Canadians Joined at The Hip, By CBC
The CBC’s decision to air the Tragically Hip’s farewell concert Saturday was a stroke of public broadcasting genius. Better than almost any event one could imagine, it demonstrated the power of a national public broadcaster to bring a nation together to celebrate its shared values, to honour its prodigies, to connect. Preliminary ratings suggest that 11.7 million of us watched or listened to some or all of the three-hour concert in Kingston. That’s what’s known as “reach” in the industry. The show was available on CBC television, CBC Radio One, Radio 2, and Éspace Musique, as...
Read MoreA Modest Proposal: The Class Action Case Against Television
by Wade Rowland First it was big tobacco. Now, some of the victors in those multi-billion dollar David-and-Goliath class-action suits have turned their guns on the fast food industry, charging that junk food is responsible for a public health disaster no less appalling than tobacco’s. They have snack food giants like Kraft and Frito Lay running scared, stoking up their PR machines. The basic defense being offered is very similar to the one put up by the tobacco industry, and it’s based on freedom of choice. It amounts to arguing that nobody holds a gun to your head to make you eat...
Read MoreAbout Wade Rowland
Ranked among Canada’s leading literary journalists, Wade Davies Rowland has written more than a dozen books on subjects ranging from television journalism, organized crime, and international environmental law to his current concerns, which include communications technology, the philosophy of science, and technology and human values. Full author bio.