CBC already into damage control over the Great Canadian Wish List
I’ve often written that I don’t think most people at CBC are even aware of their own biases.
Case in point.
Over at the CBC official blog, Inside the CBC, one of the topics du jour is the Great Canadian Wish List with the headline, "Pro-Life groups take over CBC Facebook experiment".
First of all, I don’t know of any pro-life group per se which has taken over anything. A search of the NET shows this to be a grassroots attempt to raise awareness. The guy who started it did so of his own accord and it has caught on. Although I’m against abortion, I don’t belong to any “pro-life” group yet yours truly is linked in there seemingly among this concerted effort (although thanks for the plug CBC).
In fairness, maybe the CBC doesn’t know that…maybe but suspicious in its absence in the CBC blogger’s analysis is the fact that the number 2 wish is leaving Canada pro-choice (although there is an illustration). Arguably some “pro-choicers” have also hijacked the site with their call for non-Canadians to flood their site with votes. I could say that CBC didn’t know that but I mentioned it in the very blog that they linked to so that one just doesn’t fly. That fact was omitted for reasons known only to them, likely groupthink in which they've never heard anyone inside their organization say, "Hey anyone here think abortion might be a bad idea."
I can’t say I’m surprised. That there may be people out there who may have a point of view that the CBC rarely covers has obviously thrown them for a loop. That’s not a bad thing and by that token the “Wish List” is already a success in my mind. CBC’s owners (us) finally have found a way to talk back to them. We’ll see whether they listen, merely chalk it up to a concerted “group effort” or think for a moment that just maybe a significant amount of the population actually wants to see the issue raised and discussed.
Call me hopelessly optimistic although clearly if abolishing abortion remains the top “wish” the CBC in their own blog has already set itself up to blame that pesky “religious-right” for it.
Update – What some bloggers who support abortion are saying about the CBC Wish list. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The comments from the “pro-choice” side if you will are by and large downright nasty regarding those who have supported the number 1 choice so far, abolish abortion in Canada. If you disagree with abortion you are automatically labeled a Fetus Fetishist (whatever the heck that means), crazy or a dimwit. And to be honest, that’s the good stuff, the Facebook page is worse. I understand the passion given the wide divide between the two points of view but is name calling really necessary?
Update 2 – Inside the CBC addresses the concerns of yours truly. See Tod’s comments in the comments section of this blog. They’re listening to sound arguments. I’m impressed.
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Spinks at 7:54 PM -
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4 Comments
That's the thing about bias, but you show it here yourself. For one thing, its a blog, its not Newsworld. For another, you comment that you 'don't know of any group'. A false negative doesn't make a positive. Because you don't know of any, doesn't mean its not so.
Also, keep in mind that from your sidebar you are a member of the 'blue bloggers', which, surprise surprise, is a 'pro life group'. I'd hazard a guess that very very few of them are pro abortion, and that's essentially how the 'group' works. I have plenty of conservative traits, many more even than you (just different) and many blue bloggers, but I quit going to those sites simply because all they ever did was go to one anothers site and basically write their view of what every other person was talking about. It ends up being a good organizational tool, since I disagree with 'harpies' view of the world I don't see that as a good thing.
So there really isn't much 'bias' there, you just don't like being linked to a group, and don't like the fact that these issues are typically related to christian conservatives. However, had people suddenly written saying 'we wish every woman would wear burkas' I have no doubt that you'd join everyone else in stating that islamic fundamentalists were taking over the list, even though it could be a fabric salesman doing it.
As the CBC blogger says, its not necessarily 'bad', but 'interesting'. I personally think it IS bad. Like I said, that simply doesn't jive with polls that claim even most New Brunswickers, which is fairly conservative province, want to see MORE services for abortion. At a time of huge poverty and injustice against the poor and natives and on and on, I think a single issue focus like this is bad for democracy. After all, in New Brunswick it isn't even subsidized, so obviously the next political step there is to make it illegal, or else combat the lawsuit and public opinion polls that disagree with this minority view.
If there were a 'bias', of course they wouldn't have even talked about it, they would bury it as quickly as possible so that nobody would have much cause to talk about it.
However, you COULD be right (though you could as easily be wrong), in that the blog could be set up, or covered more, simply to attract attention to it so maybe more people would go there to depoliticize it-as they said, the wish list was supposed to be a lighthearted little game.
It's not bias, but the CBC blogger does miss the point that a 'spiritual revival' certainly doesn't necessarily mean any specific denomination. I'd love to see a spiritual revival which would lead people to live more harmoniously with nature and the environment-that certainly has little to do with any religion.
As the CBC guy says, it was partly set up that way as an experiment to see what would happen. Personally I disagree that the 'bias' has anything to do with abortion or religion. I think it has more to do with democracy. People are demanding more and more power in political affairs and are more disgusted than typically with politicians. So this shows any people out there who are looking at decentralizing power the opposite side-namely that special interest groups can be very powerful and take over agendas.
CBC is first and foremost a defender of the political status quo, whether its liberal or conservatives in power. We saw that when Stockwell Day made citizen initiatives a backbone of the conservative platform-something which 'new conservatives' seem to have forgotten about. That 'anarchy' was what led to the creation of the reform party, and the parti quebecois as well, and ultimately is what doomed both of them to the status quo-disconnecting themselves from the grassroots. While CBC loves to run around interviewing John Doe who cooked a neat pie, its as hard to get grassroot political coverage on the CBC as it is with any other network.
So the 'big scary conservatives' have, say, ontarians thinking twice about their referendum-if PR does bring in more parties, what happens when the 'christian heritage party' gets seats, or the 'antiabortion party' gets seats.
I'm not even saying that thats intentional, that some CBC executive is sitting up there saying "lets get canadians scared of one another". I'm just saying there is as much evidence of that bias, as there is of Spinks view.
Just a final thought, but again if you want to see bias, you have been the beneficiary of it. You get a plug on this story from them, and have gotten press from your little list thing. That is also media bias that stears away from substantive topics that many more people see as important...so you shouldn't complain about bias...you have benefitted from it (or at least you get more hits from it, I don't know if your ads give you any money or not)
8:55 PM
What are the blue bloggers?!?
9:51 PM
Sorry about that, I meant the blogging tories and thought you had a link. Basically its a bunch of blogging tories whose sites are all linked.
7:42 AM
Hi -- CBC blogger in question here. :)
You make some good points, and I've adjusted the headline to reflect it.
2:42 PM
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