There has been a lot of commentary already written about Evan Soloman and the CBC. Amid the Niagara of words about what has happened, I found two columns particularly enlightening. Rick Salutin wrote that Soloman -- and other CBC celebrities -- are emblematic of a culture of greed at the Mother Corp:
Evan is surely the boss of his own conscience but still, he may have found it confusing at CBC regarding what was valued there. Big emphases on money-making and business shows, led by the happy crassness of Kevin O’Leary till he very consistently dumped CBC, having made his rep there, for bigger money in the U.S. Vast discrepancies between salaries and deference paid the top dogs/hosts, who often do little of their own work, and the grunts they depend on. Even the ads that clutter broadcasts. Isn’t this supposed to be owned by the people? You don’t get such messiness at the BBC.
We shouldn't be surprised at this kind of behaviour. Stephen Harper has been filling the corporation's board with Conservative fundraisers. What better way to do the public broadcaster in than by destroying it from the inside?
But there's also the question of individual ethics -- particularly the ethics of broadcasters who call themselves journalists. Michael Harris wrote:
Journalism is not about sleeping with your sources. It’s not about trying to please the government by bending the tone and content of stories or broadcasts to the political agenda of the day. And it’s certainly not about monetizing your fame with the very people you report on. Nor is it about brokering art deals.
Neo-liberalism -- and Stephen Harper -- corrupt everything they touch. They are responsible for the sad demise of the CBC.
