cbc resists diversity

CBC resists real diversityBy JOSEPH QUESNEL
If I see one more re-run of the documentary Bowling for Columbine on CBC Television, I will explode.
It's not the first time our nation's public broadcaster gave a soapbox to the filmmaker Michael Moore and his leftist views -- CBC has broadcast the questionable anti-gun documentary a few times.
I just wish CBC would give some equal time to its critics.
I am sure it is popular with the latte-drinking, American-loathing crowd in Toronto or other urban centres. Perhaps CBC was able to cut a broadcasting deal with Moore.
What bothers me is that it seems the only documentaries getting airtime are ones that advance left-wing agendas. Going through a list of the most popular documentaries available, I can only find titles that focus on issues fashionable among the urban left. Fahrenheit 9/11. An Inconvenient Truth. Fast Food Nation.
Winnipeg recently saw the airing of Wal-Town at the NFB Cinematheque. This gem focuses on the "evils" of Wal-Mart, while ignoring the jobs the company brings, not to mention low prices for lower-income people.
The annoying thing is that CBC can do something about this.
CBC, under its own journalistic standards, is obligated to seek out dissenting views. Judging from documentaries featured on The Passionate Eye and Fifth Estate, perhaps they interpreted dissent as meaning a range from outright hatred of George Bush to mild dislike.
It would just be nice to see more investigative filmmaking that took on topics sacred to the left getting airtime.
At present, a Quebec-based documentary called L'illusion tranquille is showing in movie houses in La Belle Province. The film argues Quebec's highly interventionist and union-dominated economy is not sustainable and is headed for crisis.
The film faced resistance. A producer said when she presented her proposal to the National Film Board, she had her Power Point presentation interrupted by an NFB official who said he did not like what she was saying.
In another recent case, an Ottawa theatre cancelled the showing of Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West, an award-winning documentary, after a single e-mailed complaint from an academic who admitted she never actually saw the film. The movie's crime was depicting real-life footage of radical Islamists.
Months ago, I fired off an e-mail to the CBC's ombudsman asking why I am seeing so many documentaries tilted to the left. I even offered to provide a list of high-quality conservative documentaries. I have received no answer.
I am not arguing that the CBC or the government should completely bear the responsibility for conservative films. That would be very un-conservative. I am saying that CBC and the NFB must play fair and present other points of view.
It is also a problem of what is getting produced. It is fair to say that people who go into journalism or filmmaking, especially at the CBC and NFB, are not very conservative. Conservative people tend to go into lucrative fields, like business and law. Barry Cooper and Lydia Miljan in Hidden Agendas: How Journalists influence the News presented data showing a prevalence of left-wing views in the media, especially at CBC.
More conservative and traditional-minded Canadians need to enter journalism, especially at public broadcasters. The CBC talks a lot about diversity, but ignores conservative diversity.
It it also time Canada's conservative organizations and foundations step up to the plate and put their money where their mind is.
Regardless, something needs to change.