Media and the Public Interest, Policy source 7: Public Broadcasting in Canada: Time for a New Approach - Submission to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage discusses countries which have implemented policies for public service broadcasting (PSB). Switzerland, France, and Italy will be used as examples for different levels of public service broadcasting.
Switzerland is highly fragmented in public service broadcasting, which adds the cost of keeping and upholding systems. Switzerland gives the public broadcasters adequate subsidies and funding so that they can maintain independence from the government and the market with no trouble. There are four official languages in Switzerland and it boarders three countries with related languages.
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Robert Rabinovitch examines how public broadcasters urge participation in, and access to, public life. Public broadcasting is an educational and informational tool used for all, and is a meeting place which accepts and considers all citizens equal. Public broadcasting itself appeals to the imagination of listeners and is also used as an entertainment tool. As Canadians have become more and more diverse with their interests and values, so has the content provided with public service broadcasting. Canada is an open and accepting society, encouraging the free flow of social, political and cultural ideas. It is necessity for Canadian citizens to have universal access of content created by, for, and about them. Canadian broadcasting is to deliver content not only universal in access, but also content that is diverse in scope, and independent from both political and commercial …show more content…
The CBC provides a nation-wide radio and television web service offered in English, French, and indigenous languages. The content provided is predominantly Canadian, and works to establish and maintain connections with remote parts of the country. It guarantees a safe, commercial free outlet used for entertaining program for children, current affairs programming, and a full bodied Canadian perspective on international events. Other programming provided are complete coverage on provincial and federal elections, high culture programming, sports, and content made purposely for new immigrants to Canada. In addition, the CBC provides documentary programming and a substantial amount of Canadian programming in prime time television, and the ability to communicate to all Canadians in an
The government of Canada is aware and concerned of the power of print media, such as magazine and how it is influencing Canadian to drift away from their culture and over taken by foreign culture.
James-white, Don. Opinions of Legacies of Sir John A Macdonald. 03 Mar. 2005. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 29 May 2011
Over the years, ICT, information communication technologies, has lead to a smaller world. A world where information can be transmitted instantaneously, a world where the quality of the information received has vastly improved. This information highway era has become so efficient that it has created a "global village". Canada is placed in a rather unique societal position today in this global village. It stands out from the rest of the world with its culturally diverse population, community networking and experts in the field. From representing its multicultural citizens through broadcasting programming, to creating successful community networks, and having leading experts in the field of communications, Canada must be considered one of the leading model communication innovators to the rest of the world.
Canada holds the same beliefs about pubic broadcasting as Lowe & Jauert (2005). As a nation that is not only democratic but multicultural and diverse, media influence plays a major role in bringing together and shaping the Canadian society. Howev...
Conflict theory claims that advertising does not sufficiently address issues of inequality in society. (Brime, Roberts, Lie, Rytina 2013, p.462) There are five major media outlets that form a monopoly of the media industry in Canada: CTVglobalmedia Inc. owned by Bell Canada, Rogers Communications Inc. Controlled by the Rogers family, Shaw Communications controlled by the Shaw family, CBC/Radio Canada, and Quebecor Inc. Controlled by the Péladeau family. (Brime, Roberts, Lie, Rytina 2013, p.462-463) CBC/Radio Canada is the only publicly owned media company in Canada, whereas, approximately 90% of the media in Canada is privately owned. (Brime, Roberts, Lie, Rytina 2013, p.464) This allows for 90% of advertising content to be chosen by wealthy corporations. In an American study, 93% of newspaper editors admitted to advertisers attempting to influence news stories and 37% admitted that advertisers have influenced their stories. (Brime, Roberts, Lie, Rytina 2013,
Taras examines the commitments and values of CBC with the Canadian government and the citizens. He looked at a particular case of when CBC clashed with the government, and how CBC struggled to keep their TV programs running (Taras, pp.4-5). Next he talked about how the media industry is being taken controlled by powerful corporation and claims that PSB have the responsibility to protect the minorities (Taras, p.6). Subsequently, Taras discussed the ups and downs CBC had gone through until this day. Lastly, Taras explores the complex and intimate relationship between public broadcasters and the government; how they take advantage of each other to accomplish their goals. Ultimately, Taras believes that PSB will continue to have an impact in society despite living in a generation of digital media.
