lasting change? As a public corporation, the CBC not only has a responsibility to make sure its information is “fair and “unbiased” but als that it is fully accountable to the public.
If you have to ask whether the CBC is biased or not you are in an altered state and need to see someone about that.
I think the CBC is flagrantly biased. The problem lies in the fact that those producing the news and commentary are so immersed in the liberal/left mindset and spend so much time with those of their own ilk, that they are almost viscerally incapable of imagining that there could be any other world view. If the CBC wishes to continue spouting their left wing rubbish I really have no objection. I am, after all, one of those utterly intolerant, narrow-minded, right-wing, redneck, racist, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing “free speechers”. (Did I miss any of the usual slurs applied by the “tolerant” left? So re-educate me.) My objection lies in being forced to pay for their drivel through my taxes. Cut them loose.
Is the sky blue??
Asking if the CBC is biased is like asking if the Pope is Catholic.
The journalists at the CBC constantly reflect a left-wing worldview. It never dawns on them to get the views of very conservative or religiously conservative individuals.
The only people who don’t think the CBC is biased are Liberals and Socialists and Anti American hate mongers.
Body Language experts would just have to watch Peter Mansbridge’ smirk anytime he mentioned George Bush.
The CBC is very biased. It is anti conservative and pro liberal in almost every issue. Not reporting climategate, glossing over or not reporting on liberal gaffs while going on and on about conservative ones, Frank Graves and the ekos thing, using the term teabaggers and saying one thing about a certain woman tory minister one day and then acting like you never said anything and taking a completely different point the next are just a few examples I can think of. You should be called “the liberal broadcast network”.
CBC news is absolutely biased towards the left. There is no question at all. They live off big government subsidies, ie they are on the payroll. They fear fiscally conservative government policy, and their reporting reflects their fears. Its completely a natural thing for people (reporters in this case) to do. Their livelihood depends on big government and their spending therefore the CBC’s reporting reflect a view of the news that perpetuates and ensures their interests.
Is the Pope Catholic?
Do bears shit in the woods?
Yes.
The CBC is not simply biased, it actively promotes misinformation and anti conservative propaganda. Its goal is not to inform but to misinform the public, and it does it with the publics money.
The CBC is the MOST biased of all Canadian news organizations. The CBC relies on (demands!) socialist policies to continue a propaganda-laced agenda of misinformation and political spin. If you are a regular watcher of the CBC, you will be newthink’d into believing that high taxes = good, job-producing corporations = bad, hardworking people = greedy, and government control (rather than independent, local control) = a necessity. I vociferously oppose my tax dollars funding the artifical CBC “media” (if you want to call it that) machine.
The CBC has an agenda that is so obvious , it is no wonder your ratings stink. Your coverage is one sided. “Climate Change” the network has been promoting it as fact for years sighting every stupid tidbit that comes out of some obscure study as proof that is it happening. What happens when real news comes out that the “settled science” is not so settled? Silence! Any Liberal talking point is stated on your network news and it goes unchallenged “Afghan Detainee” pick a newscast. Your on air “talent” drip with condescension when interviewing people they do not share the same views with and fawn over the one they do agree with. Basically your news and information programing plays to a “Friends of Public Broadcasting” demographic and that is it. I am fine with that but it bugs me that my taxes go to support the news and information tastes of not even half a million people , Get off the tax payer teat and go to a PBS funding model and see if those half million people will put their money where their mouth is. In closing Your Newscasts suck!
Of course the CBC is biased and it slants news and it selectively reports news . That’s bad enough, but the real problems are:
1) the CBC smugly and deceitfully pretends it is objective
2) we taxpayers pay for this crap.
The CBC is as useful as a chocolate teapot – get rid of it – preferably by 5:00 pm today.
I assume that was a rhetorical question.
Yes. The left-wing, ‘progressive’ biase is so ingrained it will never be removed without abolishing the institution, which they should.
Of course the CBC is biased. The TV and Radio personalities portray a very obvious disdain for any “right wing” thought, person, group, or organization. While they may claim to be unbiased, their bias is so ingrained into their personalities they don’t notice it. Issues, mistakes, and wrongdoing from the left are typically downplayed or brushed off, with an attitude that it was probably an innocent mistake, because the left are the good guys. When the same thing happens involving someone from the right, they make a big deal of it and try and paint the entire right as evil, callous, racist, bigoted, etc. This is why I don’t bother to get my news from the CBC any more.
Absol-freakin-lutely they are biased. Yesterday a CBC report out of Calgary revealed no charges would be laid in the mortgage fraud thingie. The RCMP had not made a decision. Totally fabricated. I posted to the site it was false. Whether they published that comment or not is irrelevant.
There are numerous examples from the rabid promotion of some nut with a book out on a Christian Conspiracy to made up wafer stories admitting NO responsibility for their role.
I swear when Kinsella was with the federal Libs he wrote your stories for you.
So not only do I believe there is bias, I also detect a strong anti-Christian meme. Destroying things does not help you for you will not survive the upheaval.
The CBC is an blatantly left-wing biased organization. I wouldn’t have a problem with that if it wasn’t for the fact that taxpayers are forced to fund a left-wing group.
The Toronto Star is a lefty rag and the National Post leans to the right, but we’re not forced to support either one.
Stop the extortion of taxpayers to fund your left-wing ideology.
If the CBC died today at 3:18PM and remained off the air for a week nobody would give a rat’s a$$.
The CBC is so infused with institutional liberal bias that it’s incurable. It needs to die.
To the right, CBC is biased and will always be biased until all reporters, announcers and news rah-rah everything the Harper government does. They must be the propaganda arm of the CPC Party and even then, if there is one word that doesn’t fawn over the Party, they will still be considered biased.
These people are a joke.
Is the CBC biased? NO. Biased might imply something subtle, and the CBC is not subtle. It is an overt left wing cheering section which hates most of its fellow citizens.
In order to achieve fairness in a biased sort of way, Harper should fund a new media outlet dedicated to fronting for the conservative point of view. An announcement that this media outlet, FOCS (for our conservative supporters), will be managed by Rupert Murdoch and funded with public money will cause all of the CEEB supporters to have EHS (esploding head syndrom). I think I would actually pay money to witness this.
CBC is long past bias, their “reporters” are openly hostile to all things not socialist and/or destructive to the country.
They openly lie about the fake science of AGW and they push socialism and big government.
Biased hell yes!, traitors to the interests of Canadians and Canada? hell Yes!
Liberal and UN stooges? yup.
Waste of taxpayers money? double yup.
Shut it down, it’s an international embarrassment.
Biased, does a bear poop in the woods? Why not get Hether Malice, and Neil MacDonald to do the study?
You guys are left of Stalin.
Radio 1 and 2 are getting just as bad as the TV ,
yesterdays Anna maria tremonti allowed two hard left feminazis to attack the government with repeated claims that conservatives hate women, No examples or facts just the constant repetition of “Harper hates women” it was little more than left liberal cheer leading.
Another annoyance is the gooey adulation for Trudeau’s pup.He may well stand for the outdated upper-lower Canada that the limited intellects at the Ceeb cling to, but it is a limited view that will eventually destroy this country.
” The billion-dollar Liberal campaign machine called the CBC.”
This comment voiced by another writer says it all.
I gave up listening to CBC when “Rawhide” went off the air and never watch CBC TV.
If the CBC were a news organization, then it would clearly be biased. However it only pretends to be a news organization. in reality it is an anti-conservative political organization with a broadcast license and 1.3 Billion of our tax dollars.
Well, it’s only a left wing bias, so it’s OK.
A billion dollars a year stolen for “Lets-Elect-Liberals.” 24/7.
Play a game next time you watch the CBC News.
When the news reader won’t identify the party affiliation of whatever politician is the subject of their story, (international or domestic) it’s either a story of good done by a conservative or bad done by a liberal.
At exactly the same time when the news reader does identify the politician’s political party it’s when a conservative does bad or a liberal does good.
Everytime!
Deep six this POS commie cancer on democracy and freedom.
Is the CBC biased? Does a bear **** in the woods?
If it isn’t going to be shut down, then move the whole freaking thing to Regina, Winnipeg, Saskatoon or Edmonton.
The heady days of the pioneering CBC are long gone and the urban rot has set into the soul. If they can’t live without their downtown Toronto soirées then they shouldn’t be sucking on Canada’s teats.
Up next, Col Sanders to study if chicken bad to eat
Recently, in messages to my brainy
Pinko cousin in Scotland, I compared the BBC to our CBC. He couldn’t see the bias but several days ago conceded (to my great surprise) that I was right about the BBC:
“As soon as the Tories won the election, i.e. Friday 7th May, the BBC (TV) persistently gave reasons why Labour should stay in coalition with x, y, z, etc ; they literally shouted down the (now) Home Secretary when she said Labour must go; when anyone quietly said such as “Brown is in an untenable position” they never just left it – they always gave the “state TV channel” reason why Brown must never go.
While Cameron was being driven to the palace the BBC said his increase in the income tax threshold is unaffordable; after he had kissed hands, the BBC covered nothing but Brown for hours; you would not think there was a new P.M.
Now, the BBC are walking up to people in the street saying “the coalition won’t last” – only broadcasting those who agree.
So your critique of the BBC is quite correct.
We are like Zimbabwe”.
Now if a radical Leftie can see it ….
The CBC is irreparably biased. The CBC should run on public donations. Unfortunately for the CBC their listener demographic is good at spending other people’s money but very tight fisted with their own money, a lot of which I assume they got from the government.
Man I could go for a soirée right about now.
I’d say the CBC has one heck of a hill to climb to get to any sort of a place where they could honestly call their reporting “unbiased” .
This doesn’t mean “RAH RAHing ” the CPC at every turn. It means reporting the news fairly and their on air personalities not offering disparaging coments or attemptng to slant the information.
If there is to be comentary on the news then it should be balanced and should draw equally from both crirical and positive camps.
Editing of news pieces should fall under far more scruitny than it now does.
I’m sure that most of us remember the furor from last year (or perhaps it was 2008) when a certain CBC reporter concocted a flagrantly biased news story by creating a video that contained a question to PM Harper on one subject and inserted an answer to a completely unrelated question rather than the actual awswer.
This was caught fairly quickly by people on the internet but the CBC was very slow to act to correct the misinformation when they were outed and the skulduggery was exposed.
Who cares? Who watches the CBC any more? With Digital TV for the PC I have almost 3,000 channels from around the world for $20. If I could pick channels from Rogers or Shaw instead of being forced by the CRTC to buy massively overpriced crap I don’t want to get the handful I do want then the CBC would not be on the list. Sell it on the TSX (ie make it a genuinely ‘public’ company) or sell off the land and gear and fire everybody. Few would ever notice it was gone.
For those who do care, well, Socialism is a cult. It’s a religion. Most of what they go on about — regulating public morality, medicine, education, charity — are religious concerns. I couldn’t imagine anyone who isn’t a Socialist surviving four years at King’s J-Skool (or worse, Rye High) and I certainly couldn’t imagine anyone who isn’t a Socialist working at the CBC.
Christian law and morality are expressed in a Christian’s actions, words, and decisions even if they never mention their faith. Same thing with Socialists. Expecting either to be ‘unbiased’ is just plain silly. Acknowledge Socialism as a religion and apply the same stupid CRTC rules that people of other faiths have to contend with, and the problem will be solved very quickly.
Of course it is biased.
How can it be the mouthpiece for the progressive socialist agenda from downtown Toronto, Montreal & Vancouver without being biased?
How can it spout all the Trudeaupia multi-culti nonsense without being biased?
How can it run a story on a group practicing to be terrorists, practicing to blow up the Parliament buildings and behead the Prime Minister and not mention the key and salient fact that all the members of the terrorist wannbe’s are claim to be muslim jihadis?
Of course the CBC is biased.
And useless for Canadians.
And dangerous for Canadians because the distort reality to suit their biases.
Take the $1.2 Billion dollars and give it to DND to buy better equipment for our troops.
Yeah, it’s biased, but I think the bias occurs naturally. Left leaning people very ofter don’t perceive their own bias…they just think they hold opinions that sophisticated, decent people hold.
Where as Right leaning people are usually a little more self aware.
So when endless stories with a left tilted agenda or frame, appear on the CBC, the people involved think nothing of it, because their views are so entrenched and unchallenged by the environment that the CBC creates.
The fact the CBC refused to report on Climategate was the last straw for me. The biggest story of 2009 and they acted like it didn’t exist.
Truly shocking.
is the CBC biased? I will start off by mentioning as I started to show my small company’s name in the email address there was a hesitation on my part to show it. The hesitation was a reluctance to betray my small company to a potential difficulty down the road if a Liberal Government was ever to climb out of it’s abyss. I guess my opinion is revealed by this hesitation, I hope our employees won’t suffer for any carelessness on my part in responding to this request for a comment.
The CBC should be beheaded!
Two things have led to the CBC becoming the unreliable, biased mess it is today:
- Any enterprise that is funded with money confiscated from people, most of whom don’t consume its products, will reflect the world view of its employees, not its “customers” or some “unbiased” middle ground. The CBC is a cloister of urban leftists that share a common world view and is run like a bureaucracy, not a private enterprise. Thankfully, at least the public that is forced by law to fund its operations isn’t forced to consume its product.
- The very survival of the CBC (and the livelihood of its employees) depends on annual infusions of $1 billion confiscated from taxpayers. This fact alone allows the CBC to stay afloat against competition from privately-funded networks like CTV, Global, etc. Having government prop up the CBC in this manner creates a natural affinity in its employees towards “big government” solutions in general.
WOW~! Can anyone honestly ask that question and hold a straight face?!?
…but what does it matter? Anyone who thinks the CBC is biased will just be written off as a rural, Western Canadian, racist, redneck. you know of course.. you got your culture war thing happening and all….
The CBC is still around?
Is the CBC biased? I wouldn’t know. I stopped watching all those social-engineering broadcasts years ago. When David Suzuki proposed that global warming ‘deniers’ be jailed for daring to speak their mind, did the CBC take any action?
There is no longer any need for the CBC. Instead of pouring $1.6B per annum into this Liberal party samizdata provider let’s sell off the assets and let all the socialists entrenched in the CBC try to keep a real job where they’re are actually held accountable.
This my friends, is more than media biast the CBC.
It’s utter cynical contempt for the Canadian people.
