Lisa Sygutek: The CBC is a predator of local news

The CBC has been "dead silent for over 20 years about how their digital services are doing on an audience basis," says an industry observer. Photo by Alex Urosevic/Postmedia/File

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I am a big believer in local news. In the face of threats to our culture and digital sovereignty from American Big Tech giants, the CBC has an important role to play in telling Canadian stories. CBC Radio has many excellent programs, like The Current, As it Happens, and Q, which are heard around the world, and Canadians should feel proud about this.

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Lately, however, the CBC’s role within the Canadian news ecosystem seems more competitive and conceited than complementary and conciliatory.

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In her farewell blast email, dated Jan. 2, 2025, Catherine Tait, the former CBC president, shared her phone number, which began with 718 — the area code for Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island. That speaks volumes about a CBC culture that feels out of touch with Main Street Canada.

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Last week, her successor, Marie-Philippe Bouchard, appeared at the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. She was asked about the CBC’s poaching of reporters. Her response was, “We don’t approach journalists from other media.” To another question, she responded, “That is business. That’s  what happens,” she said. “People move — they move because they want other experience.”

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To local publishers and broadcasters like me, CBC News seems more like a predator than a partner.

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Here’s what Jeff Elgie of Village Media wrote on LinkedIn in response to Bouchard’s comments, “This is untrue. We are a direct example of the CBC hiring one of our staff, for more money, to compete directly against us. That staff even (politely) joked about us being ‘competition.’ The CBC has since established a local presence and digital newsletter in our largest market (Sault Ste. Marie) — where one of the largest per capita digital audiences in the country is (SooToday). It is also accompanied by a Postmedia daily (Sault Star), Postmedia weekly (Sault This Week), two Rogers radio stations and a CTV local news outlet.”

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Matthew Mendelsohn, CEO of Social Capital Partners and the former deputy secretary to the federal cabinet, added a comment to Elgie’s post, “A vibrant public broadcaster is essential for democracy. It is such a shame that CBC also engages in practices that undermine independent media, which is also essential for democracy. And lie about it.”

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Under the Online News Act’s regulations, the CBC is entitled to up to $7 million of the $100 million Google is paying in annual compensation. My friend, and fellow Alberta publisher, Tim Shoults, wrote in the St. Albert Gazette, “CBC used that money last year to hire another 30 reporters in communities across Canada, which is great. The problem is, it’s not in places like Gibbons or Legal that have no community news, but towns like Red Deer and Medicine Hat, which already have daily newspapers, private TV stations, multiple radio stations and online news outlets. Towns like Banff, that are already served by community news outlets like our very own Rocky Mountain Outlook — a bureau they’re now expanding to two reporters. Better still, it’s poaching those reporters from community news companies — two last year from our company alone, offering wages we can’t even come close to, even with our new funding.”