CBC President Catherine Tait is kicking off a cross-country campaign to talk about the broadcaster and what it brings to Canadians. .“Social media and the volume of information spewing out from so many channels has led to this kind of undermining of our trust in public institutions,” said Tait in a video. .“At the end of the day, the antidote to disinformation is more good, high-quality, credible journalism.” .The video started off with CBC News Vancouver host Anita Bathe talking about the narrative created by former US president Donald Trump about the media being fake news. .“I myself struggle often to defend what we do here and the great journalism that we do,” said Bathe. .“What do you say to the people who say that the media is feeding lies?” .Tait said she wants CBC employees to feel proud of the work it does. She called CBC’s journalism standards and practices “the highest in the country.” .The president went on to say media builds trust by continuing to do what it does. She added CBC has to earn this trust. .There was a study done by the University of Victoria which said trust is earned by affinity, ability, and authenticity. She said being “true to our word and delivering credible news is the purpose of the public broadcaster.” .Tait said people saw the value of CBC during the COVID-19 pandemic with the number coming to its website. When people are experiencing a natural disaster, its journalists are on the ground during it and in the community during the recovery period. .CBC is meeting with more 200 producers in British Columbia to talk about what it does. It will be identifying and supporting emerging talent. .It will be doing workshops for The Nature of Things to recruit nonwhite and disabled filmmakers. When people look at CBC and the impact in the independent production community, she said it is the one broadcaster in Canada with majority of programming from independent producers. .“If you look at the entirety of our production output, we have a $1.5 billion economic impact throughout the country, coast to coast to coast, in terms of that production activity,” she said. .Quillette associate editor Jonathan Kay mocked the cross-country tour. .“Or maybe ... just hire a president who can run a network that produces content that people actually *want* to watch, hear, and read (without being told that doing so is their civic responsibility),” said Kay. .Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) British Columbia Director Carson Binda said Canadians cannot trust CBC to hold the federal government to account when they take more than $1 billion per year from it. .“They won’t bite the hand that feeds them,” said Binda. .“Taxpayer.com/petitions/defund-the-cbc-and-end-media-bailout… — sign our petition to bring some accountability back to Canadian media.”.The CTF launched a petition in February requesting the Canadian government bring an end to the $1.4 billion in funding going to the CBC and the $600 million media bailout. .READ MORE: CTF calls for end to CBC funding, media bailouts.“That’s bad for taxpayers, but you know that’s also bad for the media’s credibility when it should be holding governments accountable,” said the CTF. .“You should be able to choose which media organization you want to support.”