Canada is a vast country with a strong multiculturalism policy, many distinct regions, and heavy foreign influence. The size of Canada has shaped much of Canadian’s way of life. Communications could not have developed easily or naturally in Canada without relying on technological innovations to bond the country in a communicative society. Canada has been divided into provinces and territories which have extremely different terrains, climates, economies and cultures. These differences create conflicting interests and misunderstandings.
Canada as a nation has been striving to characterize itself as more ?Canadian? for decades. This has included numerous struggles and events such as protests, bans, and the creation of the Massey Commission, to encourage national development in the arts, and support major companies like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and National Film Board (NFB). However, this has not been an easy task for the Canadian government, as major influences from below the border (the United States) have been captivating the Canadian audiences by large. American media has had a momentous revolutionizing effect on Canada, even through efforts made to define Canada with its own cultural identity.
First, the role of the media is to represent the public and intervene between the public and the government. The media is a mirror, which re...
According to the Levin Institute (n.d.), the Canadian government has a long and established history of putting measures in place to protect the interests of Canadian print media; as far back as the 1920s, for instance, tariffs were imposed on foreign publications coming into the country. Therefore it is reasonable to expect that the measures taken in the 1990s were done so in the spirit of tradition; that is, continuing to put Canadian media interests first, even if it is at the expense of harming relations with Canada's much stronger Southern neighbour. It would appear from reading the source material, and from the Canadian government's previous documented activities, that the Canadian government does indeed wish to protect its own print industry's interests; indeed, the Canadian Heritage Minister welcomed the tariffs and sanctions as a necessary step to protect Canadian heritage and curb the flow of American expansion (Urquhart, 1999.) Further proof that this was driven by a wish to protect Canadian heritage, rather than allow an unfair advantage to Canadian publishers over the competition, is the fact that only
In Australia there are two public service broadcasting institutions: the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). ABC is modelled after the BBC and aims to provide information and entertainment services of general interest and traditional public service content on TV and radio; SBS aims to provide a more specialized service of multicultural and multilingual programming (reference). The SBS focused on fulfilling the media needs of Australia’s culturally diverse population. Both broadcasters are public corporations operating under Charters endorsed by Australia’s federal Parliament (reference,Mendel).
1.) The three main national TV networks in Canada are CTV, CBS and Global. CTV leads as the top private private broadcaster company in Canada. CTV features programming with local quality news updates, sports news, entertainment news and news from all around the world. According to CTV, they have been Canada’s most watched network for the last twelve years.
The features of media making incorporate both the individual and collective experience provided by different forms of media (7). Through Plunkett’s discussion of civic publicness, he clearly lays out the
One way in which government achieves this objective, is by its ability to misuse the media’s ability to set the agenda. Contrary to popular belief, media is in fact an enormous hegemony. In fact, separate independent news organizations do not exist. Rather than creating an independent structured agenda of their own, generally lesser smaller news organizations adapt to a prepared agenda, previously constructed by a higher medium. Based upon this information alone, it is quite apparent that media functions in adherence to the characteristics of a hierarchy.
... small media reforms (like public journalism) will be enough to reduce the commercial and corporate imperatives driving our existing media systems (Hackett and Zhao, 1998, p. 235). Instead, a fundamental reform of the entire system is needed, together with a wider institutional reform of the very structures the media systems work within, our democracies. This will be a difficult task, due to powerful vested interests benefiting from the status quo, including media, political and economic elites. Reforms will need to be driven by campaigns mobilising public support across the political spectrum, to enable the citizens of the world to have a media system that works to strengthen democratic principles as opposed to undermining them. This task is challenging, but it will become easier once people begin to understand the media’s role in policymaking within our democracies.