Since Richard Stursberg, former vice-president of English CBC, left last week there has been a lot of speculation about the circumstances of his exit and what it means for employees, for the CBC, and ultimately for the public.

He sparked a revolution within the corporation. His departure is going to have a huge impact. It’s what everyone was talking about on Friday, and I’m sure it will continue this week.

So what does his departure mean?

Why don’t we sort through a few of digital tea leaves to find out.

First, let’s start at square one. What happened?

Was he pushed or did he jump?

Apparently he was pushed: “The decision was made by Mr. Lacroix,” CBC spokesman Bill Chambers said.

On the cusp of leading the Crown corporation in drafting a new five-year strategic plan, CBC president Hubert Lacroix felt the time was right to “bring in new leadership.”

Ok. So when and how did this happen? The Toronto Star says it happened after: “a meeting in Toronto late Thursday between Stursberg and Lacroix.”

“There were lots of debate, but no fisticuffs, I’m afraid,” CBC vice-president of communication Bill Chambers said of the final tête-à-tête.

So after a late Thursday meeting, that’s it.

So what does it mean?

Most Significant Development at the CBC in Years
It’s obviously a big indication of some competing visions. “I can’t think of a more significant development at the CBC in years,” Lise Lareau, President of the Canadian Media Guild, said on her blog on Friday.

In order to figure what his departure means you’ve got to look at his legacy. Lareau says:

Stursberg took the CBC — our public broadcaster — down a very commercial road. It was his way of dealing with tepid funding and unreliable support from the federal government. Programs were judged as successful only by ratings, not by the value they may contain for public discourse or the public record.

She makes a good point there.

The Tightrope
Stursberg was walking a tightrope.

He was getting less assurance from the government, and he had to shore up the dike.

His tried to replace depreciating public money with ad money. But to get ad money, you need eyeballs, and that’s what he was after, and that’s exactly what he delivered.

The Ottawa Sun crunched the numbers, and during his time the TV ratings went up, way up, gaining 52 per cent.

So Stursberg saw a problem – dwindling tax dollars funding the mother corp – and he sought a solution: more ads, and more expensive ads.

Unfortunately for him, and for the CBC, bringing in more ads doesn’t help much when you have to defend the importance of a cultural institution in a committee room on Parliament Hill.

“Richard Stursburg’s departure came about because his vision for the CBC and the traditional mission of public service became increasingly irreconcilable,” Jeffrey Dvorkin, a former CBC Radio executive said on his blog.

That was, in essence, the sword that Stursberg fell on. He was a victim of his own success.

Does this mean the CBC is going to reverse course now that he’s gone? Are we going back to more arts programming and longer stories on The National?

Mr. President, over to you.

	Email This Post
	Behind the Scenes, Executives, Programming