No CBC = No History

It’s only when you’re far away that you realize how important the CBC’s web efforts are to keeping you in the loop about what’s happening in Charlottetown, the Island and Canada. I’m left to rely on the disaster that is the The Guardian website to keep up to date.

Which got me to thinking: this lockout is going to result in a sort of “dark ages” in terms of the digital fossil record. Our ancestors (or even ourselves, in a year) will go the CBC website to search for stories about things that are happening now and will find nothing. Worse, when our friends at the CBC are allowed to work again, they will have no audio or video record of news that’s happening now. Which means that, in essence, nothing that is happening now is actually happening at all.

Think what you will of the CBC, they are, among many other things, the Canadian news source of record. When they’re not recording, what happens?

Saturday, August 27, 2005 - 6:06pm

CBC
History

Comments

Submitted by Robert Paterson (not verified) on Sat, 2005-08-27 21:36.

Dear Peter I am reading the Diamond Cutter right now. In the Buddhist perspective everything emerges from what we think and say. No CBC = no Canada????

Submitted by Judy Libman (not verified) on Sat, 2005-08-27 23:35.

Dear Peter, Through some cosmic conjunction, I found your blog tonight as I was Googling information about alternative CBC programming. And so I found, quite by chance, that I’d reconnected with you on the eve of Oliver’s wedding!! How unbelievable. Please send Oliver my very best wishes (omygod it’s 20 years ago that I taught you guys). It was the Scottish klezmer post that did it - my younger daughter got married in November and we did klezmer for that occasion. In the meantime I’m suffering CBC withdrawal quite badly - though hearing little brother Steve quite regularly; is he somehow exempt? or is he just recycling old news? Once you’re safely back out of Bush country let’s reconnect off-blog. What - no pictures of little Oliver? Belated congratulations on him too! Wow. Judy

Submitted by oliver (not verified) on Sun, 2005-08-28 06:52.

Thanks, Judy!!

Submitted by Steve Rukavina (not verified) on Sun, 2005-08-28 07:09.

Hi Judy: Just to clarify…CBC workers across the country who are members of The Canadian Media Guild have been locked out by CBC management. Employees in the province of Quebec and in Moncton, New Brunswick are part of a different bargaining unit so we’re still on the job (which I can assure you is not very fun while our colleagues are locked out). Quebec and Moncton employees were locked out for nine weeks three years ago. We’re monitoring this situation closely, and whatever happens in the rest of Canada will affect our next contract. More than that, most CBC employees, regardless of what union they’re in, feel this battle will define the future of the organization. We fully support our colleagues who are locked out, and we are taking care to make sure not to do any extra work that they would normally do in order to contribute to what is plainly lacklustre replacement network programming. We all hope this ends soon and that CBC regular programs get back on the air where they belong. Sorry you’re having to suffer with your regular CBC fix. Congratulations to Oliver who’s getting married! cheers, steve

Submitted by Ken Williams (not verified) on Sun, 2005-08-28 20:01.

It’s summertime who cares? I don’t miss CBC nor have I watched any TV except Sunday night Global and The Daily Show since April.

Submitted by Ken Williams (not verified) on Sun, 2005-08-28 20:08.

On second thought I do miss CBC PEI web a bit. But when we can hear from CBC reporters (on ruk.ca and elsewhere) directly on the web who needs the CBC? Just phone Sara at six and ask her what happened today. Does she blog? I hear Fox is buying CBC. Is that true?

Submitted by darlene piedt (not verified) on Sun, 2005-09-04 16:53.

Sept. 4/05 3:40 pm My husband and I are longtime listeners and supporters of CBC radio and CTV. Since the strike with loss of regular programming, we have found it difficult to keep informed of world affairs through such programs as “Dispatches” and “Ideas”. We agree with Rex Murphy who recently said that Canada needs the CBC as it keeps the country together. Thankyou Darlene Piedt