In order to create the perception create the perception that the minority are the majority and the majority are bad, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, francophobic, religious etc.; labels used as weapons to try to destroy and invalidate counter opinion and to attempt to intimidate Canadians into not speaking up or speaking their mind.
The CBC should be beheaded.
`
Just to comment on the Radio side as well. You should change the tag line to ” The All Victim Network”. Pick a show that is on the network at anytime of day and it will be featuring some , Gay Group, Woman’s Group, Native Group, Immigrant Group, name a group that is a “Victim” of some perceived injustice. I used to listen to CBC radio all the time when I traveled now I cringe if I listen to it for few seconds. In closing, Your Radio Programming and Hosts SUCK AS WELL!!
I am just a regular hard working Canadian; I pay my taxes and plays by the rules. I donate and volunteer to causes that I feel are deserving. However I am forced to donate to the CBC through taxes and it makes me feel physically sick when I see it demonize people like me..
I used to think that the CBC (especially radio) was a great institution. Increasingly over the past few years I have become more and more disappointed with their obvious bias towards the liberal and NDP and it appears hatred for the Conservatives- especially for Prime Minister Harper. I no longer watch or listen to any CBC programs.
YES! YES! YES! and alarmingly biased.
CBC’s agenda is so obvious, I
can rarely watch it’s news programming.
And the public gets to pay for that?
Take it off the air, it is not credible.
They should have saved this for April 1st. Fire them all! (Except for Don Cherry)
I am a Canadian citizen who wants the CBC kept alive as a Crown corporation, fully funded and free to disagree with the government of the day, no matter which party’s running that government. To the critics of the network’s very existence I pose this question in reply to your demands and opinions: since when should I agree to shut up and let what I don’t want to see done happen to it?
It is interesting that the two comments immediately after the article was posted deny any bias by the CBC. After that nearly all comments charge bias. Are the first two commenters CBC employees?
Not just biased but incompetent. Days late picking up major stories, continuing to report items that have been clearly proven to be wrong. CBC News is only of interest if you want to see how much it’s spun – as a credible unbiased news source, it’s a joke.
CBC Radio, all the problems with the news multiplied by 1000. I hadn’t listen since the Gzowski years but recently tuned in to escape the John Moore. Not much has changed, far left bias presented as mainstream Canada.
Pull the funding and let it live or die on it’s ad sales and/or the donations of it’s fans. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind kicking in a few bucks. Think of it as a tax if it makes you feel better.
Dwight, No-one has told you to be quiet. Why do you insist that I be forced to pay for the CBC, which you enjoy?
Nope.
Privatize it. Then they can do what they want.
Is the CBC biased? Is the sky blue?
Ask lefties and they all say the CBC is fine, ask anyone else and they say it is biased. Wonder why.
One word: “Wafergate.”
You remember this one, right? This was the completely fabricated story the CBC ran with regarding the alleged pocketing of a communion wafer by PMSH. The “story” had legs for the better part of the month of August and, in the end, was shown to be an entirely fabricated falsehood.
So, we have a publicly funded broadcaster, deliberately fabricating a story to smear the sitting Prime Minister of the country.
Any fair-minded Canadian, of any political stripe, can recognize that the CBC is hopelessly biased in favor of the “progressive” view of things, and is stridently anti-conservative.
We may want to remember that some 60% of those Canadians who voted in the last federal election voted for everyone but the Conservatives. Not just “lefties”, with those numbers.
The CBC is massively bias. The tv news is likely the LEAST bias program in the entire organization… Which doesn’t say much as the tv news is plainly and blatantly bias. Radio 1, Radio 2, The news, The Hour, and everything in between are hugely bias. The host, anchors, personalities, programming, guests, stories, specials, the headlines, right down to which comments are “moderated” (censored) online, everything the CBC has a massive left wing bias.
To the left, to the left. Everything you do in the box to the left.
Deception is invisible when you are in it. So I don’t expect the CBC to change or even see its folly in its “self examination”. But if anyone from the CBC is ACTUALLY concerned about its huge and obvious bias… take this advice: if you have to ask, you usually are.
Here is an example of what happens at the CBC.
During the coup crisis of 2008 Julie van Dusen was reporting about a Conservative caucus meeting, during this meeting the caucus broke out into a impromptu rendition of O’Canada.
As she told the story you could see the hidden rolling of the eyes, and the barely contained smirk. To project to the audience a sense of it all being a joke.
This is part of the hard to explain why so many people feel the CBC is bias.
lol, I don’t have a formal comment about the CBC’s bias, don’t want to beat that dead horse, but I must say, it’s funny seeing the about 97% of the comments saying the cbc is biased.
Dinosaur media, captured by ‘elite’ J-School hacks attempting to tell us what the story is. Oddly it seems to have nearly consistent bias against anything which doesn’t fit the liberal agenda.
Can’t wait for this tired old beast to gasp it’s last breath and die already. If the CBC’s news reporting is so fantastic, the please by all means go it alone and without benefit of my tax dollars.
I quit watching CBC 25 years ago because of the progressive Liberal bias in their programming. According to my friends and associates it has not changed. The sad part is the other networks are hardly any better. This leaves me with the internet as my sole source of information.
It actually works quite well getting the facts on the internet and making up my own mind what I think of it.
Independent of any bias issues, I fail to see why tax dollars should be given to any broadcaster. What is the rationale here?
Yes, the CBC is biased – big time. And as a taxpayer this annoys me very much.
What does Stephen Harper have to do with anything? Or whichever party is in power? The reality is that ALL Canadians are forced to pay for a far-left lobbyist organization. I will spend my own money however I please, and foolish CBC-watchers can put THEIR own money where their mouths are. Let the CBC exist through and by its fans’ donations; NOT through publicly sanctioned tax dollars.
Yes, definitely.
The only good thing about the CBC is Hockey Night in Canada.
Geoff Rogers wrote:
Just to comment on the Radio side as well. You should change the tag line to ” The All Victim Network”. Pick a show that is on the network at anytime of day and it will be featuring some , Gay Group, Woman’s Group, Native Group, Immigrant Group, name a group that is a “Victim” of some perceived injustice. I used to listen to CBC radio all the time when I traveled now I cringe if I listen to it for few seconds. In closing, Your Radio Programming and Hosts SUCK AS WELL!!
I couldn’t agree with you more. I also would rather travel in silence than listen to the crap they promote.
Bias is an understatement for the CBC.
I saw this on a website and thought it was a parody or something. This is like the UN investigating the veracity of the IPCC reports and both will result in a whitewash.
Dwight, 60% voted ABC yada yada. Is this your rationalization for why it is OK for CBC to be biased? Or why 100% of Canadian Taxpayers are forced to pay for it?
Of course the CBC is biased, look who’s running the show. Look who calls the shots.
I’m sure there are some at the CBC who cringe at some of the obviously inaccurate reporting, but I imagine the folks at the CBC who shill for the Liberal Party, are a lot like the folks in the Liberal Party itself.
Whether CBC or Liberal Party…….you can’t decide on two major things. Who do you hate most.
Jews,
Americans; or
Conservatives
The CBC is a travesty and an embarrasment.
Oh….moderated eh? I’m sure my previous comment won’t make it through the CBC Administrators.
“Is the CBC Biased?”
One of the best examples of trolling that I’ve ever seen posted on a forum.
lol, to all that have said the Ceeb is biased – thks for the laughs, some of the best bits of self-inflated ego stroking I’ve ever read on a forum.
The CBC is incredibly biased. Have we heard even one positive story on the fact that Canada has the strongest banking system in the world, due to decisions made by Stephen Harper?
I continue to be amazed how many anti-CBC folk faithfully read, and leave comment at, the insidethecbc.com site.
You’d almost think a campaign of sorts is underway.
“everyone but the Conservatives”
Really, Dwight? And here I always thought you could only vote for one party at a time.
BTW, have you calculated the percent” but the NDP or “everyone” but the Bloc?
No kidding. Privatize the CBC and see how long they last in the real world.
I think there’s a typo.
Shouldn’t this read “The CBC has commissioned a study to determine that CBC news is unbiased…” ??
I mean, the CBC pays an “ombudsman” to whitewash its institutional bias day in and day out. Why else would the CBC commission a “study”, if not to do the same.
Yes the CBC is biased, but worse yet, it’s not balanced. There is barely a “centre” represented. I don’t mind hearing bias, as long as it’s balanced. And there is none of that.
I dislike the reflex Anti-Americanism, ie treating all Americans as if they are incorrigable idiots. When my kids were young, I couldn’t listen to the CBC in their presence, because I didn’t want them to hear the off colour language and sexual innuendos.
Sadly, it’s not really fixable. The CBC reminds me of a teenager who gets a thrill out of swearing in front of their parents. The CBC hosts and moderators often act as if they are too cool for school. It lacks maturity and gravitas.
I also dislike the “victim of the week” mentality – whereby there is fawning over individual anecdotes, all the while ignoring the greater story.
Dwight Williams says:
If it is biased, it’s a bias we need it to have in order to preserve an ongoing, true competition of ideas. I have no complaints with that.
True competition happens when some ideas are allowed to die a natural death because they are shown to be false or woefully inadequate, otherwise it’s really isn’t a competition. A broadcaster which relies on tax dollars to survive, and is afraid that any alternative funding model would result in its demise is pretty much admitting its ideas cannot compete. Time to let it go.
The problem of CBC bias is part of a larger problem of mainstream media bias which has slanted news coverage and analysis for decades in Canada. Various sacred cows have been allowed to graze safely for all of that time, especially the Liberal Party of Canada and the corporate interests behind the global warming scam. This latter safe house for neo-Marxist adventurism may also be true of most other western countries. Because the reporters at the CBC generally buy into the progressive world view, they have no motivation or skill sets for probing into any of these sacred untouchable topics, and regard anyone who does as enemies of the “Canadian people” which is code language for Liberal voters.
The only way to fix this is to fire everyone at the CBC and replace them with conservatives. This will introduce a new bias, but because conservatives are fair-minded people, they will at least invite Liberals, New Democrats and greens onto the programs to provide a fair and balanced discussion.
The CBC has a few house conservatives that they use to pretend they have “balance:” but these people are generally red Tories who accept most of the progressive agenda and just want to make a few points about fiscal conservatism. Such persons will not shake the tree and even attempt to discuss various topics in a controversial way. We all know this and the only question is, who’s going to pull the plug on the funding so that if this is what progressives want, they can darned well pay for it themselves?
However, if the CBC wants to try to become unbiased, the only way forward on that is to add conservatives to their staff and I just think that would turn into an on-air bloodbath of totally incompatible views on almost everything. It would be entertaining, but instead of just conservatives throwing their household items at the TV set, it would be everyone, so this could actually create national unity in a perverse sort of way.
Now that the genie is out of the bottle, good luck getting it back in — there is no way that a biased report on bias is going to survive the political firestorm that is sure to follow. And a competent report will be sure to point out major bias. So what’s the next step? This was for sure a major blunder by the CBC brass. And conservatives are loving it.
Dwight when JC and the do nothing band were in 60% of the people didn’t vote for them either what is your point. Here is a better way to look at it . Their are 20 + million tax payers paying to support a network that maybe on a good week (no playoff hockey on) gets one million people to touch it with their eyeballs or ears. If you like it so much I am not against you writing a cheque to support it which is how it should be funded because I should not have to pay for your viewing and listening pleasure.
FACT: Fewer than 3% of Canadians watch CBC’s “The National” on any given night.
FACT: The consistently highest rated shows on the CBC are Hockey Night in Canada, “Wheel of Fortune”, and “Jeopardy!”. Since anyone who confesses to be a hockey fan is, perforce, a knuckle-dragging uneducated hooligan, what does that say of the CBC?
Since hockey would commandeer a large share of audience regardless of the network it plays on, this says to me that the CBC is largely irrelevant to Canadians. I really don’t care that it’s biased – which it most demonstrably is – because I, like 97% of Canadians, ignore it.
What does bother me is that the CBC arrogates to itself my voice, claiming it speaks for me, and then helps itself to my wallet as well. I don’t care what the CBC says, if they say it on their own dime. Make it voluntarily supported, and let’s see how much drivel they continue to produce.
Are you biased? Not at all, you’re just fulfilling your mandate as the media arm of the LPC.
They don’t need to fundraise as long as you’re handling their ads for them.
Some 70% of those who voted, voted AGAINST the LPC.
I imagine the other 30% work in your “news” department.
Absolutely!!
Dwight,
sure they can disagree …
last G20 – do you think there was more going on than PMSH being late for a picture? you wouldn’t have heard it from the CBC.
Maybe so Dwight, but 80% didn’t vote liberal, and the Ceeb still tries to make that happen.
Dwight Williams…..and we may want to remember that some 60% of Canadians voted for everyone but the Liberals previously. Forgot about that, did you?
Yes, I believe that the CBC is definitely biased, and this investigation should be done with full transparency (isn’t that Kady O’Malley’s big deal with the detainee documents) by a neutral third party who has nothing to gain or lose by being completely honest. Preferably some agency/group from outside the country,
The CBC shifted long ago from being a news broadcaster to a left slanted political commentary machine.
*
you’ve got to be joking… doesn’t anybody remember the infamous “heil harper” picture?
*
CBC can be as biased as they want, but not using taxpayers’ dollars! If they lose their 1 billion + subsidy from the taxpayers and go to a totally volunteer donation combined with sponsors – I have no problem with CBC being biased. But I doubt they will do that, so I and more and more Canadians will TURN THEM OFF. At some point, government will have to limit the amount of money they receive if their viewership diminishes to the point of few viewers/listeners.
I stopped watching CBC news when, in one of their many remodels, Peter Mansbridge announced that his job was to tell me the news and tell me what is means to me. I responded back to talking head Peter and told said – your job is to report the news – I will decide what it means to me – click!
Yes. Yes, it is.
Privatize it now.
Hope they manage to scoop everyone when exposing the next version of the AGWhore-Fruit fly scam to surface. They seemed to have missed the boat completely last November for unknown reasons.
(sarc off)
As others have stated already, the CBC is biased to the point of being in the extreme.
I stopped reading CBC news when I noticed any comment I made which criticzed CBC reporting in one of their online articles never made it past their pre-moderated comment section. Believe me, when I notice comments and criticsm were not getting through I checked the CBC comment posting guidelines and found no violations of their policies had taken place. I was being silenced.
I can only interpret that CBC policy does not allow criticsm of their reporting or anyone who might share an opposing view to post in their comments forums.
