Linden MacIntyre’s early exit from the CBC is a giant Fuck You. To who?
Episode Rundown
0:30 Here’s Linden MacIntyre’s Wikipedia entry. (link) Here’s the Supreme Court decision granting journalists more access to information, based on a case launched by MacIntyre (link).
2:50 MacIntyre is leaving the CBC to send a message. But who’s the message for?
6:20 “I want to do one small thing really. I can do it, I won’t starve to death, I’m going to do it. Because (young journalists) got something I don’t have. I got all these years of experience, I’ve learned how to do stuff, but you got something I don’t: potential. My potential is fully used”
6:56 MacIntyre’s career: 38 years of CBC, 24 years of The Fifth Estate. 50 years in journalism.
8:20 Mulroney was kind of right to cut the CBC, says MacIntyre
8:45 “Avant Garde, vulgar, obscene programming and waste”: What CBC bashing in Parliament sounded like in the 60s.
10:00 The press’ relationship to power is adversarial by nature.
10:20 “You guys gotta do something like this“: MacIntyre to the CBC Brass. How can Hubert Lacroix keep his job? “That’s a good question“.
13:30 Does the CBC’s mandate really prevent them from getting out of TV? Or Sports? Or scripted shows?
15:17 “When I sit down and watch the news at 10, I’m not sitting down to find out what’s happening because I already know what happened“: what Lacroix once told MacIntyre. These words should have guided him.
16:05 Why don’t we bring back The Journal, or something like it? Analysis and long-form journalism are what’s needed and what the CBC can uniquely provide.
18:14 If people only knew how meager the resources are at CBC Radio. Tapestry is down to a host and a part-timer.
18:48 Jesse plugs this National Post piece on the two CBCs. (link)
19:36 MacIntrye talks about this interview on CJAD (link).
20:22 Why Linden MacIntyre wants to punch someone at SUN News TV
23:20 Max Ferguson (link).
25:17 Do ratings = success? “The legitimacy is the production and the delivery of it, and the quality of the product. Instead of the bizarre and unreliable approval of a number that comes out of a place I don’t understand”.
26:49 Was it Being Erica? Lasted 4 seasons. (link)
27:16 The Fifth Estate is “limping along” ratings-wise, but attracts a lot of second screen viewers.
28:30 The Globe and Mail on CBC English boss Heather Conway. Did Simon Houpt misquote/misinterpret her? (link)
CORRECTION: Linden MacIntyre and I both miss Heather Conway’s distinction between “shiny-floor” (read:expensive) reality shows and “low-cost” reality shows. The mistake was ours, not Simon Houpt’s.
29:13 MacIntrye talks about meeting Richard Stursberg’s father in Ottawa, a recipient of the Order of Canada and a war reporter.
31:26 Jesse mentions Frank Magid and Associates, hustlers of “If it bleeds it leads” news. Heres a obituary of founder Frank Magid (link).
34:40 Why is it news that a 70-year old retired? Aren’t 70-year old dudes supposed to? “Depends on the dude”
36:30 If “poor Peter Mansbridge” only makes 80K a year, you can have three Mansbridges for one MacIntyre.
We are a very rare kind of company – actually and truly independent journalism.
We tell great stories that need to be told, without fear or favour.
We work for you.
Support us. We uncover secrets and hold the powerful to account.
We've done it before. We keep doing it.
Plus: ad-free podcasts, maybe some socks or a t-shirt. Up to you.
