Thread by @CitizenTalin

Has quality diminished @CBCNews due to funding cuts and management's focus on expanding the digital news service?

@CRTCeng asked the CBC president and VP that question last month @CRTCHearings.

This thread reveals the disturbing disconnect between their replies and reality.

@PresidentCBCRC said: “Absolutely no impact (on quality)...the proof is in the pudding and we are delivering historically on pretty well all our obligations in the area of news. We have done extraordinary expansion within - with very, very meaningful impact.”

VP Barb Williams added: "Without compromising the people on the ground that are actually doing the local news gathering...we are still doing the same number of hours...and we still have a high quality product.”

What follows are testimonials from CBC journalists across Canada.

"Errors pervade digital copy; radio news writing is mediocre and there is no training; TV has been bled of dedicated reporters because it isn’t a priority; Facebook and social media drive story meetings; we miss major news stories."

"We are now only about quantity. We don’t talk about who is the best person to get for an interview or what are the best questions to ask. Instead we talk about how fast it can be turned around and how many platforms one reporter can fill...

"We are also all about easy targets such as local business people who now send us press releases about everything they do because they know it guarantees province-wide coverage, instead of talking to the everyday person who is a little harder to find."

"We, as frontline reporters, are forced to file for 'digital first' and make The National on TV the top priority, leaving the premiere news service of CBC - CBC Radio - left over as an after thought. We recycle material, repeat clips from the day before...

"If Canadians only knew how room fulls of assignment editors and managers (mis)direct resources every day - sending frontline reporters scrambling, filing for every platform, with less and less time to dig into and expose stories - they'd be furious...

"It is a travesty. As a result, quality on CBC Radio has dropped, and the depth of our stories overall is greatly diminished."

"We almost never cover council committees. TONS of single-source stories. Major reliance on press release journalism...

"Poor representation of marginalized groups...because we have so little time to prepare programs and stories that we go to the same, known, easy-to-get sources over and over and use the same well-worn angles without taking the time to question our POV."

There's more...

"Doc unit disbanded. The Fifth Estate, off the air for the better part of a year, now back with fewer episodes and in a time slot that keeps changing. Even the commitment to independent productions is gone with the cancellation of Passionate Eye."

"Informing and enlightening are two of the CBC's core mandates. Reflecting communities to each other is a value we have long embraced. And yet management decisions have severely undercut our ability to deliver on any of that. A huge hit to anyone's definition of quality."

"There's virtually never any long-form even for stories that are investigative in nature and merit a deeper treatment. The rest of the newscast is made up of filler...When there are feature interviews, they're often devoid of accountability questions."

"In Ottawa, there are three full-time people working in local Communications. Yet, CBC keeps just two full-time staff to do a show that reaches an estimated million listeners...A lot of ingenuity required to build a daily product from almost nothing."

"Whether one wants to see CBC coverage or scan the scant community papers that exist, try really getting a handle on what the burning issue is in Kapuskasing, Timmins or Cobalt. The best you'll find is news about a bike-a-thon, not the labour crisis at a nearby gold mine."

"I love and respect the radio canvas I have the privilege of animating each day. But I am painfully aware that by making it look possible, by papering over so many deficiencies, the CBC can absolve itself of its responsibility."

"I am a stickler for grammar and am forever hearing bad grammar on radio and tv and reading it online...I'm shocked that we allow people to be the voice of the CBC without making sure they can speak off the cuff with intelligence, using correct language."

"Lack of training means poor writing, lack of research, inadequate vetting, and more errors. Staff cuts mean less investigative work, almost no local documentaries, rushed stories, and more repeated programming. Producing for more platforms leaves reporters spread too thin."

"We cover stories gauged on how many online hits they might get, rather than by their importance to Canadians. We no longer cover city hall. We don't cover local meetings. We rely on local newspapers to do the grunt work."

"So much phone journalism it’s not even funny. Making reporters chase multiple stories at once and not letting them have time to flesh out important ones. Always saying 'We don’t have enough resources for that.'"

"I've only been in the Vancouver shop for a few years, but I've seen us go from a newsroom that prizes original enterprise reporting to one that is only able to cover the absolute must-do stories. Excellent tips just aren't looked into because there is no one to look into them."

"I think Canadians would be shocked to know how our daily story selection depends primarily on whether we actually have a reporter available to cover something important happening in our own country...

"What's more, Canada's public broadcaster does not even have senior/national reporters located in all of the provinces (New Brunswick, PEI), any of the territories, or even the capital of British Columbia."

Two weeks ago, CBC journalists shared the above feedback - and more - with Tait and Williams. They asked why they told the CRTC the quality of CBC News has not diminished.

The president and VP have not replied.

However...

Middle management sent this message in an all-staff email:

"There's nobody else showing up at those meetings to cheer us on. If we don't tell Canadians how good we are, how good YOU are, then how will the CRTC and the rest of Canada know?"

Seriously? #cdnmedia

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