I would fully support cutting the CBC from the public purse and letting them sink or swim based on their own merrit.
Additionally, why not disclose the methodology of the study to determine if the CBC is biased? Maybe we should have a study to determine if the biased reporting study is biased?
Hockey Night on Saturday and “Heartland” in season on Sunday evening are the only two programs I watch on CBC.
Honestly!
I fully expect the writers on “Heartland” to start greenie plot preaching as they currently shoot the new fall season program.
As long as I can remember CBC and the National Film Board have been nothing but leftist leaning spin agents.
The Nat.Film Board has been a boar’s nest of socialist and communist producing leftist propagandists since its very inception.
Of Course CBC is biased! Is that really a question? Also how much funding does this biased company get from our government? 1 Billion you say? Hmm Sure would love to see some accountability on that one.
The CBC is biased.Extremely so. Every smirk, every anti-Conservative, innuendo filled broadcast just reinforces the point.
“I am a Canadian citizen who wants the CBC kept alive as a Crown corporation, fully funded and free to disagree with the government of the day, no matter which party’s running that government. To the critics of the network’s very existence I pose this question in reply to your demands and opinions: since when should I agree to shut up and let what I don’t want to see done happen to it?”
Dwight, that would be fine, except with the CBC, it doesn’t work that way. When has the CBC EVER agreed with the Conservative govt of the day?.On your other point, please put up or shut up. If you are willing to fund the CBC with your own private money, bravo. Don’t expect conservatives to be happy with funding a propaganda arm that actively works against them and their best interests.
Yes it is, sooooooooooo
Admit it, stop pretending to be objectgive and then stop taking my tax dollars for this propoganda and simply go ask for funds ala PBS.
You’re welcome
Who is the genius who seriously wants a serious answer to this question? Seriously? Seriously?
You’re kidding, right? Okay, seriously yes. You know the Canadian Bias Corporation
Yes, not only in the coverage of issues, more importantly in the issues it chooses to cover.
Suzanne says:
“It never dawns on them to get the views of very conservative or religiously conservative individuals”
They already know how conservatives view the world. Why actually talk to them? The religiously conservative individual is a frothing-at-the-mouth homophobe who believes the world was created 6000 years ago, who neither allows nor holds other points of view. Isn’t that right, CBC? /sarc
Don’t forget all those CBC’s panels & viewer questions with the “common man on the street” or so called “experts”, who in fact quite often turn out to be Liberal candidates and staff.
Bias??You have got to be kidding. The CBC is nothing more than a propaganda machine for the Liberal Party of Canada. Why does a modern democracy need a public broadcaster in the first place. I would like the CBC to follow the PBS model and raise it’s own money from it’s loyal listening audience and leave the rest of us to make our own choices and support who we want. Why can’t ordinary Canadians have a say in this issue.
Watching anything on CBC english-TV is like dealing with a non-declaring closet-case. It’s the new millennium already and very, very, few really care.
Either you are or you aren’t, either we like you or we don’t – regardless. This secretive political bias study is just another unnecessary hanging garment.
Does it really matter that much?
It’s not like anybody WATCHES the CBC!
The CBC is biased.
This is shown in the fact that the market, the people of Canada who used to watch, no longer do. Few watch the CBC. It is despised and mocked, and only exists because of the great collusion between leftist infiltrated organizations.
It is a little late to clean it up. Tear it down.
Forget the study. Check out the comments at the CBC online website. The vast majority comments are of vile, hateful nature and showcase the CBC’s dedicated fan base of rabid extreme left wing, anti anything remotely Conservative characters. The truly frightening fact is that the comments are actually screened for their acceptability by a CBC so-called moderator. The CBC is totally biased and serves no useful purpose other than to support and promote the Liberal parties agendas.
Most definitely. Every bit as much as, and maybe more than, FOX News.
“The CBC is incredibly biased. Have we heard even one positive story on the fact that Canada has the strongest banking system in the world, due to decisions made by Stephen Harper?”
Wow, talk about twisting the facts. Canada has a strong banking system despite Stephen Harper. The Liberals put in place the regulations that kept them stable. Harper and Flaherty have been trying to undo them since day one.
And I’d like anyone to ably demonstrate a single media outlet that is not biased. It’s not possible to not be biased.
Forget the study. Just check out the comments at the CBC online website. The vast majority are of a vile, hateful, rabidly anti-Conservative nature, and showcases the CBC’s dedication to its’ extreme-left wing, fan base. The truly frightening fact is that the comments are actually screened and approved by none other than a CBC so-called moderator. The CBC is totally biased and serves no useful purpose, but to serve, support and promote the Liberal party and their left wing agenda. The CBC should be abolished, or at the very least receive not a penny of taxpayer funds.
“Our job — and we take it seriously — is to ensure that the information that we put out is fair and unbiased in everything that we do,” CBC President Hubert Lacroix said.
Hubert Lacroix owes me a Docter Pepper and a new moniter.
How do we know the CBC has a left leaning bias?
Just watch what they do. For example:
Sept. 11th for the Americans….they commemorate those who died in terror attacks.
Sept. 11th on the CBC……plays the movie Farenheit 911, or some other documentary talking about an “inside job”
“Climategate” happens. It is revealed that most of the data the IPCC uses to scare the bejesus out of people has mainly been fabricated from thin air. Real science is hidden, and real scientists who disagree with the status quo are shunned and denied funding.
CBC…..fails to report much of this unless it is to describe it as a minor glitch….and that Global warming is real. Then…..they put on “An Inconvienient Truth”…which is anything but truthful.
No CBC….can’t see any bias there.
Oi Vey!!
Cael,
Thank you agreeing that the CBC is Biased. Now will you join me in a demand for eliminating it’s taxpayer subsidy?
I think the posts speak for themselves – lib left says no, conservatives say yes. What do you think? If it was reasonably moderate, then the posts would not be so uniform. As for “everybody is biased”, here’s the problem. I’m not paying for every single media outlet, just this one, and I”m sick of its bias in one direction, particularly since it is obviously a fan of the two parties which will reward its efforts.
This is the truth: in recent years I have had a federal liberal candidate and a provincial liberal candidate seek my votes. Both had worked for CBC Newsworld. Do you not think that’s a little odd?
Or how many former public broadcasters move seamlessly into liberal communication positions?
Apparently the censors at CBC are working overtime. Both my entries were deleted, and not one of them had anything even remotely offensive….unless of course, you work for the CBC.
Is a frog’s arse watertight?
C.B.C. = Completely Biased Crap. Fire. them. All.
Every year, less and less people actually watch the CBC.
It must be the viewers. They must be picking up the bias from Fox.
I know! Let’s outlaw the evil Megyn Kelly. Who?
Actually, I thought “Republic of Doyle” was pretty good.
Aside from the bias issue (because everyone is biased. What most people consider “fair” reporting is reporting that they agree with) I’m amused at all the angry comments from people about being forced to pay for a TV station they don’t watch. Do you watch ANY Canadian stations? CTV? Global? Then you are paying handsomely for the privilege of watching American shows on Canadian stations: the taxpayer funds every moment of Canadian content on the airwaves. At least you know that you’re paying for the CBC, whether you like it or not. The so-called “private” stations keep very quiet about the huge subsidies they receive. To be consistent, CBC opponents should also advocate the end of all taxpayer subsidies, which would basically mean an end to most Canadian-produced TV. Then perhaps we could just concentrate on what some people seem to want: all-American programming from all-American stations.
The only ones who still watch CBC are progressives/leftists as anybody on the Right has completely abandoned CBC. If you asked CBC viewers if they thought the CBC was biased, they would of course say No. The CBC tells them exactly what they want to hear, and that is the audience that was self-selected to the CBC. How about asking that question OUTSIDE of the CBC?
Hearing anything but right-wing talking points constitutes bias for the brain-dead from the Right.
Dave said ” To be consistent, CBC opponents should also advocate the end of all taxpayer subsidies, which would basically mean an end to most Canadian-produced TV.
Sounds great. Where do I sign up?
Seriously Dave, you said ” I’m amused at all the angry comments from people about being forced to pay for a TV station they don’t watch”
I see no angry comments here. Perhaps you are projecting.
You clearly agree with the bias of the CBC. Why should I have to pay for your viewing pleasure? Will you join me in calling for the elimination of its subsidy?
Yes, CBC news is biased.
The CBC is absolutely biased to the left.
I don’t know why all those Tories complain about the CBC being biased, they have plenty of biased news (CTV, Global) that will reflect their right-wing ideology back to them.
As for CBC’s bias, your first comment says it best: if it’s biased, it’s biased toward reality.
Is CBC biased? How many Liberal Senators or GG’s has there been from the CBC personnel appointed by progressive Marxists? Say’s it all! Doesn’t it.
Even their political commentators work for the Liberals or NDP.
we pay for this Nepotism through our taxes for a lifes ride of luxury to folks who lied about Adscam, Chretien’s banking, The CHRC’s destroying Canadian freedom. By shakedowns based on identity politics. The years past years of liberal corruption covered up to protect the Liberals. With the bitch slap known as the NEP they hid what it did to Canada.
For the rabid socialist personality cultist Trudeau.
The CBC stands on guard only for its own opportunism, never news for the people. Never reality based News. Just cults, fads, misinformation. With to much cowardice to report the real news. To PC. They drank the Jim Jones Cool-Aide long ago.
Anything with the name Mahmoud attached to it drives the CBC into a nervous breakdown.
So yeah its biased & we pay for the garbage.
The CBC of course supports the censors as well.
So much for even a free media.
I don’t even need to talk about the travesty of the AGW scam the liars upheld.
JMO
CBC Biased? ………. YES!
I listen to the CBC sometimes and catch the news by accident. Can somebody tell me how the political pronouncements of the leader of an out of power party are the lead story day after day?
Nah! No bias there.
[...] In a rare moment of transparency (but not stupidity) the CBC is asking “what do YOU think?” [...]
Cael says “Wow, talk about twisting the facts. Canada has a strong banking system despite Stephen Harper. The Liberals put in place the regulations that kept them stable. Harper and Flaherty have been trying to undo them since day one.”
You are quite wrong. The current regulations in place were put there by the Mulroney Conservatives….NOT the Liberals.
No doubt you got your information from the CBC?
Brendon says “Most definitely. Every bit as much as, and maybe more than, FOX News.”
The difference being if you want to watch FOX News, you have to pay for it. We pay for the CBC whether we want to or not…..whether we watch it or not.
Unable to see the difference, Brendon?
I could care less if the CBC wanted to continue with it’s Lib/left bias if I wasn’t forced to pay for it. Of course, it would end up broke in very short order.
Don’t know if CBC is biased. Stopped watching it when in was.
Doesn’t the CBC always get all shocked and outraged when the RCMP, the Armed Forces, or any other organization investigates itself? Now they will investigate themselves and be 100% unbiased about it.
If you believe that I have a real nice bridge I can sell you for 30% off.
I say if the Liberal party wants its own TV-Radio news service it should pay for them itself.
Does the pope shit in the woods?
Anti American Dave , sounds good, I’m against any TV stations and any TV content getting any subsidies at anytime for any reason
Little Mosque On The Prairie
Is the sky blue? Does the sun shine? Does grass grow? Is CBC biased? Is the Pope Catholic?
CBC employs the most polarized Liberal party shills in the Canadian media landscape.
If I was asked to illustrate a worse example of one-sided reporting and lack of fact checking, I could only point to the privately held Toronto Star. Even then, the Star would only come close on the basis of its published Editorial commitment to represent Urban Liberal view. Then again. Private business. Free speech. God speed.
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press is a cornerstone of a healthy free-market democracy. But my specific concern is not actually with the content published by CBC. Rather my issue is with its taxpayer funded status in the context of its often partisan rhetoric.
How bad is the bias at CBC? Well, you empower all the wrong people to deliver propaganda at the tax payer’s expense. Heather Mallick tops this list having been featured high up on the now infamous list of ’101 people screwing up Canada’. Jane Taber also ranks.
It stinks so badly that several people have theorized that this is some weird paradigm of radicalization that begins at Ryerson University where several of the usual suspects seem to originate from. Whatever.
Because regardless of its source, the political bias on CBC is so rank that very little is even seriously entertained as real news anymore.
You have worked hard to become the Fox news of Liberal Canada. I suggest you keep your radical views.
But if I have my way you will not have any more tax dollars to do so.
Well, let us just acknowledge that journalistic standards have deteriorated.
Case in point. The other night my wife and I were watching the news and wondering why a political photo op of V Putin visiting the artic was being reported (news flash all politcians do stupid photo ops so why do we care if Putin visits Siberia). At the end of the story, Wendy Mensley snidely commented that at least this time” he kept his shirt on”. The whole news article was simlpy a set up for a joke at the Russian president expense. While that would have been appropriate for “This hr has 22minutes” or “The daily show with John Stewart” , it came off as awkward coming from a supposedly sophisticated news program.
Dave – that’d be fine with me – strip away all the subsidies. At least the Americans show some good stuff. Has a Canadian ever produced a good movie. And dude i mean a movie that people actually watch.
Dave: Please enlighten us uninformed rubes with the list and the amounts of the subsidies given to the private broadcasters. How much do taxpayers put up for Lloyd and Kevin to spin their tales every night. Because that is what we are talking about here.
Canadian shows that are purchased by the networks from production companies that live off government subsidies to produce Canadian content the networks are forced to buy is a different topic.
The Communist Broadcasting Corp is the Liberal propaganda arm and always has been. The socialist cloud dwellers at the top of this blatantly biased despise the peasantry of regular Canadians and only feel comfortable supporting their fellow idealists.
Their unceasing drivel on Kadr, the taliban detainees, Sarah Palin, our military, Americans just sickens me. Anything Conservative is just evil as is Harper. Their lack of reporting on Adscam, ,muslims, Climategate while their pet “scientitian” Suzuki pushes the party line of AGW is embarrassing to say the least..
When I used to do political voting canvassing almost invariably when the respondent would say I work for the CBC they would also say I must vote Liberal. Enough said.
Investigating themselves; What a preposterous concept. Can I assess my own taxes now? Of course they are biased toward everything urban, left and politically correct. It should be renamed the Toronto Narrowcasting Corporation.
Dave says:
“To be consistent, CBC opponents should also advocate the end of all taxpayer subsidies, which would basically mean an end to most Canadian-produced TV. Then perhaps we could just concentrate on what some people seem to want: all-American programming from all-American stations.”
