By Nick Ubels (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: June 19, 2013
Wedged awkwardly between timeless classics from Schubert and Mozart, the familiar strains of commercial jingles from United Furniture Warehouse and I-Travel-2000.com are set to invade the airwaves of CBC Radio 2 for up to four minutes every hour. Despite these intrusions on the listening experience, pursuing additional sources of revenue is undoubtedly a positive step for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The CRTC has struck a compromise with Canada’s public broadcaster to allow for the inclusion of minimal commercial messages on both the all-music Radio 2 and its French language counterpart, Espace Musique, for a three-year trial period. According to the CRTC, the network will have to formally request an extension at the conclusion of this period, which will be subject to further review and study.
This has left some listeners and media watchdogs livid. And I get it. It tastes sour. I especially empathize with those who make the endless stream of music their workplace home but now have to endure advertising scattered throughout the day. That is one of the station’s biggest draws. Yet if this is the price we have to pay to maintain CBC’s unparalleled services, so be it.
And let’s face it, the CBC needs every penny it can get these days.
Tightening federal budgets have resulted in massive cuts to CBC funding over the last few years. In 2012, the broadcaster’s operating budget was cut by 10 per cent, totalling over $150 million in lost revenue. I’m a proponent of public investment in the CBC, and long-form studies show that it is an investment that produces great dividends. A 2011 report from an independent UK research firm Deloitte found that every dollar Canadians pay into the CBC produces approximately $4 in economic benefit. Yet Canadians rank a dismal 16th out of 18 Western countries studied in per capita dollars spent on public broadcasting according to a study by Nordicity, a global consulting firm. In spite of these financial challenges, the news service provided by the CBC is one of the strongest in Canada, boasting 14 foreign bureaus, the largest number of any Canadian media organization.
However, it is unlikely to see any return to its prior funding levels with a Conservative majority in the House of Commons. You have to choose your battles: fighting for social programs that struggle to find non-government sources of funding is much more important. Perhaps the most telling aspect of the CBC’s license renewal decision is that the network originally requested an unlimited advertising license for Radio 2 and Espace Musique. Clearly, the CBC needs to find additional ways to generate revenue or risk sacrificing the quality of its services. The good news is that these resources do exist.
One of the most compelling arguments against this move towards further advertising is that it jeopardizes the CBC’s integrity. Yet the CBC has sold ad space on its television networks for years and that has not seemed to compromise its mandate. In fact, television advertising produces 20 per cent of the CBC’s overall revenue.
NPR and PBS, two highly-respected American public broadcasters, have taken a different tack when it comes to advertising. Instead of sacrificing airtime to advertisers, shows are often underwritten or sponsored by particular clients. In theory, this has a much greater potential for bias. Yet this reliance on a few, big contracts has not seemed to result in many conflicts.
Balancing the financial and journalistic obligations of any news organization is never easy, but it’s a fact of life that news organizations must negotiate. Supplementing the CBC’s meagre income with some additional advertising dollars does not threaten to undermine the network’s credibility unless the journalists, producers and other content creators choose to let it.
The CRTC, in limiting this advertising venture to a three-year trial period, is providing a controlled and responsible environment to test the waters, to see whether this allowance has any unexpected or detrimental effects. The reality is that the CBC has reached a critical moment in its existence, one in which the public faith in news organizations is faltering, and governments are pressured more than ever to cut taxes and any non-essential services at every turn. The CBC’s positive effects on Canadian society are unmistakable, but they can seem less tangible compared to other government services or infrastructure upgrades.
With yearly haemorrhaging of once-reliable federal funding, the CBC does not need to privatize, but find multiple streams of revenue that will not only allow it to continue to provide high-calibre content, but in fact improve its output and relationship with the public it serves. Minimal advertising increases and fundraising drives are a necessary part of that equation. Both will ultimately minimize the CBC’s reliance on the government and thus increase its editorial freedom.
