Tuesday, April 7, 2009

baaa!


Ok so this post is not about RE in Vancouver. It is much more important!

The Federal government is just about to give a large chunk of your money to private Broadcasters like CTV and Global.

This government has a visceral dislike for the CBC, and recently refused it any more money forcing hundreds of job cuts.

However they want to help their supporters and cronies in the big monopolistic media companies.

The same companies- like Global which owns most of our print media, that has gotten itself into $3.9 Billion of debt by over-paying for newspapers, and has paid it's senior executives several Millions of dollars a year each for their bad decisions.

However they couldn't just come and hand over the money or there might be a backlash. So they had to find a way to hand it over, while making it sound good for the Canada. Eventually some bright spark came up with the idea of giving the money to save small local stations and small town programming.

B.S.! There is no better way of protecting local programming than by having a strong CBC with it's large network of local correspondants and an excellent international reputation. If they hate the CBC so much, why not support local journalistic co-ops directly?? instead of sending the money to these failed outfits, so they take their cut.

If this goes through it will be an absolute disgrace, and will confirm to regular people that our money is spent based on who has connections and not on merit.

This is how the 'NEWS' is served up to you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CanWest_Global

This is how you can contact your MP before this calamity goes through. Lets not be sheep herded to be shorn again:

http://canada.gc.ca/directories-repertoires/direct-eng.html

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In fact this is related to RE. How many articles were there in Vancouver's papers warning people of the bubble and telling them to hold back in the go-go years?

Not many! The Vancouver Sun, Province, North Shore News, West Ender and the National Post all happen to have the same owner. ( as well as the Times Colonist and almost all the other major newspapers in Canada - this is what passes for free speach in Canada)

8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I sent my MP an e-mail saying it was unacceptable to give my tax money to media moguls. He is fom the governing party- lets see what he says in response.

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  3. Have you got any links to articles talking about this issue?

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  4. Hi M

    Take a look at these. This hand-out should be stopped. Give the money directly to jounalists and new ventures, including new media.

    Not some failed, over-paid executives who could use the money to bonus themselves.

    http://tinyurl.com/corjl2

    http://tinyurl.com/dcej87

    I suspect this is what the government wants... Find a way to fund the private media companies and let the CBC whither away.

    Here is what your tax dollars will buy:

    http://tinyurl.com/ctjc7q

    there are many more articles like this on the web, a google search will bring them up.

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  5. What happened to Paul's site?

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  6. Any government involvement in the media is extremely dangerous.

    How can one be extremely critical of one's government if they are your only reason for having a job? You can't. You become a lap-dog.

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  7. Anon- try the new link and click on stats.

    Matt- yup, it is a very bad situation when the government chooses who to give our money too.

    Do you think they would help Georgia Straights or any Indy media?? Nope. Just the big corporate media that have givenpolitical donations. Very incestuous.

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  8. What an absolute pile of crap! What? Are the sleazebags at CanWest too big to fail? Will the world's economy crash as a result of their failure? Is the devastation that may be created by their demise so great?...Well, if you are a right wing, corporate hack, like the AIG guys, then yes, it would be devastating.

    BC has one of the most one-sided, biased presses in the entire world, including Russia, Cuba, and China. They print what their masters want them to print and NO MORE! The only reason that any government, of any country, with any political stripe would bail out a failing media company, is if they stood to benefit personally from the deal. They don't want a new, democratic, media to spring up...that would be very bad. There would be competition and the reporters would strive to break newsworthy stories, which would definitely include such things as the BC Rail court case....yes, that would be very bad....
    Jeff

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