Ummm. No. I cancelled my cable subscription about three or four years ago and put my TV in storage. I doubt I’ll ever take it out. It’s not just CBC that’s the dinosaur, it’s TV in general. It’s yesterday’s technology and it’s only capable of delivering yesterday’s services.
And thanks for the tips about where else we can cut taxes.
Biased yes, but not uniquely. These days CTV is if anything seem even more biased against people of the conservative leanings, particularly the Christian kind. I watched part of Wendy Mesley’s interview with Marci McDonald, but I turned it off because I was literaly feeling sick at what was being said about me.. It was hateful and prepostrously untrue, and a bizzarely dishonest portrayal of evangelical Canadians. I am quite sure CBC would honor conspiracy theories against no other group of Canadians. Wendy isn’t dumb – she could see the method that Marci was using and only pretended to question in such a way as to give an illusion of some balance. It was an editor at the CBC that set this segment up and it was all approved. And unfortunately typical.
Cael says:
“And I’d like anyone to ably demonstrate a single media outlet that is not biased. It’s not possible to not be biased.”
Which is precisely why it should not be publicly funded and it’s board appointed by politicians in Ottawa. If it is not possible to be completely neutral, then it should be allowed to compete like every other media outlet.
Thing is, most of the lefties here seem to belie a sense that CBC could not possibly survive if it had to compete. That pretty much amounts to an admission that it’s products and services are uncompetitive and it could not survive in the real world.
I haven’t watched CBC for any length of time for as long as I can remember, the only person worth watching is Rex Murphy anyways.
Get rid of it, I hear enough perfect world mumbo jumbo, without my tax dollars subsidizing it.
The CBC is the most biased so called “news organization” in Canada. The blinders are on all staff at all times, and they are so far from reality they can not even comprehend that they might be biased.
I want to hear static and see static on all CBC radio and TV stations the day after a Conservative majority.
It’s biased, yes. But is it’s reporting flawed? More often than not, no. Is it unfair? Not usually.
There are more important questions to ask—bias isn’t the sole or most important factor in what is and isn’t good news.
The particular incident is strange to criticize. The CBC has a lot of voices on air and more often than not that conflict. And it’s a better way of doing things than trying to have everyone on the station do their best impression of God.
But even at its surface it’s intellectually dishonest. If we want to take down a pollster with Liberal ties, what do we do with Andrew Coyne? And how come we’re not attacking the pundits from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Or Kevin O’Leary
Anna Maria Tremonti and the Current (morning and night)
Carol Off and As It Happens
George Stroumboulopoulos and The Hour
Paul Kennedy of Ideas
Rick MacInnes-Ray of Dispatches
Michael Enright of Sunday Morning
Avi Lewis (now of Al-Jazeera)
Tony Burman (now of Al-Jazeera)
Neil MacDonald CBC News
Heather Mallick (yes, still working for CBC!)
Consider any dozen issues:
War in Afghanistan
Israel vs Hamas
Detainee issue
Prison reform
Drugs for addicts
Abortion
Religion
Gun Registry
Nucelar weapons policy
Native issues
Geert Wilders
Global Warming/Climate Change/the Environment
Well, you get the picture. In every and all cases it is obvious to all sides of the opinion spectrum where CBC’s will be, and tirelessly will they promulgate it and ridicule the other. The CBC knows what is good for us and takes an utterly predictable left-bias stance on every issue you can think of. Has for a generation, through its flagship programs and through the unrelenting hour by hour influence of CBC News.
This is a network that has to apologize for having Lawrence Solomon offer a contrarian view on the received wisdom of anthropogenic global warming (Ideas) and screams at same Solomon after a panel appearance of The Current (Tremonti).
Imagine a CBC program hosted by Mark Steyn. There would be pandemonium among CBC staffers. Imagine a CBC program that looked to Thomas Sowell, or Barbara Kay, or Canadian Charles Krauthammer for opinion on world affairs. Imagine a CBC that made room for the brilliance of George Jonas. Dream a little dream for me….
To think that one needs a study to tell if the sky is above our heads and the ground beneath our feet defies credulity.
Yes , si , oui , and i’m sick and tired of my taxes paying for liberal social engineering , liberal propaganda , liberal polsters telling liberals what to do on my dime and liberal reporters and anchors trying to bullshit me .
I would say a lot of it depends on the reporter.
Michael Enright is the worst. He has a bias that he tries to foist on anyone he interviews. He also tries to shape the story to his point of view.
I find the Fifth Estate, while interesting often decides before it covers a story what the point of view will be, then goes about making it happen.
The story about the trip of the handgun out of the US comes to mind.
I find the Thursday Evening Panel on the National to be pretty straight up. Because there are differening points of view, the stories get told as they are. Peter Mansbridge knows enough when to say nothing, which is not something I can say about Anna Marie Tremonti on The Current. She constantly interrupts her guest with statements about the question she is trying to examine.
Of course Rx Murphy kind of tells it as it is when he does his commentary, but he babbles on Cross Country Check up, and should do more listening, and less talking.
How can a cat discuss canine attitudes towards a cat?
How can the CBC ask for discussion with those who detest the CBC?
CBC, turn of this transmitter. You have no place in my world. I do not listen to, or watch, you. So stop taking my tax money and go away and wilt unto lifelessness.
Biased – come on, that’s a trick question right?
The CBC core audience is a bunch of hard-core Marxists living off the Canadian tax payers. CBC is right in there with them spouting left-wing crap and snuffling around for more freebies.
Cut them off Cold Turkey!
The CBC is biased. No doubt.
Oh! are they still broadcasting? i haven’t watched since they became biased towards being irrelevant….
In the bestseller “Grits” by McCall-Newman on page 113 former Governor General, CBC broadcaster, and Liberal Jeanne Sauve, at the time a journalist, dismissed rumours that Pierre Trudeau was gay thusly:
“Listen, I worked at the CBC in Montreal for years and I know homosexuals. I can smell them. And nobody who ever knew him ever thought that of Pierre.”
That’s not Myron Thompson talking folks, that’s a former GG, CBC broadcaster and Liberal cabinet minister describing the CBC as literally synonymous with homosexuality back in her day. So the CBC has been viewed even by leftists like Sauve as radical for a long, long time.
In the memoirs of one of Tony Blair’s circle the story is told that Chretien told Blair how he fought the Reform party’s referendum initiative by getting the This Hour Has Twenty Two Minutes gang to mock it, recall the Doris Day schtick that wasn’t terribly funny, because it originated in the PMO. So we’ve got a third party confirmation that at least one Liberal PM used to brag overseas about how he covertly used the CBC for political purposes.
Biased, definitely! so badly biased to all things lieberal and dipper that your news and most current events shows are unwatchable.
Worse than that you are irrelevant in the West, If I want news after 6pm I watch US stations your eastern feed is giving me “news” that has not been updated since Toronto went home.
Stiill waiting to hear a report about fudged climate dat from East Anglia.
CBC is an expensive irrelevance that needs to be shut down expeditiously..
I’ve had enough pinko spin paid for by my tax dollars. I live in hope for the day that the funding is stopped. If the programming was any good there would be no need for government funding.
Are you Morons at the CBC for real? Biased isn’t a strong enough word. It’s disingenuous disinformation designed to influence opinion, always from a left wing perspective. You don’t report news in a balanced manner, you shape opinion based on a consistent left wing bias.
Quite frankly there is no need for a public-funded broadcaster. You’re not balanced. You’re not fair. Canadians surely don’t need the likes of you to maintain our identity! You’re a waste of tax dollars. You are “jokers” rather than journalists!
I hope that’s clear enough for you, Comrades!
CBC biased, how else did they earn the nickname ‘communist broadcasting committee’? Watching the CBC is an insult to anyone who has learned to think for themselves. I haven’t watched them in years.
Don’t get rid of CBC Radio, it’s really important to the rural folks. CBC TV on the other hand can vanish (which it would if it had to pay it’s own way) and will not be missed by this rural Canadian.
I keep hoping that it will get “fixed” and return to being a carrier of news and stories of interest to Canadians, as it was 30 years ago. Maybe it’s so infected with the “Center of the Universe” malady that there is no hope for the whole critter.
The bias and arrogant condescension fairly drips from the lips of many of the CBC talking heads and when challenged with facts there is a rapid camera move to some other topic. To even ask the question is proof positive of the bias.
Oh, please. Of course it’s biased, and it’s ridiculously disingenuous to suggest that it’s not. Consider just the latest gushing interview re: the terrible threat from the Christian right — never mind equal time, when the CBC devotes *any* time to gushing over a takedown of the NDP left (which represents fewer Canadians, but obviously well over half the CBC), then will be time to ask an honest question about its bias.
Stephen Downes says:
“I don’t know why all those Tories complain about the CBC being biased, they have plenty of biased news (CTV, Global) that will reflect their right-wing ideology back to them.”
======================
Stephen, I clicked on your name and noticed you are affiliated with a post-secondary institution, another of the tax payer funded sectors. It boggles the mind that you cannot see the difference between privately funded networks like CTV and Global, on the one hand, and CBC on the other. CTV and Global survive on advertising revenue and advertisers survive only if they reach large audiences, and by extension, pay according to the size of the audience. In other words, if the TV network fails to offer popular programs it will not pull in enough revenue from its advertisers. This is the element that’s missing from CBC. As long as it’s sucking at the public teat, it will be oblivious to what Canadian audiences want because it will remain immune to market forces. Is that so hard for a university wonk to understand, ivory towers and all?
When a national broadcaster will not mention the name of a national holiday called Christmas yes they have a bias.
They do the boys of Saint Vincent to slander Christians but theres no boys of 911 Jihad. Did they ever show the Jyhlands posten cartoons? Nope due to bias.
It’s funny talking to people who watch the CBC they live in such bubbles that go pop when they find out the truth.
3% of all murders with a firearm were carried out with registered weapons.
Last time I watched the CBC was when they carried the Grey Cup.
Privatize them, give everyone on welfare 10 shares and let them lose all the money they want.
Imagine myron thoompson workling for the CBC, they prattle on about how Canada needs to hire based on representativeness but who there represents right wing anglos?
Fire them all.
[...] http://www.insidethecbc.com/is-the-cbc-biased/ [...]
I notice that at CBC’s At Issue panel never includes a journalist west of Toronto.
I like the guys and Gal from the East, but there is never an opinion from the west. That is why hardly anyone from the west ever watches the CBC. And that/s why you here screams from the west to privatise them.
They only talk about issues that are interested to the Latte Crowd in Toronto and Ottawa.
That’s why the NDP and Liberals have troubles making political roads into the west.
Justin Trudeua was here a week or two ago on the Dave Rutherford show and he was a joke. He doesn’t understand the conservative or Redneck vote here at all.
We e for smaller government. less regulation and Bureacracy,
Churchills quote was:
If your are not a socialist when you are 20 then you have no heart, but if you’re still a socialist at 40 then you have no brains.
Long live the west…….
And you CBC get some more Western representation that is truly western….. not liberalism but conservative and Wild Rose.
By the way has the CBC reported on the Wild Rose Party as much as they report on the Bloc Quebecois?
You tell me
I grew up in a very left wing family, as my views morphed to centre right I found that CBC was clearly left-wing. As a gun owner the discrimination by CBC of us as a group is quite shocking and no sign of abatement. The fact that firearm arm use is a large part of Canada’s heritage is rarely ever mentioned.
I am also ex-military and the CBC treatment of the military and promotion of the peace-keeping mythology is quite disgusting. The CBC is long on innuendoes and very short on fact checking.
Based on my direct experience with the above subjects I can not trust anything that CBC says or promotes, which makes them worthless to me as a news organization. I do however find CBC North somewhat more centrist and they do provide local news coverage for the North. However CBC Main does not provide anything that local, national or international news organization can not do.
Based on the above, keep CBC North for the next 10 years and review the need at that time. Preserve the CBC archives as they will be a useful resource for the future. Wind up CBC over the next 5 years, give the option to the employees to buy shares in it, if they think they can make it as a attraction to the public, fine go for it. There was a need for an organization like CBC in the past, but it has broken the pact of trust with the public by taking political and ideological sides.
What a question!!
OF COURSE THE CBC IS BIASED!!! There is no “News” on CBC only Lefty, Agenda-Driven Propaganda/Drivel. Joseph Goebbels would be proud. I wouldn’t object to this bias if I wasn’t funding it but I am funding it and so is every other Canadian!! Embrace your bias CBC! Just don’t do it on the taxpayers dime!!! Find someone else to pay the salaries of your Meat Puppets like Peter Pansbridge!!
Of course the CBC is bias… Yes… Liberal, Treaudeaupian Liberal propaganda machine. The CBC employs the most nauseating pack of trudeaupian cultists, marxists, commies, Separatists, that it ‘s un-watchable. What an absolute waist of time, to even ask such a stupid question is an insult. “Is the Liberal party corrupt ? Yes! Is the CBC the propaganda arm of the corrupt Liberal party ? Without a doubt, yes. Why even bother with such an obvious, cynical, PR stunt, everyone knows the conclusion of this fairy tale. CBC, CTV, Global, TO Star, Mop@Pail etc. etc their all useless Canada haters, followers of the Trudeaupian cult ideology.
CBC is biased, to the point of downright malicious when it comes to any opinion other than that of the liberal party.
This latest surge of the liberals by proxy of the CBC to depict Canadian christians as ignorant violent terrorist material was the last straw for many.
The CBC tries to paint Canadians as something they are not, never were, and will not become.
Our tax dollars should not be funding the CBC, the propoganda machine of the left.
Is the CBC biased? Not if your an overpaid union hack sucking on the public tit it isn’t.
If it is not an independent investigation, bias is assured.
The CBC is definately biased in favour of the Liberal Party of Canada, its uncrtical support of the Liberal Party is ethically corrupt, and it’s never ending attempt to bring the Conservative government down is obscene.
Their panels are unbalanced, their stories are focused on a broad Liberal agenda and I don’t trust a word they say.
Just like the Liberal Party whatever the CBC tells me I know the exact opposite is true
I can’t say that the replies to my comments were unexpected, can I? Almost “boilerplate”, in fact.
CBC biased? You betcha!
Election Night 2006: Petey Mansbridge: “Well I’m not sure WHAT a PM Harper will do with Stockwell Day…I mean, what exactly do you do with a guy like that? Chuckle chuckle chuckle, snicker snicker snicker”
Among hundreds of other examples.
