The CBC continues to gaslight conservatives, even after its near-death experience
The CBC has learned nothing since it stood on the precipice and stared down its annihilation at the hands of a Conservative government.
Last month, Pollara released its annual Trust in Media survey, revealing the CBC’s net trust score among Conservative voters is now just +9, compared to +78 among Liberal voters—the widest trust gap of any Canadian outlet. Conservative trust dropped 13 points in just three years.
Graphic credit: Janice Nelson
Not only that, the CBC remains utterly uninterested in exploring why it continues to fail at connecting with conservative-minded Canadians—some 37 percent of the electorate. A recent Senate report, lasting two years and calling 60 witnesses, concluded: “allegations of [CBC] bias are serious and undermine trust in the public broadcaster.” This was after some testified the CBC was “very Liberal in their views, promoting Liberal politicians,” and did not cover “moderate conservative views.” It recommended the CBC submit to periodic independent news audits tracking fairness and balance. The CBC’s response to The Hub as to whether it would consider this oversight? No comment.
Instead, the new post-election CBC mantra appears to be “Keep your head down, business as usual, nothing to see here.” But many Canadians can see—and will continue to switch off—unless the broadcaster admits its bias and offers ways to fix it. The CBC has not just lost conservative viewers who don’t want to pay for its billion-plus budget, or those who no longer feel represented on its airwaves, it’s lost conservative Canadians who are being actively antagonized by its coverage.
“The CBC is not contributing to consensus reality,” concluded Canadian writer Stephen Marche. “It is an ideologically captured institution that is listened to by an increasingly fewer number of people exactly because it does not reflect Canadian reality.”
By the skin of their teeth
During the election just over a year ago, I was receiving anxious messages from CBC hosts wondering if they would have a job in a few weeks. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s team had announced plans to eliminate all funding for its English arm, turning its Toronto HQ into housing. When President Trump repeated his “51st state” remarks, and the polls shifted, I had hoped the Poilievre threat would at least act as a wake-up call for a broadcaster that was losing the country. Instead, the CBC saw the perfect opening. In the midst of the trade war, with help from the Liberal Party, it portrayed itself as an indispensable piece of cultural heritage.
“A new Libn Canada. In this kind
By the skin of their teeth
During the election just over a year ago, I
was receiving anxious messages from CBC hosts wondering if they would have a
job in a few weeks. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s team had announced
plans to eliminate all funding for its English arm, turning its Toronto HQ into
housing. When President Trump repeated his “51st state” remarks, and the polls shifted, I had hoped the
Poilievre threat would at least act as a wake-up call for a broadcaster that
was losing the country. Instead, the CBC saw the perfect opening. In the midst
of the trade war, with help from the Liberal Party, it portrayed itself as an
indispensable piece of cultural heritage.
“A new Liberal government will never cower to President Trump’s attacks on Canada. In this kind of crisis, protecting Canada’s identity is part of securing Canada,” said Mark Carney on the campaign trail, announcing new support for the public broadcaster. “The CBC is a pillar of our cultural identity and a cornerstone of our sovereignty,” explained the Ministry of Canadian Identity and Culture in an internal briefing note. “When you have not-so-friendly neighbours talking about [a] 51st state, it’s really important we focus on how we maintain that strength and that distinctiveness of our common culture,” added new CBC CEO Marie-Philippe Bouchard. The CBC wrapped itself in the flag (a flag they had admonished the past five years) and surfed the Elbows Up wave.
Same old, same old
Subsequently, the CBC doubled down on broadcasting almost exclusively for the progressive, educated, urban elite.
It helped fund a fake TV show that paid American pranksters to humiliate unsuspecting conservatives, lost a host, Travis Dhanraj, who said he was told not to book Conservatives, and gave an exclusive fawning softball interview to noted far-Left activist and terrorist sympathizer Hasan Piker.
All questions about a perceived bias were summarily dismissed.
“The notion that we are politically oriented is really against everything that we believe and the independence that we so importantly preserve,” Bouchard assured the public.
There were some bright spots. A new five-year strategic plan alluded to focusing on “non-users or dissatisfied users.” There would be more money spent covering Western Canada and rural areas; a push to include a “more diverse set of points of view.” They would air a single documentary decrying the growth of progressive illiberalism on university campuses.
But when asked whether the organization planned to reach out to Conservatives to overcome an audience deficit, Bouchard said this was not something she considered to be an issue.
Heads down. Nothing to see here.
Taking ownership
The Carney government may still include CBC/Radio Canada in its cost-cutting efforts. Following an injection of an additional $150 million, bringing its annual public funding to a record high of $1.6 billion, there are questions around whether they will make that top up permanent and follow through with their promise of making funding statutory. Canadians should ask themselves if its behaviour should be rewarded with more taxpayer dollars. The public broadcaster is now also being tasked by the government with rooting out “disinformation”—correcting others for their biases.
If the CBC wants to find bias, it should start with itself. Other outlets have at least begun the difficult work of admitting their institutional Left-leaning bias and promised to do better. The New York Times executive editor admitted they went “too far” during the media “excesses” of recent years and affirmed that “the newsroom is not a safe space.” A former Washington Post executive editor admitted that the number of conservatives reading their paper had fallen to “single digits” due to their condescending tone. The Globe and Mail penned an editorial taking accountability for misreporting the residential school graves story.
But the CBC appears to still be on stage one of the five stages of grief: denial. It’s long past time for them to get to acceptance. Its own ombudsman has described how the public appears to have “lost faith” in public broadcasters, following allegations of bias. Viewers, she writes, are starting to ask not how public media can be made more accountable, but “why it even exists.”
It is essential that the CBC, which will soon employ more than one in three Canadian journalists, come out and say what everyone else can see: it has a conservative-shaped hole in its journalism.
“Accountability…We’re not very good when questioned ourselves,” admitted CBC News editor-in-chief Brodie Fenlon at a 2023 panel on trust in media.
If only the CBC practiced what it preached.
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