I can’t believe that this is still stretching on into the fourth week with no sign of an end. For anyone who doesn’t know, on August 15th the CBC management locked out all members of the Canadian Media Guild. The CMG includes hosts, technical workers, producers - basically everyone who produces content at the CBC and isn’t on contract.

The major issue apparently is that the management wants to be able to contract out more. How does this make sense? The members of the CMG are what makes the CBC what it is! They deserve respect and at least the job security they already have.

According to what I’ve read, CBC employees make less than their private sector competitors. They work for the CBC because they believe in public broadcasting. In public broadcasting you don’t sell listeners to advertisers, you attempt to inform citizens.

Of course CBC detractors are using this as a perfect opportunity to say that the CBC should just be shut down. They claim it is left biased and anti american. Firstly, it’s certainly interesting to hear that from people who say themselves that they don’t listen or watch the CBC. Secondly, while every media outlet has a bias, the CBC does its best to provide unbiased news and current affairs. The CBC demonstrably gives air time to conservative thinkers as well as left leaning thinkers. They often talk about the fraser institute, and the national phone in is hosted by Rex Murphy for crying out loud.

Many of the shows the CBC offers are at the top of the ratings, and pretty much all of them are quality shows that no private outlet is willing to put the money and effort into.

The CBC is the only hope for a decent news provider in this country. We’ve got to find a way to get the real CBC back on the air and get Rabinovich out!

While this lasts, at least we’ve got CBCunplugged.com for lockout news and podcasts, and CBCUnlocked.com for news.

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