CBC leads 'get the facts' attack on Quebecor

[mentalfloss]

CBC leads 'get the facts' attack on Quebecor

Quebecor Media Inc. has received more than half a billion dollars in direct and indirect government subsidies over the past three years “but is not accountable” to Canadian taxpayers, CBC/Radio-Canada said on its website Tuesday.

The broadcaster made the statement in a post on its “Get The Facts” webpage, where it responds to critical or inaccurate media reports.

In a counter-offensive attack on its competitor, CBC said Quebecor uses public subsidies and a “dominant position in protected industries to make record profits yet complains that its TVA television network 'competes' against Radio-Canada.”

The CBC added that “Quebecor boss Pierre Karl Péladeau has sent over a dozen letters to the Prime Minister and others in government to complain that Radio-Canada does not spend enough money advertising in his newspapers.”

The post on the CBC website comes as Conservative MPs on the House of Commons ethics committee are spearheading a study about the CBC's transparency under the Access to Information Act and its withholding of records from Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault.

Quebecor and Conservative MPs have criticized the CBC for a lack of transparency.

The CBC is withholding records under an exception under the act that covers information about journalistic or programming activities.

The QMI news agency, owned by Quebecor, has filed hundreds of potentially embarrassing information requests about CBC spending.

A court battle over the exception is now being fought at the Federal Court of Appeal.

Quebecor CEO Péladeau is scheduled to appear before the ethics committee Thursday morning.


CBC leads 'get the facts' attack on Quebecor | The Wire Report

 

[Locutus]

aka: They mad.




CBC lashes out over scrutiny of spending



OTTAWA - CBC is lashing out against Quebecor, parent company of QMI Agency, over an ongoing series of stories about the state broadcaster's problem with disclosing how it spends taxpayer's money.
A Commons committee has been holding hearings into CBC's refusal to release information to the public and the federal information commissioner. As a recipient of an annual subsidy of more than $1.1 billion, CBC is subject to the Access to Information Act and is required to be open and transparent.
This week, CBC appealed a decision of the Federal Court of Canada ordering that it release a set of documents to the information commissioner. CBC president Hurbert Lacroix has said he will take his fight to the Supreme Court to keep the state broadcaster's sensitive data from public eyes.
In a statement posted on its website, CBC claims Quebecor has received over a half billion dollars in direct and indirect aid over the last three years.
Quebecor calls the claims outrageous.
"We are totally astonished; flabbergasted that CBC would do this on the eve of Quebecor's CEO appearing before a parliamentary committee," said Quebecor spokesman Luc Lavoie. "It's contempt of Parliament by a creature of Parliament."




CBC lashes out over scrutiny of spending | Canada | News | Toronto Sun

 

[mentalfloss]

Here's the full transcript:

What Quebecor won’t tell you about its attacks on the public broadcaster

For more than three years, Quebecor has been using its newspapers, and more recently, its SunNews Network TV license to pursue a campaign against CBC/Radio-Canada. But there are some things Quebecor won’t tell you:

• Quebecor has received more than half a billion dollars in direct and indirect subsidies and benefits from Canadian taxpayers over the past three years, yet it is not accountable to them.
• Quebecor uses this public subsidy and its dominant position in protected industries to make record profits yet complains that its TVA television network "competes” against Radio-Canada.
• Quebecor boss Pierre Karl Péladeau has sent over a dozen letters to the Prime Minister and others in government to complain that Radio-Canada does not spend enough money advertising in his newspapers.

Quebecor says we’re not accountable. They’re wrong.

• We report to Parliament through our Corporate Plan, Annual Report and Committee appearances.
• We report to the CRTC through regulatory filings and license renewals;
• We report to the Auditor General of Canada who reviews our books every year and who conducts a special audit every five to ten years;
• We report to the Board of Directors, which is appointed by government to ensure that the Corporation manages its resources effectively.
• We report to Canadians through the posting on our website of the cost of meals, flights, and hotels. We also post details of audits, Board meetings, quarterly financial reports, and over 27,000 pages of information released under ATI. See for yourself here.

Quebecor says we shouldn’t go to court to protect journalistic sources or program strategies. Why?

• We, and the Information Commissioner, are trying to clarify the rules which protect "journalistic, programming, and creative activities”. This is the proper thing to do.
• In fact, government departments and Ministers have gone to court more than 180 times with the Information Commissioner to clarify Access to Information issues.

CBC/Radio-Canada | Press Room | Get the facts

Some juicy stuff in this PDF linky linky

 

[petros]

Radio Free Tory

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

I'm not a fan of Sun News (Quebecor), but this is pretty fresh coming from CBC,

CBC's refusal to release information to the public and the federal information commissioner on its spending of tax payers money

 

[TenPenny]

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

If Quebecor is criticizing the CBC for using tax dollars, then they should expect to be criticized for doing the same thing.

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

If Quebecor is criticizing the CBC for using tax dollars, then they should expect to be criticized for doing the same thing.

