More Than Meets the Eye: defining “quality” in public service television
©2012 Wade Rowland What do we mean when we talk about “quality” in television? Is there such a thing as a “good” television, or radio programming, in the sense of its having transcendent moral and aesthetic value? Is it possible for a program to be “good” even if its audience dislikes it, or is indifferent to it? Or are these kinds of value judgements entirely subjective? Is it the case that if you like a program, it’s ipso facto “good?” If a program draws a large and enthusiastic audience, surely that rules out the possibility that it the program might be bad. These are...
Read MoreCBC in Crisis: “If not ratings, then what?”
© 2012 by Wade Rowland The future looks bleak for the CBC as we know it. The public broadcaster is facing a 12 percent ($115 million) cut in its government funding and, two years down the road, the probable loss of the television service’s flagship Hockey Night in Canada, which brings in about half the corporation’s advertising revenue, and provides about 400 hours a year of “Canadian content,” a hole which will have to be filled. Though the revenue shortfall will be most evident in the television service, CBC Radio will...
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.