CBC defends bonuses

Re: CBC chief owes us some answers — Rachael Thomas, April 3

CBC is not “ruthlessly” cutting jobs. The public broadcaster, like every media company in Canada, is trying to balance its budget in the face of declining advertising revenue and rising costs, and to do that while protecting the services Canadians depend on. That’s why it announced in December 2023 that if the situation did not improve, it would have to cut 800 positions in the 2024–2025 fiscal year.

Criticizing “executives” and “bonuses” ignores the 1,143 non-union employees, starting with junior analysts, who have part of their compensation dependent on their performance, and who don’t get paid overtime or receive union-negotiated pay increases. As most businesses know, performance pay helps companies stretch to meet their targets.

Claiming CBC is failing because of its traditional TV “viewership” ignores how people consume media today. Fewer people watch conventional TV, but 18 million Canadians use CBC’S digital platforms each month; many others tune in to its radio shows (ranked #1 in 16 out of 22 markets) and tens of millions of podcasts are downloaded monthly; others stream its shows on CBC Gem or Youtube. That’s how we serve all Canadians today.

The number of corrections published by CBC News is not proof of “lack of journalistic standards.” It is actually proof that there are standards, clearly followed and shared with the public. That’s why Canadians trust CBC News.

CBC’S job is to ensure Canadians can get the news they depend on; that three million people can celebrate Canadian musicians at the Juno Awards, as they did last month; or cheer on their Olympic and Paralympic athletes this summer in Paris. All that and more for $33 per Canadian per year. That’s Canada’s public broadcaster.

Shaun Poulter, Executive Director, Strategy, Public Affairs, and Government Relations at Cbc/radiocanada