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Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

tarahenley.substack.com

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Re: Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

#391
post #369
post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think maybe my comment wasn't really clear. I know the pro-diversity comments had a lot of upvotes, what I was pointing out was that they were nerfed by a moderation tool or algorithm, not by downvotes, as evidenced from going from the top comment to the very last comment in the thread within a few seconds.

Ah, ok—I was probably reading your comment through the filter of "comments supporting my view are constantly getting downvoted/flagged/suppressed on this site", which is a more common complaint (which was also making appearances in this thread). Software can indeed affect subthread ranking, and moderators do that too—but certainly not for pro- or anti-diversity (or any other $divisive-topic) reasons. We downweight to…

Have you considered transparency for when you down-weight a specific post or thread?

Re: Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

#392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the CBC was the "propaganda arm" of the Liberal party, it would follow that they were be extremely negative towards the NDP and the Green party. The combined share of left-wing vote in Canada swamps the combined right-wing vote, and it's not particularly close. In 2021, there were 9 million left-wing votes and 6 million right-wing votes. If we put the BQ with the left-wing(which in my view isn't unreasonable), it'…

> If the CBC was the "propaganda arm" of the Liberal party, it would follow that they were be extremely negative towards the NDP and the Green party These two account for virtually nothing (unless I'm missinterpreting how seat allocation works up north). They aren't a threat. > But, of course, that's not what happens. Why does that not happen? Because they're not a "propaganda arm" for the Liberal party You seem to b…

The statement that "the NDP and Green Party aren't a political threat to the Liberal party" is a staggering misunderstanding of a situation on which you are speaking authoritatively.

With the utmost respect, I think an elementary understanding of multi-party democracies would be a useful first step for this discussion.

It may be instructive to look at some of the key Canadian swing ridings:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Hill_(electoral_distr... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchener%E2%80%94Conestoga#El... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Moody%E2%80%94Coquitlam#E... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitt_Meadows%E2%80%94Maple_Rid...

There's a reason that Canadian Conservatives have fought tooth-and-nail against any type of ranked-choice voting system. I genuinely believe that the Conservatives would not win another election in my lifetime in a ranked-choice system.

Re: Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

#393
post #195

What clearly seems wrong is the requirement to fill out forms on the race and gender of people you interview, and to have quotas to control whose voice is heard based on those irrelevant traits (irrelevant relative to the individual person's life, ideas, experiences, ability to express themselves etc.) My policy is to refuse to give my gender or race. If everybody did this, high frequencies of "other" or "unknown" co…

> irrelevant relative to the individual person's life, ideas, experiences, ability to express themselves etc. I’m not sure I get you here. Of course race and gender have a huge impact on a person’s life, and thus on their ideas, experiences and ability to express themselves. White men virtually never experience racism or sexism, whereas women and/or Black people are reminded about their identity every day. All women…

Who are those "white men"? Jews, italians, chinese? Where's the whiteness line drawn?

Re: Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

#394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>by specifying pronouns if they are obvious (99% of the time) Except they aren't obvious 99% of the time. They aren't even "obvious" like 60% of the time. They aren't even "obvious 99% of the time" for cis-straight (non-LGBTQ) folks. "Hi, Sam Shepard will be on the call with you today, and will be joined by Alex VanBeckran and Kegan Marton" -- are these folks hoping to be addressed as men, or women, or non-binary? Th…

> "Hi, Sam Shepard will be on the call with you today, and will be joined by Alex VanBeckran and Kegan Marton" -- are these folks hoping to be addressed as men, or women, or non-binary? There's no way to tell, and it's kind of disrespectful to be wrong. As another commenter pointed out, in a professional setting you would ideally address these people by their proper nouns (names) and not by their pronouns. And if you…

[deleted]

Re: Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

#395

> To work at the CBC in the current climate is to embrace cognitive dissonance and to abandon journalistic integrity. Unfortunately, it appears fairly clear that over the past decade, a deeper cognitive dissonance is that of journalists' beliefs about their profession. Journalists seem to believe that Quality News [0] can sustain itself. News is entertainment. Quality News loses because it commands less engagement th…

If the populace are psychologically toddlers, they have to be engaged with toys. Nations are started by mature egos who value truth above else, but gradually replaced by those toddlers who like emotions better, and so they let the nation decay and fall.

