CBC Cowchips

Is CBC Gunning For The Tories Already?

Mulder

Below is an email sent from CBC Radio Ottawa to community associations all over the area. The bias is quite clear when you read the sections I have bolded below.

Hi everyone,
I’m an associate producer with the CBC here in Ottawa.

We are doing some research in anticipation of a possible federal election this fall.

The reason I am contacting community organizations is to find people with real life issues and stories that may be directly affected by whatever changes occur after a federal election.

To give you an example: if you know of someone in your neighbourhood or community who is struggling to find work, who is living off employment insurance or someone who didn’t qualify under the existing rules. Maybe you have a friend or relative who is dealing with legal issues and wanting or needing something to change under federal law. Perhaps you know of someone who is trying to bring family members into Canada from their home country and having trouble making their way through the refugee and immigration system. Or maybe you know of someone who is hoping to make a new life here but is running into obstacles such as having credentials recognized by Canadian institutions.

There are often stories like these that happen in our very own neighbourhoods.

We are interested in hearing these stories – maybe it’s even something that you yourself are dealing with, living through right now…

If so, please reply to this email and tell me about it.

We are striving to make election coverage about more than polls and percentages.

Community-minded people like you can help us do that.

I look forward to speaking (or emailing) with you!

Best
(Name Removed)
Associate Producer
CBC Radio Ottawa

In every one of the sections bolded above, the request is for issues that are currently negative but might be discussion points or election issues. The implicit but clear point is that they are looking for situations that are negative under the current (Conservative) government. No where does it ask for issues that are currently positive and might be in jeopardy should the current (Conservative) government fall.

Some may say this is inadvertent, but I think the bias is pretty clear.

OS Bookshelf: A Slobbering Love Affair by Bernard Goldberg

Mulder

The 2008 U.S. presidential election was an extreme example of the bias that exists in the mainstream media. Bernard (Bernie) Goldberg exposes the statistics in his book A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media

Goldberg has a very easy to read writing style. It almost reads as if he dictated his book and had it transcribed from a verbal analysis.

Many democrats and liberals deny the existence of the media bias but the numbers Goldberg presents are clear:

In 2008, a study by Investor’s Business Daily put the campaign donation ratio of journalists at more than 11 to 1 in favour to Democrats.
……
In 2007, the Pew Research Center found there were four self-identified liberal journalists for every one conservative.

But the bias is not limited to Americans. It exists on our side of the border as well. When addressing the subject of PDS, or Palin Derangement Syndrome, Goldberg points out this gem:

…PDS also turned up in Canada. Heather Mallick, a college profesor, summed up the feelings of millions of American liberals in one elegant sentence, which was part of a piece she wrote on the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s website. Palin, said Ms. Mallick, “added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn’t already have sewn up, the white trash vote.”

For the style and the statistical content, I am giving this book 8 screws out of 10.

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CBC Bias Rears It's Ugly Head … Again

Mulder

I just finished watching Marketplace on CBC this Sunday afternoon. That’s what happens when CTV cancels this weeks edition of Question Period.

The last 10 minutes of Marketplace was dedicated to seeing if consumers were really seeing the GST cut that the Tories have brought in.

They start off with a Tim Horton’s coffee and confirm that Tim’s is, indeed, passing on the GST cut by cutting the cost of coffee. I can confirm this because the price of an XL coffee used to be $1.59 and after the 2 point cut it is now $1.56. Yay Timmy’s!!!

But every other price they looked at was for a set price item. i.e. prices that have traditionally been rounded to a dollar (or half dollar).

They start off with a Saturday Toronto Star. $2.00 before and $2.00 after. Since a large portion of newspaper sales are via the box on the street corner, this one is a given as an item that would not change in price. Who the heck is going to want to put $1.98 into a newspaper box slot?

They then proceeded with Parking machines, parking meters, Live Theatre tickets, taxi cab fares and movie tickets. All of which have stayed the same with the base rate of the product going up meaning no cost savings to the consumer.

I don’t know about you, but I have noticed the tax saving on restaurant food, where the tax is added in AFTER the cost of the meal. I have noticed the tax savings in my grocery bill which far outweighs any money I put into movies, cabs, or parking. I have also noticed it anywhere the price of the item is set with the tax being added after the fact. Store owners did NOT go around the store bumping that $3.99 box of cereal to $4.03.

This was simply a poor reporting job by the CBC. The sad part about something like this is that most of the items they looked at were items that lower income Canadians do not typically use.

Lower income earners ride the bus over taking a taxi or paying for parking. The Conservatives put in a tax credit for the bus riders. Lower income earners might go to the movies occasionally, but more often than not they do not go see a $120 show at the Royal Alex in Toronto as the Marketplace segment showed. In fact, video rentals add tax AFTER the fact so that $3.99 rental that cost $4.59 after tax is now only $4.51. Thank you for my 8 cents!!!

Chalk this one up to that left wing bias our publicly funded network is known for.

CBC Has Dirty, Filthy, Nicotine-Stained Secret

Mulder

This morning on the radio, I heard a short clip about a dirty little secret the CBC has. Or more accurately, two dirty little secrets.

There are apparently video and/or photos taken with a hidden camera of two smoking lounges located in the CBC’s Toronto facilities. Smoking lounges with nice, comfy sofas and ashtrays packed with cigarette butts.

It’s nice to know that private corporations in Ontario are legally mandated to be smoke free but the precious CBC can have not one, but TWO smoking rooms.

I have yet to see this in print, but as soon as I do, I will add to this blog post. You can read about this in the National Post.

Stay tuned.

(Note: I am not against smoking, as I, myself, smoked for over 18 years. I just think what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Keep your eyes open for a public announcement that these smoking rooms have been officially closed.)