Regardless of management’s opinion, Radio-Canada is not my scapegoat. But on the contrary.

I still believe that public television is important, if not essential, to maintaining the overall quality of our television. But what is the use, and what is the use of the hundreds of millions spent on it each year, if Radio-Canada continues to compete with commercial television? Even if management yells loudly every time it is accused of trespassing on private sector flowerbeds or attributing its most demanding programs to ARTV, Explora and RDI, its outraged protests convince no one.

The criticism Radio-Canada is facing is exactly the same as that which France Télévisions has been facing for several years. On June 7, two French MPs presented the conclusions of a report on the future of public service broadcasting to the National Assembly. The main recommendations could apply to Radio-Canada without changing a single word. The report asks, among other things, that we “strengthen the distinctive features of France Télévisions, consolidate its independence and maintain its funding”.

The report recommends the complete elimination of advertising between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. on all France Télévisions antennas and digital platforms. This measure would represent “a strong element of differentiation between the private and the public”. The public audiovisual sector, the report adds, must “maintain the most sophisticated cultural programs on its general channels without confining them to more confidential broadcast channels”. Exactly what Radio-Canada is being criticized for with its pay special channels.

It’s time to act

The French MEPs’ conclusions follow several recommendations made by Janet Yale’s group. He submitted his report on January 29, 2020, more than three years ago. Even the title of the report mentioned that it was “time for action”, but with the exception of that Online Streaming Law (Bill C-11), which received royal assent on April 27 after endless debate, Ottawa has done almost nothing to follow up on the Yale report.

The blame lies not so much with Radio-Canada as with the government, which drags its feet and fails to verify the mission of our public television station. We haven’t seen him in 42 years. Almost half a century! So it’s so difficult to review a mandate that everyone and their father has given their opinion on and everyone is clamoring for? Except for Radio Canada of course…

A COMPLIANT GOVERNMENT

The Trudeau government is the one that has shown itself to be the most generous (I almost wrote: the most smug…) to Radio-Canada in half a century, without asking for anything in return. Even under Harper, the station didn’t suffer so much, thanks to a Heritage Secretary, James Moore, who shrugged off the blows.

In recent years, the situation of broadcasters and private media has continued to deteriorate. Dozens died. Ottawa relies on the digital giants’ commitment to pay a quota to the broadcast system and to compensate the media for distributing their content online. But how long will it take for these funds to materialize?

Abandoning advertising on public television, at least on its news and public affairs programs, as advocated by the Yale group, would have given the private sector the air it needed to breathe more freely. Comfortable waiting for the funds promised by the new laws to materialize.