Re: Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

#396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are afraid of online mobs and local activists looking for a target. That's what everyone is afraid of when it comes to this foolish moment in history. If it was simply a matter of being more inclusive there'd be nothing to worry about. Instead, everyone's trying to cover their ass and not stick out so they don't become the next takedown. The funny thing is if you just ignore social media, none of this has any di…

>online mobs and local activists looking for a targe Do these actually exist in their local environment or are people just afraid because of what's going on over the media networks? Forgive me, as I'm outside of where you are and I often see people being afraid of things that aren't often there.

They’re mostly older folks. Not tech savvy. I doubt it’s the twitterotti.

Not sure where there fear is from. Part of it is simply not wanting to be racist, but not knowing what racism means (as a consensus definition).

The author mentioned going from most left wing to right wing without changing opinions. That’s what’s going on here … the definition of “racist” is vague so it’s better to move as far to the left as possible.

I think it’s the uncertainty over what is acceptable that’s causing fear.

Re: Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

#397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(response to post that was just deleted) 'critical to note that she is just recounting of her own perception of herself.' Tara is outlining why she quit a job she couldn't do anymore because the CBC were ignoring important local stories to focus on CRT, identity politics and racialization of everything, biased reporting and click bait. 'People want to know why, for example, non-binary Filipinos concerned about a lack…

I always considered the idea of CBC to be... extremely weird. Having government approved journalists on government payroll sure sounds like something out of China, Russia or Cuba. Not a western democracy. From the article: > To work at the CBC now is to accept the idea that race is the most significant thing about a person, and that some races are more relevant to the public conversation than others. It is, in my new…

Look at it this way - without government-funded journalism, the only voices are corporate ones. I think it's good to have both, even if neither is fully independent.

Re: Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

#398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the Overton window at work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window In the US, it goes far beyond broadcasting. Note how lin manuel miranda's Hamilton has gone from Obama era cultural gold to "cringe-worthy" - https://www.vox.com/22641501/hamilton-parks-rec-harry-potter... Or how JKR on Harry Potter went from being vilified by conservative voices to the modern "She who will not be named" of Lefty HBO.

(response to post that was just deleted) 'critical to note that she is just recounting of her own perception of herself.' Tara is outlining why she quit a job she couldn't do anymore because the CBC were ignoring important local stories to focus on CRT, identity politics and racialization of everything, biased reporting and click bait. 'People want to know why, for example, non-binary Filipinos concerned about a lack…

This is not at all how journalism works.

Journalism requires editorial freedom, who pays the bills should have literally no impact on reporting; this is true even when with meta coverage of the publication or owner in question.

Anything else is not journalism.

Re: Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

#399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always considered the idea of CBC to be... extremely weird. Having government approved journalists on government payroll sure sounds like something out of China, Russia or Cuba. Not a western democracy. From the article: > To work at the CBC now is to accept the idea that race is the most significant thing about a person, and that some races are more relevant to the public conversation than others. It is, in my new…

Look at it this way - without government-funded journalism, the only voices are corporate ones. I think it's good to have both, even if neither is fully independent.

I think this is a massively under-appreciated point. Look for how often minority views are given voice on corporate broadcasts and you will immediately see the value of the CBC and its cousin organizations in other commonwealth countries.

I have been exposed to easily 100x more diversity of views and ideas outside my bubble due to the CBC than I have with any corporate broadcaster. We need more of this today - not less.

Re: Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

#400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always considered the idea of CBC to be... extremely weird. Having government approved journalists on government payroll sure sounds like something out of China, Russia or Cuba. Not a western democracy. From the article: > To work at the CBC now is to accept the idea that race is the most significant thing about a person, and that some races are more relevant to the public conversation than others. It is, in my new…

I think a lot of what is happening inside the CBC reflects what is happening in Canada's public service generally. The whole institution has gone from traditional "Liberal" left to a bad caricature of the US left (especially because in Canada we don't have many of the same issues).

Examples?
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