Thursday, September 15, 2005
CBC 84: CBC cancels, then spins Fox coverage
Updated Friday 0831 ET--John Gushue's report from St. John's
Second update Friday 1025 Lise Lareau in the guild newsletter
The CBC has cancelled its planned live coverage of events in St. John's NL, on the anniversary of the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope.
In a news release on the Canada News Wire, the CBC said:
CBC says it will broadcast the rest of the show:
Note what the CBC's chief spinmeister in the dispute, Jason MacDonald said: ""We're profoundly disappointed that the Canadian Media Guild would resort to using the Terry Fox 25th anniversary special . . . in an attempt to score political points in their labour negotiations with us."
Who locked us out?
Who is trying to score political points with a nasty news release?
And again, since this is an independent blog, I am not speaking for nor have I had contact with the CMG on this, I am asking was there any attempt by the CBC, out of respect for Terry Fox and what he means to this country, to negotiate any kind of truce or waiver for the special, especially since it was locked out CMG employees who had worked on it before the lockout? These kinds of waivers/truces have been negotiated in other labour disputes.
No the CBC went ahead and hired independent replacement workers, not only in Newfoundland, but across the country.
Now the CBC is back trying to blacken the reputation of its employees, a bad sign if we ever go back to work.
Note I said if.
John Gushue from St. John's tells it this way on his blog:
Site for St John's local of CMG
Lise Lareau has a complete account of the events in the Friday, September 16, Toronto Canadian Media Guild newsletter.
One key point Lise makes. If the CBC had wanted to do justice to the Terry Fox event it could have handed the program off to another network, as has happened in sports.
Technorati tags
journalism, CBC, blog, news, lockout,
CBClockout,Terry Fox,
10:56 PM posted by Robin Rowland
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Updated Friday 0831 ET--John Gushue's report from St. John's
Second update Friday 1025 Lise Lareau in the guild newsletter
The CBC has cancelled its planned live coverage of events in St. John's NL, on the anniversary of the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope.
In a news release on the Canada News Wire, the CBC said:
The CBC is disappointed to announce that, as a result of ongoing efforts by the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) to undermine the September 16 Terry Fox 25th Anniversary Special, the program will not carry coverage of events in St. John's, the city where Terry began
the Marathon of Hope in 1980. The program is being produced by Out to See Productions Inc., a Vancouver-based independent, outside production company. It has become clear that the CMG would require children participating in the events on Signal Hill to cross a picket line. As a result, in an effort to ensure that the Terry Fox anniversary events proceed without any disruption, the CBC, Out to See Productions and the Fox family made the difficult decision to cancel coverage from St. John's. The CBC is disappointed that the CMG would resort to using the Terry Fox 25th Anniversary Special, which benefits the Terry Fox Foundation, to make a political point in its labour negotiations
with the Corporation.
CBC says it will broadcast the rest of the show:
The CBC intends to fulfill its commitment to the Fox family and to the Terry Fox Foundation and will broadcast the rest of the commercial-free September 16 Terry Fox 25th Anniversary Special as planned.
Note what the CBC's chief spinmeister in the dispute, Jason MacDonald said: ""We're profoundly disappointed that the Canadian Media Guild would resort to using the Terry Fox 25th anniversary special . . . in an attempt to score political points in their labour negotiations with us."
Who locked us out?
Who is trying to score political points with a nasty news release?
And again, since this is an independent blog, I am not speaking for nor have I had contact with the CMG on this, I am asking was there any attempt by the CBC, out of respect for Terry Fox and what he means to this country, to negotiate any kind of truce or waiver for the special, especially since it was locked out CMG employees who had worked on it before the lockout? These kinds of waivers/truces have been negotiated in other labour disputes.
No the CBC went ahead and hired independent replacement workers, not only in Newfoundland, but across the country.
Now the CBC is back trying to blacken the reputation of its employees, a bad sign if we ever go back to work.
Note I said if.
John Gushue from St. John's tells it this way on his blog:
An independent production company, Out to Sea, withdrew its commissioned satellite truck from Signal Hill Thursday evening, after a CMG picket line prevented it from reaching the top of the hill where segments for Friday's broadcast were to have been shot.
As well, the crew hired in St. John's walked away from the production when they learned that it was to have been broadcast on CBC....
Bob Sharpe, president of the St. John's local of the CMG, told me this morning that the CBC's main objection is simply false.
"We wouldn't have forced children to cross picket lines," he said. "We would not have set up a hard picket line (today)....
Sharpe said the production "had a lot of cloak and dagger to it," in that locally hired crew did not know until the last moment "that the signal was going to CBC."
Site for St John's local of CMG
Lise Lareau has a complete account of the events in the Friday, September 16, Toronto Canadian Media Guild newsletter.
One key point Lise makes. If the CBC had wanted to do justice to the Terry Fox event it could have handed the program off to another network, as has happened in sports.
Technorati tags
journalism, CBC, blog, news, lockout,
CBClockout,Terry Fox,
10:56 PM posted by Robin Rowland
Permanent Link
