While the CBC’s new strategic plan has been attacked by the usual suspects, including Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and the Canadian Media Guild, additional criticism of A space for us all has come from a somewhat unexpected source: The Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA).
In a July 2 editorial published on the Newspapers Canada website, Bob Cox, CNA chair and publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press, argues that the CBC’s plan to pursue a digitally focused strategy over the next five years will place it in direct competition with daily newspapers, but with the unfair advantage of being funded by taxpayer dollars.
Cox says CBC/Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix sounded like a newspaper executive when outlining the organization’s dilemma (its traditional model is broken and digital revenue isn’t enough to offset the loss of old dollars) and its solution (mobile first, with a focus on smartphones and tablets).
He argues that there is already an abundance of news and information being provided digitally, and there is “no danger” such content won’t be available in the future.
“By focusing on this area, all the CBC will be doing is expanding in an area where there is little justification for it to be, and less reason for public support,” he wrote.
He says that all traditional media companies, though arguably none more than newspapers, are trying to navigate a path through a new media environment that has radically transformed their old business model.
“You have to wonder how much time Lacroix has spent studying new media,” wrote Cox. “The main characteristic of the modern media world is that each one of us is at the centre of our own media space—we build our own personalized use of media, much of it built around our own space on any number of social media platforms.
“Individuals provide their own content, take things from an unlimited number of sources, share with friends, watch shows in a variety of formats when and where they want to, etc. The idea that a single media provider could be at the heart of that space is laughable.”
While acknowledging there remains a “huge need” for distinct Canadian broadcasting with robust public support, Cox wrote that it will be lost if the CBC attempts to become less of a broadcaster and more of a digital content provider.
Asked to respond to the criticism, France Belisle, director of communications and public relations for the CBC in Ottawa, directed Marketing to a column written by vice-president of brand, communications and corporate affairs, Bill Chambers, that appeared Wednesday on Huffington Post Canada.
Chambers wrote that the plan is not about the CBC abandoning traditional audiences for digital ones, but abandoning bricks and mortar for content and programming.
“We’ll be spending less on buildings, on infrastructure and on support services,” he wrote. “We will place a heavy emphasis on mobile and other digital innovations and an even heavier investment in the programming that reaches the most Canadians and has the biggest cultural impact.”
There is no intent to “mess with” the CBC’s talk and information radio networks, he adds, while its primetime schedules will be the “single most important” investment. “Over the five-year plan, this would continue to be the way we reach the largest number of Canadians and be our highest programming priority,” he wrote.