Hey I have no problem with a network being biased. That’s why I love Fox so much. But IT SHOULD NOT BE PUBLICLY FUNDED…..
What actually bothers me EVEN MORE about the CBC is all the sex-themed documentaries it airs….what the hell ???
And the final kick in the stomach for me? Showing the Al Gore slide show on made up global warming over and over and over again…..
And another thing: If that Hater Mallick is still on the CBC staff, that’s proof positive there is a bias……
waste of money; we all know the answer
As an anti-capitalist, Marxist, Jack Layton supporting Global Warmist who believes all conservatives are evil, Canadians outside the GTO are rural gun-loving hicks and that the world would be a better place if we could just round up the Christians and put them all in an internment camp…I don’t think the CBC is biased at all.
Most MSM outlets are Liberal biased but those Media outlets are not funded by we the taxpayer. Ergo CBC needs a complete restructuring from management down to the cleaner if it is to continue receiving our taxdollars, and yes CBC is Liberally biased towards the Liberal party it’s quite insulting to those of us who aren’t blinded by Liberal arrogance and elitism.
Does the sun rise in Ottawa (sorry, Hull) and set in Windsor?
The medium is the message. Or, to put it another way:
-The CBC is unionized and staffed by organized labour.
-The CBC gets its money from taxpayers
-The CBC discriminates against White people explicitly in their hiring practices
-The CBC discriminates against men explicitly in their hiring practice
-As members of a union which spends their dues on supporting radical left wing causes not necessarily having anything to do with labour they are in “solidarity” with many if not all left wing special interest groups.
-The CBC is a “politically correct” workplace which is to say oppressive toward non-leftist thought.
-The CBC has so many gay employees – who even Frank Graves will tell you are far, far to the left and concerned with “morality” matters far more so than the public in general – that former GG Jeanne Sauve equated it with homosexuality itself in the book “Grits” on page 113.
-The CBC’s discrimination against Whites and men has led to the hiring of demographic groups which are far more left wing than the public at large.
-As employees dependent on taxpayer money the CBC has a massive financial self-interest in opposing any government which would control public spending.
It would be astonishing if an organization described above were “not* stridently left wing and hostile toward Conservatives. I’d go so far as to say that as long as the CBC continues its discriminatory hiring practices and association with big labour that it is absolutely 100% impossible for it to be anything but an viciously anti-Conservative propaganda mill.
Of course you’re biased. You are *designed* to be biased. Bias is in your corporate DNA.
On a positive note, you’ll notice that my analysis applies to private sector companies too. I see only marginal differences in anti-Conservative hate between the CBC and private broadcasters/newspapers, except that my tax dollars aren’t paying for it.
A CBC expert panel: Left, farther left and so friggin’ far left it makes the other two seem rational.
I want to add one thing: there are a lot of things I support in theory – public education, libraries, and public broadcasting – that I cannot support in practice because of public sector unions which make them nonviable.
Yes to public schools, no to radical union ideologues teaching 7 year old children that gender is a social construct. Yes to public broadcasting, no to Heather Mallick and Krista Erickson, the inevitable result of a public broadcaster infiltrated by radical labour unions. Yes to libraries, no to rude overpaid unionized librarians and their snide comments when I check out a non-leftist book and who are too afraid to confront loud hobos and hooligans and too unionized to clean up the feces smeared in the washrooms.
Unions vastly diminish responsibility in the workplace, meaning the anti-Conservative bias is exacerbated by a culture of unaccountability letting the Mallicks and Ericksons do their thing without any meaningful consequence.
We have special legislation forbidding the RCMP from forming unions and, as a matter of national security, we can and should do the same for the CBC.
You cannot have an entity staffed by members of organized labour and expect it to be balanced in its coverage of politics.
CBC is a biased government subsidised network. That’s liberal government for you folks in Moose lips Sask.
CBC Biased? Is a frog’s ass watertight?
I stopped watching or listening to CBC long ago. CBC is riddled with smarmy arrogant lefties who don’t know what they don’t know. It’s the mouthpiece of the liberal, ndp and green parties, and certainly doesn’t represent my views or meet my standards of integrity. Off with their heads!
tim in vermont has it spot on. Why are the rantings of Ignatieff or Wayne Easter the top story of the day on CBC TV or Radio? If Wayne Easter’s rants are the top news of the day, whether he’s going on about doorknobs or firing Ms Guergis, then somebody isn’t looking for news at all. They are just playing politics.
One of the most objectionable features of CBC news coverage is the blatant censorship of anything that doesn’t fit their worldview.
For example, the biggest political demonstration of the year took place this week with an estimated 12,500 people and 21 MP’s from both major parties. The CBC coverage was restricted to the traffic report warning of delays caused by the march.
Let’s see, the CBC created the capital friendly Venture and Dragon’s Den. How left or “socialistic” is that? Marketplace stands up for consumers in the free marketplace. I’ve heard Preston Manning host his own show on CBC, a series he did on religious values in public life. David Frum has hosted The Current. Half the posters here admit they don’t watch or listen to the CBC yet still claim it is “biased”. How would they know?
And former CBC personalities Pamela Wallin, Peter Kent, and Mike Duffy are now either Conservative Senators (Wallin, Duffy) or a member of the Harper cabinet (Kent, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs). The CBC clearly has a history of hiring people with a conservative “bias”.
The brown shirts of the Conservatie party have once again flocked like seagulls on rotting fish. Is this 1933 all over again?
Bias is one thing, colluding with the Liberal party to cover up a drinking and driving incident ending in a criminal charge involving a Liberal MP with a history of colluding and cooperating with the CBC – Pablo Rodriguez – for weeks, then reporting it on a Friday afternoon when nobody is paying attention is quite another.
I’m looking at the CBC News site right now, the story is literally buried. You cannot see it by looking at http://www.cbc.ca/canada/, not without drilling down.
And how is it possible for the crack journalists at the CBC to not notice for weeks that a Liberal MP was involved in a drinking and driving collision and was criminally charged? You knew. And you deliberately buried it. For weeks.
This is third world stuff. What you guys are doing wouldn’t fly in the Philippines, in Colombia, or in Kenya, seriously, there would be blood in the streets. You’re really, really pushing your luck and may have just handed Stephen Harper the excuse he needs to gut your budget.
Yes it is.
Is the CBC biased? Hmmmmm? I wonder?
Condescending? – Yes
Effete? – Yes
Unctuous? – Yes
Deceitful? – Yes
Smug? – Yes
Wasteful? – Yes
Sleazy? – Yes
Dishonest? – Yes
Biased? – Gee, I wonder?
Yup. You’re biased. Thanks for asking.
Can we have Canada’s version of Fox News, so we get some balance? I’ll let my tax dollars go to that . . .
Absolutely biased!!!
Look at Snuffleuffagus on the Hour. Want to hear a debate on Global Warming?? Not going to get it when he is a Board Member of the Suzuki Foundation. How many more times do we have to watch Gore’s Fantasy film rerun on CBC?? Can’t we ever get the other side of the story? It was like pulling teeth to even get a mention of Climategate and then typically we would see the guest environmentalst telling us it was a nonstory.
Adding in Murphy, O’Leary et al. on top of that Recent-History lesson…
Actually, Manning’s work building on Edward R. Murrow’s This I Believe concept wasn’t halfway bad. I’d say that Mr. Manning missed a better calling.
The CBC uses taxpayer money to provide a biased reporting of the news. Eliminate its funding and put the money saved towards the debt. At least it’d save some dignity that way.
YES, YES, YES! The CBC is so obviously biased towards the Liberals. It has completely driven me away from watching or listening to anything broadcast by the CBC.
Complaints:
- During elections they pretty much sign on and become active campaigners for the Liberal Party.
- Automatically supporting and communicating ignorant environmentalist BS
- They consume too many taxpayer dollars for little or no benefit
- It is almost like they go out of their way to broadcast all of the junk that no one else will and are strangely proud of this fact.
What really drives me up the wall is when I hear it said that the CBC is our “national broadcaster” and that it somehow “brings Canada together.” It doesn’t. You have to understand that the CBC’s ingrained left-wing bias alienates a large portion of Canadians so by definition it is not representing Canada as a whole. How could it?
Dennis, Dennis, Dennis,
Has it occurred to you to wonder WHY people no longer watch the CBC? Could it be…oh I don’t know…because of the blatant bias? It’s called cause and effect.
Dennis -
You’ve managed to isolate a handful of exceptions from a labour pool of thousands, and the ones you cite are veterans, hired years ago when political orthodoxy hadn’t hardened into a crusty veneer.
As for the phenomenon of shows about business being “capital friendly,” it’s like congratulating science programming for sticking to verifiable facts. (Oops – Nature of Things; well, there are exceptions, especially on the CBC.) The fact that the CBC managed to produce business programming that didn’t alienate viewers who actually work in finance, retail or banking is an example of reality trumping ideology in the pursuit of ratings.
I can remember once attending an election rally for Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party in Regina. They had it in a fairly large room in the Centre of the Arts (now called the Conexus Arts Centre). It was the first time that I met Stephen Harper (and I got to shake his hand by the way) and I was quite excited. I was not prepared for the pandamonium that would ensue. The room was absolutely jammed with hundreds of people all screaming “Harper! Harper! Harper!” It was awesome. All of the news media was there including the CBC reporters.
So what do I see reported on the CBC News later that night? They show video of the room that must have been taken well before Harper had arrived while it was still filling up. And the point of their reporting was how small the room was and the “low” turnout at the Conservative rally. Completely opposite to what happened. In other words a fabrication or a blatant lie.
Well, Harper and the Conservatives went on to take virtually every single seat from Saskatchewan in that election (2006). Despite the CBC’s best campaign efforts for the Liberals.
Dennis Brown says:
“The CBC clearly has a history of hiring people with a conservative “bias”.”
And a history of losing them. They do, however, have a very long track record of holding on to extreme and sneering lefties like Anna Maria Tremonti, Carol Off and Michael Enright. Not only do they hang on to them, but they put them in charge of programs that are political to the core. In fact, they only seem to get rid of their most loyal and dedicated comrades when they embarrass Canada the way Avi Lewis did in his interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and even then it takes them a while.
The Conservatives of Joe Clark did not find the CBC biased. Its employees are part of the bourgoisie.They are mainstream. The posters that have flocked here are not part of the fiscally conservative majority of Canadians. These folks are dangerous.
95% of the posts above are correct in that the CBC is very biased. Many great reasons and examples are posted on this page. I will send this to every MP in Canada. You also have a job to do, folks: spread the word. Let apathetic Canadians know that their tax money is funding garbage. If we all stand up and voice together, we can certainly enact change. Phone your MP. Urge companies to boycott the CBC. Save Canada from the CBC’s dangerous influence.
Are you kidding? Quit watching you 2 years ago. you make me sick!
The CBC could not be more openly biased to the left even if they read a disclaimer before every news broadcast. Other than Rex Murphy who usually is dead on with his views, the rest of your news and commentary sounds like its written at Liberal headquarters or in Jack Laytons basements.You got to be joking even asking us about biase, just listen to yourselfs sometime.
Somebody said, approximately, the CBC investigating itself for bias sounds about as reliable as shipping lettuce by rabbit. There is no question that the CBC and half the ‘soft’ bureaucracies in government are ruled by leftists. Look at the schools where they succeeded. Look at their output. Of course they are biased towards the system that rewards their attitudes and judgments.
The communist broadcasting Corporation not biased? Why of course not! what kind of idiot would suggest such a thing? Ok, so there are long litany of examples of eitherr twisted, mocked or outright ignored stories out there [ like last Sunday's march for life that fatured 15,000 people in the nations capital litterally on CBC's doorstep but nary a peep on the website ] But what does that matter? Who would want accurate and balanced reporting anyway? This would fly in the face of the broadcasters unofficial motto “Truth? yoyu can’t handle the truth!”
And we couldn’t have that, could we?
Is the CBC biased? YES.
It looks like some 30-50 to one also agree with that.
I’d also bet that this poll vanishes and it’s results are never seen again.
The comments here seem way too unbalanced to be credible. Half of them sound like the Cold War is still going on and we have to fight the communists inside the CBC. The other half would want a network like Fox News instead. Come on! Don’t discredit yourself so easily.
Is the CBC Biased? Good God, of course! The CBC is horribly unwatchable, progressive Marxist, endophobicaly bigoted garbage. It is representative of all that is wrong with this country and comes in on the WRONG side of every single argument. The CBC hates me and my family and every single cultural value we possess.
All of that…… AND it is terrible. I mean really terrible. The quality has never been good. Ever. There has never been a decent program on the CBC.
Hmm.. My first post isn’t here. Guess they didn’t like being called the Communist Broadasting Corporation huh. I find it interesting that the small handfull of supporters of CBC all think there is actually someplace to get the right wing agenda “reflected” back to them. Realy? Where? Your attitude merely demosnstrates how far left you are if you think that Global or CTV are conservative. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll agree to pull all tax based supprot for all broadcasters and allow people to choose who they listen too, and you guys sign the petiton right next to me. Then you can watch the Commun.. umm I mean Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to your hearts content.
One more point. The single best example of bias of the CBC took place just this last week. The largest protest of the year [ the march for life ] happened on CBC’s doorstep with 15,000 people taking part. Every other news agency in the city covered it. CBC? not a peep. And you think we should pay for this? “Not I” said the little red hen.
[...] Inside the CBC – Is the CBC biased? Go vote! [...]
Whehn Strombo was confronted with data showing that if we took every single car and truck off the road we still wouldn’t reach Kyoto targets, his response on his show was “Well, I don’t remember anyone saying anything about that”. He literally simply discarded evidence that didn’t fit his narrative. And its not like I’m the only person who saw him do that.
That’s a really serious breach of journalistic ethics! And now I find out he’s a member of Suzuki’s board of directors, that makes it even worse.
[...] are they? [...]
If only CTV and Global would do similar commissions on themselves.
I’ve listened to Anna Maria Tremonti, Carol Off, and Michael Enright for years, and I must have missed the programs where they sneered.
I remember Avi Lewis being a genial host on “Counterspin” offering conservative guests as much time as they needed to cover their position or talking points and then allowing equal time for rebuttal by other sides in the debate.
Anybody who thinks today’s CBC journalists are confrontational should have seen “This Hour Has Seven Days” back in the mid-60s. Now that show was a bear pit!
I believe the CBC to be left wing biased.
While there was a place for the CBC before the advent of access to other networks and cablevision, I see no place for the continued existence of this organization as a publicly funded agency.
