Monthly Archives: July 2006

Hey guys, lay off a little, eh?

Hot sunny weather here in Toronto, and while some were outside enjoying the weekend, others were busy sticking it to the CBC. The Globe in particular has been vigorously hammering us lately, with stories true and false, and while Tod thinks it’s about media consolidation I’m not totally convinced. I think they just want us […]

Come home, all is forgiven

It was me who called the cops

Those kids need to settle down. We’re trying to work in here. Ok, ok, the Globe gets a good laugh over this, as do the rest of us. (Although we’ll see how much the Globe laughs when Leah Mclaren’s show debuts on CBC.) In fact, The One is bringing the country together in its laughter […]

You, me, Net Pub Eng and CBCNews

I got a strange email from Net Pub Eng today. Maybe you did, too. It was called “MEETING THE CHANGING NEWS NEEDS OF CANADIANS.” Net Pub Eng put his fucking caps lock on in 1998 and still hasn’t figured out how to shut it off. CBC News is the most respected and trusted news service […]

Bend it like Gardner

Regular readers know that I’ve taken my fair share of shots at CBC.ca. But can you blame me? This is a place where “the BBC does it this way” gets the last word in too many discussions. Comparing the CBC to the BBC is natural, and I’ve done it myself, but not entirely fair, for […]

ABC’s Idol-killer

As a CBC employee and its resident mystery blogger, I meant to watch the show, but was distracted. I only caught a few minutes here and there in the second hour. But just because I didn’t see something doesn’t mean I can’t give my opinion on it, right?It’s a bit rougher, sexier, and less polished […]

Rednecks seek $75,000 for t-shirts

One of the CBC’s new reality shows is Dragon’s Den, where entrepreneurs apply for venture capital. Wait, where are you going? Just listen to me for a sec. One of the biznob consultants keeps an exuberant, confusing, kinetic blog that also acts as a kind of production blog for the show. Q: Why would you […]

It’s a Bellglobemedia world, we just live in it

I guess this is nice for shareholders and stakeholders and Ben Mulroney, but for audiences, and (dare I say it?) free speech and democracy, it’s rotten. That’s why America has laws against this kind of thing. Still to come is CanWests’ move, or possibly Rogers’. So we’re looking at 2 big commercial media corporations in […]

CBC ads from 70s magazines

Jamie Bradburn was walking home from work when he espied a couple of boxes of early 70s Maclean’s and Saturday Night magazines by the roadside. He brought them home and has been strip-mining them for cheese ever since. But there are some brilliant CBC ads in there. This ad highlights CBC Radio in the early […]

George goes to L.A.

So now the grand design becomes clear to all us lowly minions. Although, according to George, this was all done on a whim? If true, I respect that, but he has to realize that he’s treading close to Thicke of the Night territory here. Very dangerous. If I were in his shoes, not sure I […]

Citizen journalism at the CBC

I cringe every time I see that Michael Geist has written another article about the CBC. I cringe because he seems like a well-meaning, intelligent guy that I should like, but when it comes to the CBC, 50% of what he writes is myopic, ill-informed, or just plain wrong. But he has some interesting ideas […]

Prairie Giant

Can we all agree that a TV show about history is not real history? Filtered through different sets of eyes and different books, written years after the fact, and under production and budget restraints? Can we all agree that the people making the TV show might even change things on purpose? For whatever reason? Can […]

RSS feed of CBC fuckups

I’ve written about Joe Clark before. Why? As he puts it: Seasoned readers will be aware that I am engaged in a Sisyphean battle with feudal management at CBC and antagonistic petits fonctionnaires at the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The topic? CBC’s proven, and in fact uncontested, noncompliance with a human-rights ruling requiring 100% captioning […]

Happy Canada Day

Now that Canada Day is over, maybe we can put this feud with Stompin’ Tom behind us? Everyone loves Stompin’ Tom in theory, but let’s face it: when the music starts, you’ve pretty much had enough after the third song. Even sooner if you’re an immigrant. As far as Cultural Icons go, he ain’t no […]

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