The Tea Makers

When the lockout ended last year, most of the CBC bloggers packed it in. I considered it, but changed my mind.

I wrote then-Ombudsman David Bazay to ask him about the legal and ethical ramifications of CBCers who want to blog. He said that all CBCers are subject to CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices, and that I should use that document as a guide.

So I did. And I failed miserably.

I violated it with nearly every post, usually Article 2.4.6.

Months later, I’ve come to the conclusion that the JSP is too restrictive for what I’m doing. It was never made with blogging in mind and has nothing to say about many aspects specific to the medium. And if I were an obedient employee I would go to my supervisor or to HR or to the new Ombudsman and ask them what I should to do with the Tea Makers.

You can probably guess what they would say.

But if they were to take me seriously, someone would have to create a steering committee. Perhaps a sub-committee or two. Lawyers would be involved. Billable hours. Documents drafted, rewritten, and translated.

If they were smart, they would hire me on as a double-dipping consultant to help them. I would wear a paper bag in policy meetings.

Instead I collaborated with other CBC bloggers to come up with The CBC Blogging Manifesto and we give it to them for free. It’s my sincere wish that the CBC takes the money it has saved and puts it back into programming.

I also hope that someone reading this in the CBC, or Radio-Canada, or anywhere really, says to themselves: hey that sounds like fun, and goes over to blogger and starts a blog.

To them I say: “Come on in, the water’s fine.”

Or as someone else put it: “Quislings and smug bastards can’t be the only people at work at the Corpse. It’s time to get the rest of them online.”