Leveraging the power of online media

An exchange between Kris Krug, new media visionary in his own mind, and Steve Billinger, new media manager of the CBC, at some kind of new media fest:

Krug: “What are some of the factors unique to Canada in the digital media landscape?”

Billinger: “It’s highly regulated, there’s no money, and people don’t like to innovate.”

Delivered with a satisfied grin, he goes on to explain why no one ever does anything interesting in the “new media landscape” in Canada. People need to feel warm and fuzzy through consensus, and then after a lot of discussion, nothing ever happens. Probably too many managers? It all sounds achingly familiar to anyone who has been to a meeting at the CBC.

It’s amazing the excuses CBC managers will come up with to explain “why the CBC sucks,” besides the obvious ones that uncomfortably point back to CBC management. Now, the last time we checked, the internet was hardly regulated at all. Also, some people were actually making money on it, as crazy as that sounds! And finally, people love to innovate. People in the CBC building, even. It’s true.

Which begs the question: as a new media manager at a major Canadian media company, which doesn’t even need to generate revenue, what is Billinger doing to become part of the solution, other than shooting the breeze with douches like Kris Krug?

6 Comments

  • Dom Taffin says:

    Easy there, cowboy! If you want to save taxpayer money and fulfill the mandate, terrestrial radio and tv have eventually got to go.

    Do you know how much it costs to hire a bunch of baby-boomer era engineers to maintain all of CBC’s transmission systems? A damn sight more than it costs to blanket the world using a fraction of the personnel and infrastructure.

    Now if you want to talk reality, looking at the increasingly lousy content coming out of English CBC on the whole is a better use of time.

    That or becoming a troll on head injury recovery websites – not pointing any fingers or anything.

    • Allan says:

      Get rid of terrestrial?
      If you want the CBC you’ll have to not only subsidize it with taxes but also with subscription fees to Rogers/Shaw and Sirius/XM?

    • Get Sirius? says:

      LOL. CBC satellite radio & television only. If you don’t have a satellite radio or cable tv you’ll be SOL. This Dom Taffin dipshit can’t be serious. Terrestrial radio and television IS THE MANDATE.

  • Anonymous says:

    None of this “new media” and “digital media landscape” crap is part of their mandate. Their mandate is to provide radio and television services. Any money that they put towards anything other than TV and Radio should be considered a misappropriation of government funds.

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