whether the new digital media are a natural extension of print, or of radio and television, is a moot point. Sites like thestar.com and cbc.ca are an amalgam of both traditions. So broadcasters might as easily complain about newspaper websites horning in on their territory as vice-versa.
Mr. Chambers, who led the team that came up with the CBC strategic plan just announced, appears to be a major part of that problem. The only viable strategy for the survival of our much–loved, much-criticized, and grievously afflicted CBC is for it to rediscover what it means to be a true public broadcaster, and to follow that path.
With a sense of great urgency, we, the undersigned, call upon you and all members of the Board,
to consider the inevitable consequence of this most recent funding cut in particular, and, in
accordance with your responsibility as Board members, to clearly and publicly inform the
Government that these cuts will effectively eviscerate CBC/Radio Canada and will ultimately bring
about the demise of this important and valued national public service.
r. Lacroix and his senior management team, and the Board of Directors—each in law and precedent charged with defending public broadcasting in this country—should resign, and call for an immediate and complete rethinking of CBC/Radio-Canada’s untenable financing and governance.