Make CBC egghead Can-Con, says columnist

I rarely agree with the opinions that pervade the National Post, but I found myself cheering at parts of comment editor Jonathan Kay’s column praising the CBC
for “intellectual elitism” — and calling on it to raise its game.
After decades of listening and occasionally watching, the CBC has faded
from my life, likely in direct proportion to increased hyperbolic
babbling idiocy and decreased intelligent presentation of news,
interviews and documentaries. I feel an almost instinctive desire to
defend the CBC — especially when it’s down — and so I might feel like
a traitor but for the fact my criticism is echoed, privately, by many
of the better-educated, long-time CBC staffers dismayed at the
dumbing-down of their beloved corp.

Some excerpts from Kay’s piece:

“…
CBC Radio simply delivers smarter, more substantive news than any other
Canadian on-air alternative. If the CBC disappeared tomorrow, I’d miss
it — which is another way of saying I don’t mind seeing Barbara Budd
and Bernie McNamee getting paid with my tax dollars…

The
counter-argument is that if the CBC had any real value, the private
sector would step in to offer the same service. But I doubt that’s
true. As the proliferation of shallow, angry, sensationalistic news
programs on U. S. cable television and radio networks shows, a totally
private media market often yields nothing more than different flavours
of ranting…. But those of us looking for a meatier alternative need a
radio network, too–and the CBC is it.

On
the other hand, if we’re going to justify the CBC‘s existence as a
public service for snobbish newshounds — which, as I’m arguing, is the
only viable way to do it — a lot of the Ceeb’s current roster has to
go… junked and replaced with egghead CanCon. Fewer people will watch
it, but at least those viewers won’t be able to get it anywhere else.