Did you notice that the local CBC appears to have been awakened and that there is finally something to report in relation to the MOU?
All during the lead up to the NL election, our publicly-funded news broadcaster had no journalists with any interest to cover or investigate what was going on in regard to the biggest deal in NL history. A deal that the former Government and NL Hydro were claiming was the best deal and one that would totally transform our Province. They both have consistently maintained that the MOU would put over $225 billion into the NL treasury and create thousands of jobs. Of course, the CBC was happy to repeat the Government and NL Hydro claims and did nothing to look behind the MOU and what it really means for our people and our Province. Even as the MOU was declared the key issue of the governing party during the election, the CBC stood silent not daring to question the Government or NL Hydro as to veracity of their claims.
In recent days, the CBC has finally shown some interest in the so-called deal that “changes everything”. It now reports on the Michael Wilson letter, pointing out how the previous Government changed the mandate of the oversight panel and impaired its independence. Now that the letter is out in the public, thanks to Premier Wakeham, it is clear for all to see. But is it not the job of our public institutions, particularly the CBC, to fulfill its role to provide independent, balanced, investigative journalism and question those public officials as to their outrageous claims and mis-representations of value?
During all these months and weeks prior to and during the election, many citizens have been pointing out the weaknesses and fallacies of the MOU. Thanks to private media particularly, NTV and VOCM, the public got a real measure of the benefits and risks associated with the MOU. Unfortunately, the public broadcaster did nothing to attempt to inform the public about the deal or engage in the debate. I say unfortunate because we the taxpayers fund this institution and we deserve and expect a significant measure of interest from such institutions to take up important public policy issues that affect everyone who lives here.
When I reflect on why the local CBC stayed on the sidelines, I can only conclude that the people who run the organization hold an inherent bias that prevents individual journalists from taking hold of such issues and pursuing them with a high degree of journalistic freedom. Is that not why we have the CBC? Is that not what we expect from the CBC? Or perhaps it is simply that the issue has more National interest – Quebec’s interests supersede any local or regional interests for the CBC? Whatever the reason, are we to conclude that the CBC is no longer a reliable public service and therefore we should no longer be funding the CBC? It is of no public value when it chooses to be silent.