Here is an idea. Turn the CBC into a public corporation and give 10 shares to every Canadian. That way we still own it. If you don’t want to own it, sell (unload, give) your shares to someone who does. Every shareholder will have to kick in $5 subsidy per share … oh shhhhh.
I could write a PhD thesis to substantiate the one word answer, “absolutely”. But rather than do that, I refer the CBC and readers of this comment to Honest Reporting reports, such as
http://www.honestreporting.ca/news_article_name/corrclarobfus54890.aspx
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/critiques/Blaming_Israel_for_Abu_Ghraib$.asp
(You can google “honest reporting and CBC” yourself.)
The ONLY kudos that I will give to the CBC is that they have not shut down the discussion on this topic …………… YET!
Interesting to see this in the wake of the above comments:
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/013995.html
So what’s their share of the viewers? Are we getting value for our billion per year.. or is that all spent buying US reality shows or Chinese Olympics?
Hey Nick! Looks like you were wrong!
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/05/13/abortion-rally.html
I don’t think “biased” is the right word for social engineers who pretend to be neutral, objective and open-minded.
“Partisan” and “intolerant” are accurate.
Stop wasting $3.5M per day on the CBC. Sell it.
I’ll say again: No. It’s not a waste. Don’t sell it. Don’t shut it down.
I’ve read all of the above comments. I find it fitting that the only posters who support the CBC are in its employ. The most watched TV shows on the CBC are “Jeopardy” and Hockey. Even “The National” lags behind news competitors from CTV and Global. CBC Radio is drowned out by rock stations and talk radio. Check BBM and see for yourself. When the CBC’s public funding is cut, and hopefully only a short time will ellapse before this happens, the obligatory socialists will cry foul. And our GST will be lowered by 1%.
Of course, it is biased, but so is every other network. It is impossible to report the news without being biased. The problem is that it pretends to be unbiased, and that it does it with my tax dollars. It could be as biased and slanted as MSNBC if it wanted to if I didn’t have to pay for it.
The CBC isn`t even news, it`s a tool of the Liberal party of Canada. Calling it biased isn`t even fair as it is no longer a news station.
Calling the CBC biased and left-leaning is too kind, you know longer even deserve that.
I wouldn’t call the Honest Reporting website free from bias. It openly promotes the policies of the Israeli government under the guise of media critique.
There’s nothing wrong with that process, critics of Israeli policy also do it, but in neither case can the process be said to be free from bias. I’m comfortable with bias when it is an opinion piece, editorial, or analysis presented by a clearly identified spokesperson.
Many of the comments here don’t actually cite evidence of bias, they simply repeat the comments on sites like:
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/013995.html#comments
Hey Dennis Brown: You offer no proof that the CBC is NOT biased! We all agree that msnbc, Fox, Global, CTV, TSN, etc are legitimate, as they attract their own following and manage their affairs according to that following. The CBC garners a very small following, considering it is the largest media broadcaster in the country, and we all pay for this waste. There’s no accountability or legitimacy, as CBC staffers don’t care if their media is dismally followed. They get paid anyways.
There are times when the CBC attempts to define Canada from the prospective of Toronto or Montreal.
Mostly Toronto. There is a very large part of Canada that exists over 100 km North of the U.S. / Canada border. The usual CBC reaction is “Oh Wow!, look at those guys!” like spectators on a ride in a theme park. The CBC tends to ignore much of Canada.
In Alberta the CBC station in Edmonton does a great noon show on Alberta but it only goes out to Alberta. If the rest of Canada ever had the opportunity to listen to it their prospective of Alberta and Albertans would change.
Not to mention if you get XM satellite radio in your new automobile – the CBC is NOT there.
Kudos to Jian Ghomeshi, Randy Bachman, and the folks who do the regional programing for Alberta.
A raspberry to George Stroumboulopoulos who started his career with some much promise and now comes across as a poor imitation of Peter Gzowski.
Some advice for the CBC – get in touch with Canada. Especially the parts of Canada that are more than 100 km from the U.S. border and have towns and cities with populations less than 10,000.
If the CBC is a tool of the Liberal Party of Canada, why did its reporters go after Chretien on Shawinigate? Why did they repeat the “Mr. Dithers” nickname for Paul Martin and play up Adscam for all it was worth? Journalists love a good gaffe, scandal, or constitutional crisis no matter which party is in power. If Jack ‘n Gilles went up the Hill and formed a coalition, they’d be on the hot seat too.
But I’m not a media insider, just an occasional contract archivist with no attachment to the CBC. Neil MacDonald has reported for the CBC for years, and his opinion pieces can be as hard on journalists as any conservative. At the link below, he examines the kid gloves U.S. media use on Barack Obama. See if you agree.
The media love-in with Barack Obama
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/05/14/f-rfa-macdonald.html
This is dog-piling.
Anyone else here listened to that Age of Persuasion installment a week or two ago, “Where the Power Lies”? There’s a clip from a Rod Serling interview included there that got my attention, about a particular episode of Lassie that got targeted with a letter-writing campaign…
Is a duck’s ass watertight?
The CBC is either the most biased or the most incompetent bunch of boobs on the planet.
Look no further than how the CBC reported that Sarah Palins daughter was the real mother of four month old Trig and five months pregnant.
Do the math on that one.
You only have to watch a Montreal Canadiens playoff game to know CBC is biased.
If canadians want to see fair reporting and fair comment, they will have to go to some of the following places to get it:
CPAC – Peter Van Dusen (not biased like his hystrionic sister Julie)
Michael Coren Show – he’s Conservatively biased, but regularly has far left guests on his show.
The Current – Steve Paikan. One of the best, and certainly fair.
sadly, we end up with folks like:
Heather Mallick
Judy Rebick
James Travers (travesty)
Jane Taber…etc..etc…etc…
Seems that for every real journalist in Canada, there are dozens of wannabees. And most of them work at the CBC or an affiliate.
The CBC is so frustrating. I turn it on, then shortly after turn it off in disgust. The CBC is a waste of air, let alone tax dollars. Sell the CBC and it’s hard assts in 2011, pay off it’s employees and end this mess.
Publish your viewer /listener data for every hour/day.
I do not understand why this government puts up with the drival that CBC produces.
How many CBC employees, as a percentage let’s say, would vote Provincially or Federally for a Conservative party? I bet you would be hard pressed to find a single, card-carrying CPC member employed by the CBC. Certainly not one that would admit it to his colleagues. Is the CBC biased? The answer is so obvious as to be laughable. Of course it is.
Even if you removed the right to vote from all CBC staff, you couldn’t remove their bias. Of course CBC is biased because humans are always biased. The trick is to make an effort to present balanced reportage. That’s what the news media is supposed to do. And though I, like every other Canadian, can always find lots of fault with CBC policies, something has become glaringly obvious to me in the last year.
The ONLY mainstream media that has reported on the CRTC Usage Based Billing ruling at ALL has been CBC online. Even though this issue will have a staggering impact on Canada and our economy, none of the other so-called news media in Canada have bothered to inform Canadians that our Internet rates (currently 2nd highest in the world) are going to double. http://stopusagebasedbilling.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/it-aint-over-til-its-over/
Why are other news media silent on UBB? A look at their ownership might provide clues. But warts and all, the CBC is owned by Canadians and they have actually reported on this issue that will affect us all. Admittedly not very loud, but still better than nothing at all. Could they do better? You betcha. Could they do worse. Oh yeah.
Exactly what makes CBC an ongoing danger to the private ‘casters. And one more reason why we who do watch and listen and read the service need it.
What the CBC is really asking is “Have we done a credible job of pretending to be unbiased?” This entire exercise is part of the CBC’s continuing effort to pretend to be unbiased. After all, it can more effectively sway the people to the left if they believe the CBC to be unbiased. Abolish the CBC. Do it now.
The CBC biased? Of course not! Their OWN ombudsman did a study on it said they weren’t. LOL The CBC has become nothing but a propaganda machine for the liberal government. They have no impartiality or credibility as a news source.
Heather Mallick, Judy Rebick, James Travers, and Jane Tabor are all opinion columnists or pundits, hired to give their opinions, just as are Lorne Gunter, Andrew Coyne, and Allan Gregg (all conservatives, last time I looked). I remember seeing Clair Hoy on CBC. Rex Murphy, a National Post columnist at Canada’s flagship conservative paper, also is heard on CBC, hosting Cross Country Checkup.
I’ve heard or read all of those “liberal” pundits criticize both Liberal and NDP leaders. And I’ve heard or read the “conservative” ones criticize the Conservative leader. I don’t know if any of the conservative pundits were “card carrying members of the CPC” but I didn’t get the impression they would vote Liberal, NDP, or Bloc from the talking points they usually make.
Jean-Michel says:
“The comments here seem way too unbalanced to be credible. Half of them sound like the Cold War is still going on and we have to fight the communists inside the CBC. The other half would want a network like Fox News instead. Come on! Don’t discredit yourself so easily.”
————————
You just discredited yourself, my friend. Amazing how lefties so readily use Fox to justify or excuse the bias of CBC, as if Fox is the diametrical opposite of CBC. That in itself belies CBCs bias.
Dwight Williams says:
Interesting to see this in the wake of the above comments:
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/013995.html
————————————-
Which pretty much proves the point, doesn’t it. Bloggers like Kate speak for the 30% of Canadians that the CBC either ignores or ridicules. For a publicly funded broadcaster that is a pretty huge chunk of the country that do not see their issues or ideas presented. Yet you cling to the notion that there is no bias.
Dwight Williams says:
Exactly what makes CBC an ongoing danger to the private ‘casters. And one more reason why we who do watch and listen and read the service need it.
==============================
Simple. Public funds taken from, among many others, people who work for private broadcasters, being used to compete against them. Talk about unfair competition. That’s a textbook case, right there.
Chris says:
If only CTV and Global would do similar commissions on themselves.
=========================
They don’t have to. That’s the whole point. As privately funded broadcasters, their bottom line suffers if they don’t have a big enough audience. CBC is immune to the logical consequences of a declining viewership/listening audience, because they are funded regardless of whether or not people are tuning in.
Dwight Williams says:
I’ll say again: No. It’s not a waste. Don’t sell it. Don’t shut it down.
==============
Why should the rest of us pay for something we don’t like, just because you like it? Justify that for me, please.
Rick says:
Here is an idea. Turn the CBC into a public corporation and give 10 shares to every Canadian. That way we still own it. If you don’t want to own it, sell (unload, give) your shares to someone who does. Every shareholder will have to kick in $5 subsidy per share … oh shhhhh.
==================
That’s not a bad idea. Shares would be pretty worthless, though. CBC would be bankrupt overnight. I don’t think they could respond to their shareholders fast enough to save themselves.
Joe Clark says:
The Conservatives of Joe Clark did not find the CBC biased. Its employees are part of the bourgoisie.They are mainstream. The posters that have flocked here are not part of the fiscally conservative majority of Canadians. These folks are dangerous.
===============
Like me? I’m a fiscal conservative. I’m a social conservative on some issues. However, on CBC I and legions of other conservatives are branded as bible thumping homophobic ignoramuses. The CBC DOES NOT speak for me. They have no clue what conservatives stand for, and that’s abundantly clear in their failure to include conservative perspectives in their programming, their staffing and their choices of what they consider to be “news”.
Is the CBC biased? Yes it is. If it wasn’t for the fact that I am forced fund the “mother corp” through my tax dollars, I wouldn’t care.
Dwight, You clearly enjoy the CBC and that is ok with me. Good for you. Your tax dollars are well spent on your viewing pleasure. However I choose not to watch the CBC. How do you justify forcing me to pay for your viewing enjoyment. Is it that I am not as equal as you? Perhaps I am less of a Canadian than you? I am very curious how someone like you justifies this.
Usage based billing? That’s the best you CBC workers can come up with?? It is now official: the CBC offers NOTHING useful.
A vast majority of CBC employees are unionized socialists who rely on working people for a paycheque. This vast majority votes predominantly for the Green, Liberal & NDP parties. CBC news is twisted to present pro-union, pro-socialist, pro-tax, pro-big government viewpoints.
On the bright side, I was very surprised to see Heather Mallick’s opposition to the Quebec Burka girl. Regardless:
1- The CBC supports gun control.
2- The CBC wants to bring Omar Khadr home, rather than letting him rot, as most Canadians want.
3- The CBC propagates AGW.
4- The CBC supports more tax money for the “arts”.
5- The CBC refused to show the mohammed cartoons, so we all had to google it back in 2005. The CBC is politically correct to the point of madness. See #6.
6- The CBC is the largest Canadian media corporation, but lags behind CTV, Global, and heck, even the Food Network in ratings.
7- The CBC employs many more socialists than capitalists.
8 The CBC NEVER described the French rioters as anything else but “youths”.
9- The CBC evokes the viewers’ sympathy for non-Canadians: they want us to give free healthcare and welfare to illegal immigrants. They want us to feel sorry for illegal immigrants.
10- The CBC printed several op-ed pieces in favour of Obama. Not hard to find. Can you give me a link from any CBC’er in support of McCain???
These are just a few off the top of my head. This thread is getting redundant. The CBC is biased. Case closed.
Disclaimer: I do not work for the CBC, have no connection with it. I currently don’t watch it because my TV needs repairs/replacement. I do listen to CBC Radio One and occasionally Radio Canada (pour ameliorer mon francais). That out of the way, I’ll respond to some of Brenda R’s points with either requests to demonstrate the bias claimed or easy quick rebuttals that I could find without spending a whole day doing it.
1.Where does the CBC either officially, either through biased editorials or reporting, “support gun control”? Show me an example of gun control advocacy on the part of the CBC or its reporters.
2. The CBC reports the two sides in the Omar Khadr case. His lawyer and supporters present one side of his case, and the government presents its side in the case. The case is complex because it involves international law, a foreign government, and a war whose mission statement has changed at least three times. CBC has presented reports on all these complexities. But the CBC is not responsible for those complexities – the governments and NATO are.
3. AGW must be some kind of insider buzzword. I had to google it to keep up with the parade. Ah yes, “global warming” or the theory of man-made climate change. Again, the CBC reports what the majority consensus of climatologists is. The CBC also reports that there are a small number of scientists, and a larger number of non-scientists who do not subscribe to the views of the scientific majority. The CBC also gave prominent emphasis to the embarrassing emails between IPCC scientists and provided links to climate change denial web sites. That’s a strange way to “propagate AGW”.
