Eric Ball: how can we listeners remove those executives?
posted August 7, 2008
http://www.earsay.
com/standonguardforcbc/2008/08/07/eric-ball-how-can-we-listeners-remove-those-
executives/
LETTER TO JOSÉE VERNER
29 July 2008
Hon. Josée Verner
Minister of Canadian Heritage,
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Dear Josée Verner:
Re: CBC Radio Orchestra and CBC Radio One and Radio Two music programming
I’m writing with a specific question that I hope you can help me with, but
first let me explain what my concerns are.
When the CBC executives announced the dismantlement of the CBC Radio
Orchestra, a huge protest spontaneously erupted across Canada, and it has
continued unabated. This closure was the last straw for thousands of
listeners and musicians who already were deeply troubled by the impending
changes to the music programming on Radio Two (and Radio One).
In response to the protests, the executives have not budged an inch.
Instead,
they have arrogantly pursued their original plan, completely ignoring the
outcries from listeners and artists alike. They act as though the
thousands
of people objecting to their policies are simply out of touch, but
clearly, it
is the executives who are out of touch.
When I wrote to Susan Mitton, Executive Director (Interim) of CBC Radio,
raising numerous objections to the changes, she didn’t bother to respond
to my
arguments. Instead she wrote, “I was sorry to read of your continued
disappointment with the proposed changed [sic] to Radio 2 and the decision
to
disband the orchestra.” In other words, she hasn’t altered her position
in
the slightest, but regrets that I have not yet seen the light. She adds,
“I
do hope that, despite your misgivings about the new programming, you will
tune
in to judge the new shows for yourself when they launch in September” (my
emphasis). That means the CBC executives are going ahead with their plans
regardless of what anyone says or does, and it implies that, in their
view,
the thousands of people outraged by the coming changes just need to get
with
it.
Here’s how CBC executive vice president Richard Stursberg has responded to
the
widespread protests against the CBC’s planned musical programming changes:
“We’ve had far bigger protests concerning the Hockey Night in Canada
fiasco
and we squashed those, just like we’ll do with the present protests about
CBC
radio programming.” Mr. Stursburg uses an strong verb - “squashed” - but
of
course all he and his fellow executives have to do in order to “squash”
the
protests is to ignore them. And that’s what they’re doing.
The problem, then, is that the executives persist in implementing their
retrograde policies, regardless of the wishes of their listeners. So my
question is, how can we listeners get rid of those executives?
They are not elected, so they cannot be voted out of office. The House of
Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has no power over them.
To
quote the chair of this committee, Gary Schellenberger, “the government
has no
authority to compel CBC to make any particular programming decision.” That
committee could have made stronger recommendations to the executives, but
chose not to. It would appear, then, that the CBC executives are
completely
unaccountable, at least in relation to the public.
It is clearly an unacceptable situation to retain executives who are so
uncaring of the opinions of their constituency. So again, could you
please
tell me the means by which they can be removed? Or, if there is
absolutely no
way that this can by done, meaning that the executives can do whatever
they
want to Canada’s public broadcaster with impunity and without
accountability,
could you please confirm that this is the case.
Yours sincerely,
Eric Ball
CC:
- Libby Davies, MP for Vancouver East
- Right Hon. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
- Gary Schellenberger, Chair of House of Commons Standing Committee on
Canadian Heritage
- Hon. Mauril Bélanger, Liberal Heritage Critic
- Bill Siksay, NDP Heritage Critic
- Maria Mourani, Bloc Heritage Critic
- Stand on Guard for CBC website
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