The Canadian public broadcaster announced on Monday the temporary suspension of its activities on Twitter. CBC/Radio-Canada thus joins the protests of other public broadcasters who were labeled a “government-funded media outlet” by the company owned by Elon Musk. The management of the Canadian chain -both in English and in French- pointed out that said label erroneously implies that the Government of the North American country can intervene in the editorial content. “Our journalism is impartial and independent. Affirming otherwise is false”, expressed its directors in the message that informed about the suspension of their activities on Twitter.
CBC/Radio-Canada indicated that, indeed, it receives financing from public resources, but through a mechanism voted by all parliamentarians. It also stated that its editorial independence is protected by the Broadcasting Law and that its employees work according to a guide of journalistic norms and practices. “Twitter’s policy defines government-funded media as cases in which the government may have varying degrees of involvement in editorial content, which is clearly not the case with CBC/Radio-Canada,” the public channel said.
Last Wednesday, the United States public broadcasting service (known as NPR) announced its withdrawal from Twitter for having been labeled in such a way by the social network. On Friday, the public television network PBS made the same decision. The UK BBC protested receiving the same mention. In response, Twitter changed the label of the British network to “publicly funded media outlet.”
Last week, Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, had asked the social network to include the hashtag on CBC/Radio-Canada accounts. Poilievre – like a good part of the members of the conservative group – maintains that Canadian public broadcasting is extremely close to the liberal government of Justin Trudeau. Following Twitter’s decision on Sunday, the conservative leader said: “Now people know that this is Trudeau propaganda and not news.” Prime Minister Trudeau declared on Monday that it is a conservative strategy against quality journalism and the culture and identity of Canada. He said that Poilievre “turns to American billionaires to attack a very important institution for Canadians.”
In its 2021-2022 report, CBC/Radio-Canada indicated that it received 1.24 billion Canadian dollars from public funds (about 927 million US dollars). Its radio service was founded in 1936, while its television service began in 1952. On Monday night, Twitter changed the label “government-funded media outlet” to “70% government-funded media outlet.” .
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