7. Capitalists by definition employ capital resources to start and run their own enterprises. The capitalist networks are CTV and Global. But the employees at CTV and Global aren’t capitalists either, they’re labour.
The CBC currently has capital friendly shows like “Dragon’s Den” and “Venture” and Newsworld offers lots of capital friendly promotion of stock markets, investor tips, and pro-market editorializing. Labour gets no such coverage. Where’s all the “socialism”?
8. A quick search of the CBC web site using the keyphrase “French rioters” turned up the following links in which French rioters were described in exactly those terms:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2005/11/09/france-riots051109.html
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/technology2005.html
9. The CBC usually presents both sides of a dispute and leaves the third side, i.e. the truth, up to the viewer/listener. I have never seen the CBC advocate or propagate the idea that illegal immigrants should get free healthcare or welfare. It may be that government policy allows for that while a case is pending, but if so, that’s not the CBC’s fault.
10. The CBC has also run opinion pieces critical of Obama, such as this recent one by Neil Macdonald:
The media love-in with Barack Obama
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/05/14/f-rfa-macdonald.html
Hey….did you hear the news?
The CBC is NOT BIASED………
The CBC just said so.
Hope that clears things up for you all.
CBC exonerates CBC, again! Who would have thunk!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/cbc-clears-pollster-criticizes-paranoia-tinged-tories/article1573887/
Bottom line: if you want to know what REALLY happened, listen to talk radio or ask an intelligent person. Do NOT go to the CBC! Their political correctness shields the cold, hard plain truth. And viewers know this: There’s a reason that the CBC garners less than a 6% market share, while spending more than any other Canadian media. Another poster put it well: Give all Canadians 10 shares each. Aux revoir!!!!!!!
EKOS did a poll that proved it was unbiased and besides, everyone knows that “progressives” represent all that is good in Canada anyways. Quebec MP Pablo Rodriguez was going to drop it over but he’s having a little trouble.
Aside from the herring of this being posted on that great blog “Small Dead Animals”, it’s also posted on this official CBC blog and the facebook CBC fan club. Even on that “fan boy” site, it’s clear that the CBC is biased.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/thecbc
i asked my dad becus im doing a report on cbc for school, he said cbc is absolutly baised. and i asked him whats that mean and he said cbc wants everybod to be the same and all of us git ti give lot’s money to the poor. and also he said thats a bad idia becus the poor this days dont find a job they just stay at home with lot’s of babys ad therfore dont even try to get a job and thats how come thats more crime and jails, and we dint tell kids to be good we just pay more money and there’s lot’s of bad parnent’s. and he said cbc said lie’s and cbc has to be trutful about the parent’s but they dont.
Alyssa Dwernychuk says:
I’m so fake I surprised I thought I could get away with trying to be a little kid.
Dennis R, your reply to Brenda R is rather amusing not to mention telling.
In fairness, though, I don’t think Brenda was direct enough about the French rioters. I’m almost certain she was referring to the widespread aversion of all the main stream media to avoid stating the obvious, namely that the youth rioting on the streets of Paris were “Muslim”.
Neither of the links you provided use the word Muslim or Islam in relation to those riots, which kinda supports Brenda’s position. The fact that Brenda’s intent went right over your head could very well be due to the very indoctrination the anti-CBCers here are talking about. Were you even aware of the ethnicity of the rioting “youth”? If not, why not?
Pathetically, we have a government in Washington now which also refuses to use those words when describing numerous incidents of terrorism and threats of terrorism even though every single one of them involves Muslims. There are many ways for the main stream media to demonstrate bias, and avoiding topics deemed politically incorrect is one of them.
CBC is notorious for this.
Considering the fact that during the late 60s and early 70′s coverage of the big inner city riots in the US was promoted as “evidence” of racial discrimination, I find it someone curious why the media today is not playing the race card with respect to the situation in France. Perhaps the truth is sinking in and they are trying to find a way to avoid confronting it by sweeping the “Islam/Muslim” factor under the rug.
You see Dennis, bias is expressed in a multitude of ways. Sometimes it’s too subtle for the hopelessly indoctrinated to catch it. The fact that you didn’t know what AGW means speaks volumes. I could debate all your other points too, but this is enough.
First of all, it’s Dennis B, not R, that’s one mistake of fact.
Second, in the report on the rioting the CBC reports:
“The crackdown is designed to halt violence by angry young protesters, many from African and Arab communities troubled by high unemployment rates.”
The report does not use the term “Muslim” to describe these rioters although it does note that many are from African and Arab communities (likely Muslim). Similarly, one can assume that among the ranks of the abortion clinic bombers and doctor killers, there are Christians. Imagine how Christians would respond if the CBC reported that “Christian terrorists” blew up an abortion clinic and assassinated a gynecologist? Muslims and Christians are not the problem, rioters, criminals, and murderers are. Reporting should reflect that.
The race based riots of the 60s and 70s were more about class than race, and I agree the reporting didn’t make that clear. Middle class or well off African Americans didn’t take part in the Watts or Detroit riots, it was those living in ghetto-like circumstances that did. Why would Bill Cosby, Harry Belafonte, or Lena Horne have rioted in the streets?
But class is the unspoken issue here, isn’t it? Hiding behind racial and religious factionalism. To quote Louise, “Sometimes it’s too subtle for the hopelessly indoctrinated to catch it.” Exactly.
As far as my not knowing what AGW meant, my first guess was “anti-global warming”. I should have stayed with that assumption as it more accurately portrays the views of those who use it.
It’s amazing to me that this one little question has unleashed so many introspective comments.
After reading several of these, I cannot help but think what wondeful lies the top CBC exectutuives will tell themselves and others, to continue the status quo, as top cheerleader for the liberal party.
Only left-wingers think the CBC is unbiased.
Dennis Brown says:
Similarly, one can assume that among the ranks of the abortion clinic bombers and doctor killers, there are Christians.
Name them. All of them. Count them. All of them. Provide documented evidence that they all shout “Jesus is Lord” every time they blow up a crowded market place or burn down a school full of girls locked inside. As of today there have been 15,334 terrorist attacks at a multitude of places throughout the world committed by Islamists, since 9/11. How do your “Christian” terrorists numbers compare?
I’ll give you time to do the calculations and verify they are all the acts of Christians, but I will be checking back.
And Dennis, just to show you what you’re up against, since January 1, 2010, 3,296 innocent people have been killed by Islamic terrorists. That just the latest count from this year only.
In 2009 the total was 9,158.
Should I post the numbers for last quarter of 2001 through to the end of 2008?
How’s that stack up to your Christian terrorists?
Do you suppose the beloved CBC will delve into this?
Dennis Brown says:
As far as my not knowing what AGW meant, my first guess was “anti-global warming”. I should have stayed with that assumption as it more accurately portrays the views of those who use it.
======================
Tell that to the Mongolians who, according to the UN have lost nearly 20 percent of their livestock as a result of one of the worst winters in 50 years:
“30,000 households have seen at least half of their livestock perish, and a further 9,000 families lost all of their animals.
“The herders are dependent on animals, and Mongolia is dependent on the herders,” Rana said, adding that the country was already seeing an increase in child mortality and malnutrition rates.”"
Check it out:
http://tinyurl.com/28qqnzy
Cold kills. Warmth doesn’t.
I’ll be interested in seeing how the IPCC, another branch of the UN, deals with this little bit of info in their next “sky is falling” report on global warming. (Or the CBC for that matter.) Cognitive dissonance, anyone?
Since the CBC is so passionate about getting MPs to publish their expenses, why doesn’t the CBC make a bold move and allow itself to be audited? Surely they have nothing to hide.
@Louise writes:
“I’ll give you time to do the calculations and verify they are all the acts of Christians, but I will be checking back.”
Here’s the most recent publicized case involving an extremist with ties to a U.S. organization called the Army of God. Scott Roeder, murdered George Tiller, having previously written articles for David Leach’s publication:
“Leach published the Army of God manual, which advocates the killing of the providers of abortion and contains bomb-making instructions, in the January 1996 issue of his magazine….”
http://tinyurl.com/2ae3q6b
Note that if you are claiming the CBC fails to use the phrase “Muslim terrorist” in the reporting you cite, the CBC also fails to use the phrase “Christian terrorist” in the report at the link below:
So if there’s bias in not mentioning terrorist affiliations, or political correctness, it must apply both ways.
http://tinyurl.com/27alpgn
For a listing of worldwide organizations invoking Christianity for terrorist acts against the state, organizations, or individuals, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism#Canada
As far as cold weather in Mongolia goes, it may be evidence of climate instability due to increasing snow-pack melt at both poles.
Those who have actually read the various climate change papers will have some familiarity with the concept that local conditions may move in different directions. Dry areas may become drier, wet areas may become wetter. Jet streams may take new paths, and ocean currents may be disrupted. The only evidence that is incontrovertible is that the ice packs at both poles are experiencing significant meltdown. That’s a fact measured by the satellite images over the years.
But Quirks & Quarks did a program on observed cooling in Antarctica, often cited by climate change skeptics as evidence of “global cooling”. The report notes that CFC and ozone hole effects have an affect on local temperatures and when the hole closes in the future, the greenhouse effect will then apply to Antarctica too.
http://tinyurl.com/cxgpwu
To Dennis Brown:
The best you can come up with is two abortion murders and an obscure “doukhobor” sentence in a wikipedia article? Are you sure you don’t work for the CBC? Because your investigative journalism remains unconvincing.
it is only a matter of time before your dismally watched CBC is abolished. I say “abolished”, rather than “privatized”, for the simple fact that nobody in their right mind would own and operate this company in the private sector. The format requires a complete overhaul in order to garner viewers and legitimacy.
Dave Toutant replies:
“The best you can come up with is two abortion murders and an obscure “doukhobor” sentence in a wikipedia article?”
Had you read a little farther down the page, you would have come to a section on U.S. based groups such as Christian Identity, Christian Patriot, Concerned Christians, and Lambs of Christ. Then there’s the Hutaree Christian militia group rounded up and indicted just this year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism#United_States
Incidently, the state of Israel was founded by terrorist groups whose members later became leaders of the state.
“Some of the better-known attacks by the Irgun were the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 and the Deir Yassin massacre (carried out together with Lehi) on 9 April 1948.
Critics of the Irgun have seen it as a terrorist organization. It was legally classified as such by the new State of Israel in 1948.[3]
The Irgun was a political predecessor to Israel’s right-wing Herut (or “Freedom”) party, which led to today’s Likud party. Likud has led or been part of most Israeli governments since 1977.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun
As far as CBC listener ratings go, CBO-FM here in Ottawa has topped the ratings for several years now. But even if the CBC as a whole doesn’t have the numbers it used to, neither do the major newspapers, or for that matter, the recording industry. All of these news or entertainment sources have been affected by the Internet where people get to set up blogs, form online posses of like minded individuals, and reinforce their shared views free from dissenting opinions. That may make for emotional comfort for the participants, but it doesn’t make for an enlightened public discourse or a rational exchange of ideas.
Dennis, thank you for at least making an effort. I’ll give you that.
David Toutant has done a good job at destroying your argument about the legions of Christian terrorists. I had fully predicted you would use the Tiller case, because, after all, it’s the only one that exists, and it’s been used to ad-nauseam by fools wishing to paint themselves into the corner tin which you now find yourself.
Did you, by they way, deliberately ignore the facts laid out in the Wikipedia article about the Christian outrage over this act of murder? Or were you just to blinded by zealotry to bother reading it?
Did you conveniently omit that fact that Tiller’s murderer was caught, tried and convicted and that there hasn’t been a single case in North America since then? Have you noticed how many Islamists meet with that fate? Have you noticed that there seems to be a complete lack of funding channeled from rogue Christian states as there is in the case of Islamist terror (consider Saudi Arabia and Iran)? If Christian terror is the equivalent of Islamic terror, I wonder why that is? Where are Christian terrorism’s state sponsors?
Beyond that, the Canadian reference in your Wikipedia article (the Doukhobors) existed at the turn of the 19/20th century – over one hundred years ago. Not relevant today.
Concerning the Irish, I remember that conflict. Total numbers of innocents killed pale by comparison to Islamist terror today, and in most cases, their targets were political, rather than random acts against innocent civilians, although many innocents were killed.
I could also argue that in some sense the Irish example was a liberation struggle, just as with many of the organizations listed in Wikipedia and the faith of the protagonists had nothing whatsoever to do with it, other than one side happened to be protestant and other catholic. It was not a war inspired by religious teachings. There’s nothing remotely akin to a liberation struggle going on in the Muslim terror campaigns. On the contrary, it’s a tactic used to instill fear and submission to a totalitarian ideology.
I’ve shown you statistics for the past two years only. Going back to 2001, the number of people actually killed by Muslim fanatics would be in excess of 70,000. Where is your Christian comparison, Dennis?
Epic fail my friend.
Anyway, I’m quitting. If you want to continue, meet me at my blog (click on my name). This tread is about CBC bias and I’m afraid we’ve wandered way off topic.
Tax-loving liberal said:
“As far as CBC listener ratings go, CBO-FM here in Ottawa has topped the ratings for several years now. But even if the CBC as a whole doesn’t have the numbers it used to, neither do the major newspapers, or for that matter, the recording industry…….That may make for emotional comfort for the participants, but it doesn’t make for an enlightened public discourse or a rational exchange of ideas.”
1) CBC’s “rational exchange of ideas” is a politically correct insult to worldly people’s intelligence. You don’t know the true meaning of “enlightenment”.
2) Populism dominates. Many media outlets are beginning to share the CBC’s irrelevance and loss of market share as a result of their collective non-reporting, but the difference is that TAXPAYERS FUND THE WASTEFUL CBC’S IRRELEVANCE.
Dave Toutant: “…but the difference is that TAXPAYERS FUND THE WASTEFUL CBC’S IRRELEVANCE”
=======================
Including taxpayers who work for the competition. Double whammy!
Dave Toutant says:
> Tax-loving liberal…
Dave, if you want to make convincing points in support of your worldview, you should try to avoid name calling. It springs from insecurity in the soundness of one’s own position.
> You don’t know the true meaning of “enlightenment”.
A Zen proverb goes: great doubt, great enlightenment; small doubt, small enlightenment; no doubt, no enlightenment.
The vast majority of posts in this forum express no doubt that the CBC is biased, yet present no evidence of that bias. So I find no enlightenment in those posts.
