Looks like Canada’s public broadcaster has some issues with the definition of how it’s being funded.
The CBC Twitter account earned a “Government-funded Media” label yesterday and it rebuked that determination, despite having the majority of its annual $1.24 billion funding coming from taxpayers for 2021-2022.
On Monday morning, the CBC/Radio-Canada Twitter account announced it would be pausing its activities on the social network, seemingly a move made in disgust at its label.
“Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on @Twitter. | Notre journalisme est impartial et indépendant. Prétendre le contraire est faux. C’est pourquoi nous suspendons nos activités sur @Twitter,” said the account, retweeted by its other account @CBC.
.
When the Twitter account @TitterDaily said to Musk CBC argues 30% of its funding is not from public funds, the Twitter chief responded, “Just trying to be accurate. Would they be ok if we said 70% govt funded?”.
Musk then replied shortly after, “Their concern has been addressed,” sharing a screenshot showing the CBC is 70% “Government-funded Media”. When another used suggested 69% to “give them the benefit of the doubt”, Musk replied, “Good point, generosity is always the right move. 69% it is!”.
As it stands, the CBC Twitter account now shows that it is 69% ‘Government-funded Media’ and remains paused and dormant for now. The next-level trolling by Musk earned some funny replies by followers. Let’s be honest, the CBC is government funded, no?
“Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re “less than 70% government-funded”, so we corrected the label,” said Musk about 30 minutes ago.
Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re “less than 70% government-funded”, so we corrected the label pic.twitter.com/lU1EWf76Zu
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 18, 2023
Last week the U.S. NPR and PBS Twitter accounts received ‘Government-funded Media’ labels and both have since quit the social network in opposition to the move. The CBC says it is pausing its activities and it’s unclear if the broadcaster will quit for good like its U.S. counterparts.
The BBC had its Twitter account label changed from ‘government-funded media’ to ‘publicly-funded media’, after the British public broadcaster objected. Twitter and Musk later changed the label to ‘publicly-funded media’ instead.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
I’m waiting for the “Oligarch Funded Media”. It may be awhile…
Did the government tell them to object? The CBC has received significant government funding for a long time. And they are not so impartial anymore, they have a bit of an agenda.
government funded means publicly funded … WE pay for CBC you dolt.
Shhh! Don’t let them in on the secret known as “facts”. The more they parrot their nonsense, the easier it is to identify them.
So I gather you only want like minded people to exist so that you feel safe in your space? This is the problem with people today, if you don’t like something or someone you want them gone. It make it too easy for our government to label us and divide us.
I’m not invested in politics nor do I want/need to “feel safe” online. You divide yourselves by demonstrating poor reading comprehension, low intelligence and half-closeted racism, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia. You’re a hateful bunch that regularly fantasize about a white-only, patriarchal and wholly Christian nation. Miss me with your fAmiLy VaLuEs and don’t forget to wash your hands after you rub one out to two dudes frotting.
Lol. Your entire baseless rant illustrates how delusional, out of touch, and insufferable leftists are.
All you guys know how to do is baselessly insult people who don’t agree with you or who don’t conform to whatever divisive liberal narrative is trending for the day. Also, I’ve noticed that the people who keep screaming “racism” as their only argument when they have nothing of substance to contribute to a debate are the ones who are racist.
Back to the basement you go, child.
That’s right. Government funded is publicly funded is government funded. It’s the same thing. The label is accurate, and even if it’s changed to “publicly funded media”, it’ll still be accurate.
Nice
How come the healthcare in Canada that is funded by taxpayer money is called public and not government funded healthcare, while CBC, also funded by taxpayer money is government-funded? It’s not just semantics. There is definitely an agenda behind it. Funny thing is, there is far more political pressure brought to bear in Canadian healthcare from the level of a local hospital all the way to the top of federal government than it is in day-to day operation at CBC. Only, that doesn’t fit the narrative of those who would change their tune the moment CBC gets under their control.
Government funded is publicly funded is government funded. It’s exactly the same thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s labelled one way or the other. It’s money that the government collects from us (the tax payers) and uses it to fund the CBC.
Government funded is publicly funded is government funded. It’s exactly the same thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s labelled one way or the other. It’s money that the government collects from us (the tax payers) and uses it to fund the CBC.
You are missing the point. I am quite clear about the distinction or the lack thereof, it is about the agenda behind internationally labeling things differently. But seriously, are you upvoting your own comments?
No, I’m not missing the point. I’m saying it doesn’t matter. Looks like CBC is now demanding Twitter change the label to “publicly funded”. Cool. Elon will probably comply. It doesn’t matter. It means the same thing.
I didn’t realize I could upvote my own comments until you pointed it out and I just tried. Nice. Looks like I’ll be upvoting all of my comments going forward 🙂 Thanks!
Your comments were upvoted by you before I’ve pointed it out, I noticed the upvote and then commented about it. But you do what you have to do to get at least one thumbs up. Zero is a lonely number
Cool!
Edit: This comment has been upvoted 🙂
Politically-motivated as Poilievre contacted fellow right wing loony Musk to initiate the label in the first place. He continues to whine about the CBC – calling for its defunding and says its under Trudeau’s control. CBC gets a public contribution as confirmed by an all-Party decision, as well as via commercial ad space.
No word if Musk has plans of labelling Poilievre’s Twitter as ‘Government Funded’ as long as he continues to get paid for his job.
Riiiiight. Musk slapped the label on CBC’s account because Poilievre told him to (even though he did call on Musk to do so). You’ve got to be kidding me. Did he label NPR, BBC, PBS, and the others because he was told to? Get real. It was happening anyway. Had nothing to do with Poilievre.
I don’t understand why so many people are having a temper tantrum over this. It’s a simple label and it’s accurate. You guys never gave a crap about the CBC before and you probably don’t even consume its content. But because of the “Elon boogeyman bad” narrative, it’s suddenly an issue.
As for defunding the CBC – it absolutely should be. Take that $1.4B (annually) of tax payer money and spend it on more important things…not on crappy legacy media that more and more Canadians don’t care about.
It’s not mislabeled. Problem is the left wing lunatics at CBC are butthurt over the comments when they are clearly pro-liberal controlled media. I would prefer we get rid of public dollars for CBC all together.
I love comment sections like this because certain people can’t help but share their idiocy. It makes it much easier to block them and improve my reading experience here.
It is a label that signifies the CBC is a largely government fund media (not a State media) and, to think the CBC has decided to not post on Twitter because of it is ridiculous.
Absolutely this.
A lot of organizations and media individuals are choosing to exit Twitter because they no longer see an upside to engaging with a platform where their activities are increasingly twisted according to Elon’s personal whims. Regardless of how anyone feels about the CBC in particular, it’s just dumb that Musk wakes up one morning and, for example, decides to replace the Twitter logo with the Doge dog, or has someone change the colour of the “W” on the sign so the logo now (kinda) reads “Titter”. Seeing organizations throw their hands up and elect to walk away from that nonsense isn’t at all surprising.
So.. does this mean that the CBC was just as bad when Harper was in power? How about the other Conservative governments?