Shootings

[rob love]

Tony
I hear you on the value of the public broadcaster. But the CBC here has always been decidedly left. They have swayed elections. Even in the face of a Conservative majority last election, when it was obvious to everyone, they were still advertising polls which had the Liberals winning. Afterwards, when the Liberals were sent to a purgatorial 3rd place finish, their pollster (Frank Graves) just says "I can't believe how wrong I got that". Now they are making a buffoon like young Trudeau to be some kind of Messiah.

The CBC would seem to put their support behind whomever will let them keep the biggest budget. Now they are paying the price for that.

One would almost hope there could be some level of entertainment from the public broadcaster. I looked at their lineups on the web, and of the list of active series, there are few to none that I watch.

CBC radio is another story, and I do find a lot of their programming entertaining and informative. However I have to admit that they are not one of my programmed channels on the satellite radio.

[Marc Montgomery]

I cannot but totally disagree with the "decidedly left" and "always" arguments.
As mentioned, when the Libs are in power the CBC is roundly accused of being 'right" and and when Conservatives in power..accused of being left.
Has always been thus, this is not recent.

They do NOT sway elections, anymore than CTV. What about that Globe and Mail photo of Stanfield that singlehandedly cost the PCs the election.. a well-known fact.. is the Globe anti-Conservative?

I seem also to recall the CBC accused of being anti- Ignatieff for its coverage of Liberal leader Iggy's gaffes-

What about CTV's obviously anti-Dion interview...where are the accusations there?

When it comes to elections, the CBC is under a very stringent microscope to ensure it gives almost exactly proportional coverage (in airtime minutes- and web word count coverage) to the major political parties--

The CBC does NOT do its own polls, it -like other institutions- hires outside well-respected pollsters....

Polls are a guess at best..Ive been around long enough to see polls and final result radically differ. IF the polls are wrong, it is NOT the CBC fault.

CTV GLOBAL CBC are using the same polling firms which are limited in number in Canada, and poll results can differ quite a bit from week to week.

One must also pay close attention to who is being polled, what is asked, size of the polling group, and where.
CBC might hire Ipsos to poll federal voter intention among 18-35. and CTV might ask IPSOs to do the same thing but 35=60 yr old..results could differ greatly but if youre not paying attention you'll wonder whats going on.

One may ask voters in Ontario, and another cross country- again results may differ greatly... one might have polled 900 people across canada, another 3,000, same question, same group but different results as a result of polling sample.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...olitical-Polls
Eg- the last Qc election was called coz the seppie polls said the PQ would get a majority.. ooops !!!

You simply cannot accuse the CBC of biased polls.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...olitical-Polls

I must also strongly disagree that the CBC is treating Trudeau like a messiah.. rather, nothing more than the party leader..

How can you judge if you dont watch? or listen to the network??.. If your source of info is Sun, well that's a problem..as the sole purpose is to stir up dissent between English Canadians and Qc (benefits seppie movement) and also attack the CBC (eliminate competition and a federal institution which PKP feels is enethma to A) his business, and B) an independent Qc

As for your entertainment, well, I highly appreciate CBC political show like the House, and many others like Ideas, Tapestry, Land and Sea, Doc Zone, Marketplace (now a budget cut victim)- 22 minutes, and lots of people love Rick Mercer, Sunday Morning, Nature of Things. news reports- which unlike the privates- greatly limits use of American reporters. The Debators- (cdn comedy- often fabulous)

Also the CBC promotes Canadian artists and performers to far far greater extent than privates who prefer the cheaper-thus more profitable route- of syndicated US shows

Do i love every CBC show, not at all, but surprisingly some that I hate - This is That- Q, Strombo (gone-budget) are strongly defended by others... matter of taste.
but really for 55 cents a week, Im getting darn good value for my money..at a cost far far less than other public broadcasters, none of whom face anywhere near the challenges the CBC faces in terms of its mandate, obligations, affirmative action. competition etc etc

[Tony Wheeler]

Originally Posted by Marc Montgomery

When it comes to elections, the CBC is under a very stringent microscope to ensure it gives almost exactly proportional coverage (in airtime minutes- and web word count coverage) to the major political parties--

The CBC does NOT do its own polls, it -like other institutions- hires outside well-respected pollsters....

Yes, this is the crux of the matter, and it's the point I was trying to make. Public broadcasters are ACCOUNTABLE for the balance in their election reporting, whereas private media is free to campaign as it wishes, like the Murdoch examples below, which even gloat when they swing an election.

Furthermore, private media is free to do its own polling, for example Murdoch's News Corp owns Newspoll, which is the main pollster in Australia, and of course the ONLY poll published in Murdoch media. As such it can hardly be considered unbiased.

Whatever political bias one may detect or imagine in public broadcasters, it's an entirely different situation. Instead of objecting to bias in public broadcasting, real or perceived, we should be objecting to bias in private media. That's DEFINITELY real!

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[rob love]

So Marc, youre telling me that Frank Graves, who has made personal donations to the Liberals for over the last decade, is not the pollster (or his company EKOS) for the CBC? Or that his polls were very skewed just prior to the last election to the detriment of the conservatives?

In the end I guess it will be a government of the day who will make the CBC either swim on taxpayers dollars, swim on earned dollars, or sink into oblivion. If that time comes, hopefully CTV will pick up Dragon's Den.