Louise has been an exception and I thank her for her civility and willingness to present points where she feels CBC coverage has been either deficient or biased. I’m not persuaded by her points, but due to her civility and willingness to make those points, I would feel inclined at least to consider them and maybe do further research to see if she has seen things I may have missed.
All the arguments in this forum about the CBC and taxpayer funding of same don’t address the question of bias so they can be ignored as off topic.
Allow me to “enlighten” you. 28,000 results can;t be wrong:
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=cbc+left+wing+bias&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
Heck, 43,000 results is even better!
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=cbc+right+wing+bias&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
There’s no ad hominem. You love seeing my taxes going towards liberal media and the furthering of your demonstrably liberal world view. Good-bye.
Using proper search string protocol, i.e. putting “left wing bias” in quotation marks, I get 8,990 results. But there’s still a problem. Most of these are simply links to right wing blogs, claiming left wing bias at the CBC. That doesn’t prove bias in reporting, merely claims of bias by openly political bloggers.
If I type “national post” “right wing bias”, I get 104,000 results. So what? Most of those comments are also linked to right wing blogs complaining that the National Post is being unfairly targeted as having a right wing bias. Again, this proves nothing.
If the CBC and the National Post are seen as the opposite ends of the political spectrum, fierce opponents irretrievably separated by a gulf of political enmity, what do you make of this?
“Under a new deal announced Thursday the National Post is set to become the CBC’s preferred print partner, while the Post will give clients the option to run ads on the ceeb….”
http://www.insidethecbc.com/cbc-national-post-deepen-relationship/
If the CBC is run by a hive of leftists, this is a strange way to show it!
Very strange indeed. And a little unnerving.
Seeing Messrs. Ghomeshi and Murphy pen the occasional column for the Post is one thing.
This, though?
The BBC finally recognised and dealt with it’s lefty bias so why does the CBC believe it’s any better?
Dennis Brown says;
““Under a new deal announced Thursday the National Post is set to become the CBC’s preferred print partner, while the Post will give clients the option to run ads on the ceeb….”
http://www.insidethecbc.com/cbc-national-post-deepen-relationship/
If the CBC is run by a hive of leftists, this is a strange way to show it!”
===================
Same thing came to my mind, but my take on it is that CBC has finally , F – I – N – A – L -Y , got the message. There are two points that those of us who rant and rail against the CBC can say are being addressed here, whether it’s CBC’s intention, or not. Namely:
1) Find your own damned money. If you have a big enough market you’ll be able to cash in.
2) Since the National Post has long being pilloried by the left as a bastion of right wing extremism, this business relationship suggests, again, that the CBC has seen the writing on the wall and is attaching itself to a centre/centre-right media organ. Interesting move, no?
It’s a small move nonetheless, but it signals a big message, IMHO.
So I see the Conservatives echo chamber has sent out their talking(unthinking) points and all their sheeple are parotting their words, sounding like a Harper can do no wrong and should never be questioned party. There is nothing Conservatives hate more than truth. They invariably have to invent their own science and economics. The worse their ideas, the more they cling to them, and require unquestioning belief in them. No regulations and you have an economic meltdown, and the worst environment disaster in American history. We are very lucky to have had a news organization like the CBC that has not been afraid or intimidated to question those half baked ideas. Such a news organization in the US might have prevented some of those mistakes there. That is why the Conservative government has avoided being interviewed. They simply don’t want us to know what they are doing. Centre is 50/50 representation, not 30/70. Even you alleged Conservatives don’t support the National Post, or it would not have needed rescuing from bankruptcy. Now its unbalanced views will be rammed down the throats of us 70 percenters.
The worse their ideas, the more they cling to them, and require unquestioning belief in them. No regulations and you have an economic meltdown, and the worst environment disaster in American history. We are very lucky to have had a news organization like the CBC that has not been afraid or intimidated to question those half baked ideas. Such a news organization in the US might have prevented some of those mistakes there.
========================================
Hahahaha!! Thanks, I needed a good laugh!! I can already picture the headline on rabble or other islamofascist or communist webblogs: “CBC prevents Offshore Oil-Drilling Catastrophes”. Haha! The CBC has “been afraid or intimidated” to address many issues that are dear to “real” Canadians’ hearts, and thus is among the most unwatched in terms of TV news!
The CBC’s Don Newman definitely seems worried about Canadians getting any alternate viewpoints.
” The absolute last thing this country needs” , is how he framed it.
Later on, he says ” I impolitely told him what he could do with the idea and we didn’t speak again for four years”.
A remarkably petty thing for someone who is supposed to be such a “progressive” and open minded man.
Along with Aljazeera, I welcome Canadians getting more alternatives so they can make up their own minds rather than being force fed “Canadian values” by a lazy, elitist media cabal.
Hugh Jordon: “So I see the Conservatives echo chamber has sent out their talking(unthinking) points and all their sheeple are parotting their words, sounding like a Harper can do no wrong and should never be questioned party.”
==================
It’s rather funny that folks like Hugh think that CBC bias is confined to their take on capital C Conservatives versus the other brands. The bias is much more pervasive than simply with respect to political parties. It seems the CBC itself misreads its critics as well. There’s a vast array of topics that have nothing to do with what goes on on Parliament Hill. The CBC touts the politically correct line on almost all subjects.
Hugh darling also says: “That is why the Conservative government has avoided being interviewed. They simply don’t want us to know what they are doing.”
========================
Umm. And you think the only way we can find out what our representatives in Parliament are doing is via the CBC??? Get a grip, sweetie.
We have a vast array of media that cover politics. There are constituency offices all over the country. We can visit those offices and complain or ask questions. We can write letters and send emails to get our questions answered. We don’t need an intervenor to interpret on our behalf what goes on. Well, maybe you do, but not the rest of us. We can do that task ourselves.
Perhaps the fact that you think anyone you disagree with is incapable of doing his or her own analysis says more about you than you would like to admit. There are a few words for that. Try hubris and elitism.
One more point. Hugh Jordon says: “Centre is 50/50 representation, not 30/70.”
======================
There’s this small matter of the Bloc Quebecois. Roughly 66% of Canadians can neither vote for them or against them. Sorta puts your 30/70 into perspective, doesn’t it.
On the great “climategate” pseudo-story that the CBC is accused of having ignored (or buried) comes news that the Sunday Times of London has printed a retraction of the claims it made against scientists and the IPCC reports as being full of egregious errors.
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In perhaps the biggest backpedaling, The Sunday Times of London, which led the media pack in charging that IPCC reports were full of egregious (and probably intentional) errors, retracted its central claim—namely, that the IPCC statement that up to 40 percent of the Amazonian rainforest could be vulnerable to climate change was “unsubstantiated.” The Times also admitted that it had totally twisted the remarks of one forest expert to make it sound as if he agreed that the IPCC had screwed up, when he said no such thing….
http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/06/25/newspapers-retract-climategate-claims-but-damage-still-done.html
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This won’t stop the climate change denialists from making claims that the CBC is engaging in a coverup but it’s at least nice to see that the Times has printed its mea culpa.
Note: no taxpayer money created the impetus for the Times’ biased and egregiously distorted story. It was purely the product of free market forces. Caveat emptor.
There are no “climate change denialists”, Dennis. That’s perhaps the fondest delusion of the alarmists. Climate changes, just like everything else on the planet – sometime rapidly, sometimes more slowly.
Have you ever heard of, for example, Roald Admunsen’s successful navigation of the Northwest passage in 1908? Or the RCMP’s passage on the St. Roch in 1940-42? The polar ice caps retreat and they grow. Global temperatures rise and they fall. A multitude of factors contribute to this ever fluctuating phenomenon. Rises in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere follow warming by several hundred years. Higher CO2 levels leads to lush environments. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z685n4RMx6Y&feature=player_embedded
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Edmonton, AB occurred last December. So far, this summer has been very cool on the Canadian prairies. When I was a kid growing up in Saskatchewan in the 50s, I remember temperature in the 100 degree F range for days in a row many times. Average global temperatures have been dropping since 1998. There is no such thing as stasis as far as climate is concerned.
Get over this self-loathing. It’s not good for your mental health.
Dennis, have you noticed that when this climate scaremongering began warmists commonly referred to it as Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW). Later on, the word “Catastrophic” was quietly dropped from the rhetoric and for a while it was called simply Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW). Now, even the “A” has been dropped. Seems even the true believers are a bit embarrassed by the moniker. They’re losing credibility as fast as the temperature is dropping.
> There are no “climate change denialists”, Dennis.
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The Royal Society conducted a survey that found ExxonMobil had given US$ 2.9 million to American groups that “misinformed the public about climate change,” 39 of which “misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence”….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_denial
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There’s a whole page full of denialists, skeptics and dissent sowers, many financed by the fossil fuel industries at the link above.
> Get over this self-loathing. It’s not good for your mental health.
“Self-loathing?” Can you give an example?
To give further perspective to the type of forces at play in the fossil fuels industry, the wealth, power, and aggressiveness, BP is now attempting to buy up all the marine scientists along the Gulf coast.
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BP PLC attempted to hire the entire marine sciences department at one Alabama university, according to scientists involved in discussions with the company’s lawyers. The university declined because of confidentiality restrictions that the company sought on any research….
Scientists from Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University and Texas A&M have reportedly accepted, according to academic officials. Scientists who study marine invertebrates, plankton, marsh environments, oceanography, sharks and other topics have been solicited….
With its payments, BP buys more than the scientists’ services, according to Wiygul. It also buys silence, he said, thanks to confidentiality clauses in the contracts….
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/07/bp_buys_up_gulf_scientists_for.html
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So, the fossil fuel industry doesn’t just hire its own scientists to speak up, it hires them to shut up as well.
Dennis Brown says: “The CBC clearly has a history of hiring people with a conservative “bias”.”
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And a history of losing them.
Dwight Williams says:
Interesting to see this in the wake of the above comments:
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/013995.html
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Yes, Dwight. SDA gets results. CBC doesn’t.. SDA has waaaaay more readers than CBC has viewers/listeners/readers.
Sucks, doesn’t it.
Dennis Brown says: “The Royal Society conducted a survey …”
I’m waiting for the Royal Society to conduct a survey of who funds the “warmist’s” mantra. Don’t be surprised when they discover it’s green industries. No vested interests there, of course.
Climate science funding comparisons:
http://tinyurl.com/36gykx4
http://tinyurl.com/dxhase
http://tinyurl.com/yb8j22h
http://tinyurl.com/y9hsjjx
And the dog-pile goes on…
Louise offers several links to global warming skeptic articles, one of which I actually agree with. The last one which cites the financial influence of carbon traders on the whole process. Yep, but my objection isn’t to their link with carbon, it’s to their link with financial markets. The latter are the real planetary scam, but that’s another topic.
As far as global skepticism goes, there are now global warming skepticism skeptics too:
http://www.skepticalscience.com/A-Scientific-Guide-to-the-Skeptics-Handbook.html
It’s the thread that just would not die.
Good thing too.
Dennis Brown says: “Yep, but my objection isn’t to their link with carbon, it’s to their link with financial markets. The latter are the real planetary scam, but that’s another topic.”
Yep. And CBC doesn’t have a leftwing bias. Just it’s supporters, I suppose.
Still waiting for the CBC to report on the “journolist” scandal. Waiting………waiting…….waiting……
“Journolist?” Oh, that’s the great liberal media listserv conspiracy that’s so omnipresent on conservative blogs but not covered by the CBC or other major news outlets. Speaking of other news outlets, what does the conservative Ottawa Citizen have to report on “journolist” when keyed into its search engine? One article, which is an opinion piece by David Warren, arguably the most conservative arrow in the quiver.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Detached+observers/3317352/story.html
It would be helpful if the Citizen had published some of the actual emails that are at the centre of this “conspiracy”. In fact, if they show actual collusion to destroy someone’s reputation or misrepresent their positions on policy, the actual evidence would trump any mere claims or suspicions by a conservative columnist. So where are the facts?
Most of the time I think David Warren is way off base, but oddly I find myself agreeing with him in the final paragraph of his opinion piece where he writes:
“No journalist can be perfectly “detached” from what he is covering; so that the pose of perfect detachment is a fraud. It is too much to ask of any human being, whether liberal or conservative. The best we can ask is for honesty and candour — for some elementary sense of fair play — and it is a shame we must search through private e-mails to find those qualities.”
Amen, brother.
Wasn’t that USA-specific?
Dwight makes the point that the journolist affair is USA-specific. It is almost exclusively conservative blog specific as well. But one news media article I did come up with is written by a list member with knowledge of what the emails contained. It’s at the Washington Post web site:
Journolist flap shows conservative media conspiracy, not liberal one
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/07/journolist_flap_shows_conserva.html
Tucker Carlson, who runs the Daily Caller blog that acquired the emails, refuses to publish the whole of the emails, just the selected parts out of context that can be used to inflame the conservative echo chamber.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/07/tucker_carlson_we_will_not_pub.html
Players with a real poker hand aren’t afraid to show all the cards.
Dwight Williams says:
Wasn’t that USA-specific?
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So far. We still don’t know if there were any Canadian journalists subscribing to the listserv, or for that matter, if there is a Canadian equivalent. That would be really nice to know. If there is, I wonder how much time was devoted to discussing Harper’s mythical “hidden agenda”, or more specifically, devoted to plotting how to create and then use that myth to the max in order to influence Canadian elections.
We sure hear a lot about the Conservative Party’s supposed homophobic tendencies and about Stockwell Day’s religious beliefs ad nauseam. Ya gotta wonder.
Dennis Brown says: “Players with a real poker hand aren’t afraid to show all the cards.”
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And someone in possession of a game killer will want to release information when it will kill as many as possible. Not much of a poker player are ya, Dennis. I betcha even I could beat you.
Henry Champ has some observations on the American media preoccupations with the Shirley Sherrod firing, the JournOlist tempest, and the overall free-fire zone into which U.S. media commentary has descended. David Frum speaks of the “closing of the conservative mind” and Henry Champ notes that MSNBC exhibits the same syndrome at the liberal end of the political spectrum. Definitely worth a read:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/07/27/f-rfa-champ.html
Wow. That wasn’t predictable..
This years “this hour has 22 minuets” sure did set a high new standard for un-biased Canadian comedy. The few jokes that weren’t about Harper and the Conservatives were about the gun registry.
Way to go Toronto!
That’s 2 days an counting…. I could put this anywhere but it goes best here.
09/22/2010