Today the CBC held an internal Town Hall to describe the public broadcasters plans for the future. The big news:
- $171 million shortfall
- $125 million “one time” assets sale
- 800 jobs lost: 400 from each French & English, 70 corporate
- 20% cut for senior managers
- 5% across the board budget cuts
- Conservative Government refused bridge financing
- 17% cut from radio, 83% from TV
- 20% cuts in regions, 80% at network level
Coverage:
AP
Bloomberg
Canwest News Service (Gazette)
National Post
CP
Globe & Mail
G&M video
Ottawa Citizen
CTV.ca
And, here is the CBC’s own story.
Live or near live Blogs:
Inside the CBC
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
National Post’s Ampersand
Unfortunately, live blogging over at the Friends of the CBC hit a snag when the teleconference calls, both French and English language, streams were being fed at the same time. The well-known CBC blogger, “Fake Ouimet,” who also provided readers access to the all important teleconference codes, over at the Tea Makers, was also snagged by this technical mishap. [Updated: See comment below from Fake Ouimet; and for anyone confused by the Ouimet/Fake Ouimet thing; this post from "Fake Ouimet" should clear it up.]
Audio of the CBC town hall Q&A & Transcript of opening remarks:
Midway through the call the audio cleared up. Here is the audio of the Question and Answer section at the town hall for staff:
And, a PDF transcript of the opening remarks.
Commentary:
- New Democrat MP Charlie Angus goes after Minister Moore in the House of Commons (above)
- Friends of Canadian Broadcasting reacts to news of regional cuts
- Mark Kuznicki, a thinker and change advocate in Toronto, writes about the future of journalism: open source
- Former Dion operator, George Young, suggests Harper has “written off” Quebec
- Online journalism professor Alfred Hermida runs down the facts
Other sources to find more:
Twitter Search for the #CBC hashtag
Google Blog Search for CBC cuts
Canadian Media Guild Reaction; union representation most at the CBC
Fake Ouimet details today’s English Service town hall with Richard Stursberg, CBC executive VP
[Please note: this post will be updated several times as more news develops from regions and sections at the CBC]