Agreed, but CBC should stop trying to block public and government inquiry into their spending habits. It's our money.

 

[Locutus]

Agreed, but CBC should stop trying to block public and government inquiry into their spending habits. It's our money.

Exactly. They mad because of who is asking. Ezra be stylin' on them bro.

It's childish defiance at a corporate level. They will lose though.

 

[mentalfloss]

A Commons committee hears from witnesses, including Quebecor's Pierre Karl Péladeau, on the CBC's dispute with the federal Information Commissioner over access to information.

LIVE: Commons hearing on CBC information access

 

[petros]

Bloody deadbeat SUN worshippers.

 

[mentalfloss]

PKP insists that never, ever have Quebecor's squadron of information-seeking journalists filed requests related to journalistic activities -- nor, he assures the committee, would they ever do so. He then brings up that fleet of vehicles about which Drapeau was asked earlier -- which, he (Drapeau) noted, could, in fact, be legitimately exempt due to the presence of confidential information -- the hybrids. PKP then outlines how every other media outlet is somehow commercially aligned with CBC, from the National Post to Canadian Press to CTV, which, he thunders, has had the effect of quieting dissenting voices -- except at Sun Media. (Insert trumpets here.)

And on that note -- questions! Starting, once again, with the NDP's Charlie Angus, who is his usual scrupulously polite self in welcoming the witness(es) to committee, describing PKP as "the Citizen Kane" of Canadian publishing. With that, he moves onto a very specific question: Did Quebecor send a letter to the PM complaining about CBC's failure to advertising in Quebecor-owned papers. Eventually, it transpires - or seems to transpire, it's not totally clear - that *most* of those letters were sent to the CBC itself, although one *was* directed to the PM.

 

[petros]

How long before they start crying anti-semite down at jewTube?

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

I'm not a Sun Worshipper, but we are heavily invested in CBC and therefore as shareholders we have a right to know how our money is being used. If they refuse we should withdraw funding.

How long before they start crying anti-semite down at jewTube?

Send them a letter.

 

[petros]

I'm not a Sun Worshipper, but we are heavily invested in CBC and therefore as shareholders we have a right to know how our money is being used. If they refuse we should withdraw funding.



Send them a letter.

They are going to move CBC HO down by Tony's pond so it has a purpose.

 

[mentalfloss]

I'm not a Sun Worshipper, but we are heavily invested in CBC and therefore as shareholders we have a right to know how our money is being used. If they refuse we should withdraw funding.

CBC is saying that they have a right not to disclose certain information based on some legalese, so it's not black & white.

I'm sure you won't see that little tidbit on SunTV, but I thought I would let you know.
--


Angus then moves onto Quebecor's editorial policies -- and specifically, allegations that journalists were "directed" to write articles attacking Radio-Canada. PKP doesn't quite deny it, but notes that the allegor in question will be appearing in front of the committee in future, so questions would be better posed to him. Angus notes that he wouldn't want to see PKP turn into Rupert Murdoch, and asks for reassurance that the journalists at all those papers across the country aren't being directed from the top. "Are they ordered to follow the party line?" Angus succincts it - specifically, as far as attacking a competitor? "I have nothing to say to that," PKP sniffs -- "This is not a party, this is a business, and we run it like other businesses." If Angus wants a lecture on business management, he'll have to give him more than two minutes. Angus, undaunted, wants to know if there is a "journalistic firewall" to protect journalists within the vertical empire. "Journalists have a job to do, and no one will tell them what to write," PKP tells the committee.

 

[petros]

CBC is saying that they have a right not to disclose certain information based on some legalese, so it's not black & white.

I'm sure you won't see that little tidbit on SunTV, but I thought I would let you know.
--

.

Make jewTube crack open their books so we can see how my money was spent.

 

[mentalfloss]

Make jewTube crack open their books so we can see how my money was spent.

Please.. no jew stuff in here.

 

[petros]

The Tory Story Channel?

 

[mentalfloss]

The Tory Story Channel?

Tory Story? roflmao

Someone needs to photoshop the Toy Story cover with that, lol
--

Over to the government side, where Dean del Mastro is finding this whole line of discussion to be *fascinating*. He recaps PKP's theory re: every other media outlet being somehow entangled with CBC through various commercial agreements, which eventually leads PKP to expound on the principle(s) that underly Sun News et al. Del Mastro then gives PKP the opportunity to respond to criticisms that Quebecor is Just In It For Itself (and possibly also Just Visiting), and even manages to drop a reference to Sun News' motto that the network "is on your side." PKP, not surprisingly, dismisses the allegation as absurd, although his reasoning is somewhat difficult to follow. As for the use of the term "state broadcaster," PKP doesn't really have an answer to Quebecor's preference for the term, at least beyond "call a spade a spade." Oh, and finally, as for the claim that his company received nearly half a billion dollars in direct and indirect subsidies, well, he's never heard anything so ridiculous as the assertion on the wireless spectrum, particularly given the efforts that *his* company has made to free that market.

 

[petros]

"his"....using "my" money?