March 17, 2005

CBC host tells listener to "Leave Canada"

Andy Barrie, the host of CBC Radio's Metro Morning, sent an email to an unhappy listener recommending the listener (also a blogger) "Leave Canada." The blogger posted the exchange yesterday.

The email was prompted by the regular Monday Morning segment on Metro Morning called "What's Goin' On This Week" in which the Mr. Barrie and a contributor discuss events of the coming week. The program's website says this about the segement:

What's Goin' On is your biweekly tip-sheet on the coolest things happening around town, from music and food to film, theatre, comedy and beyond.

This week the segment suggested listeners attend "World Against War Week" events across Toronto this week. According to both the CBC's and the organizers' websites, the events are organized in opposition of the war in Iraq. In feedback to Metro Morning, the blogger provocatively noted this event is actually a partisan political event, and that its inclusion in the segment betrayed the CBC's left-wing bias and Mr. Barrie's anti-war stance. He finished with, "Never mind -- I'll just get my news from Fox. Now if I could find a way not to pay for the CBC..."

In response to this last sentence, Mr. Barrie allegedly wrote, "I've got a way for you not to pay for the CBC. Leave Canada." Later he said, "I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that someone who gets his facts from Fox won't be voting in any more Canadian elections."

This response is truly incredible it is impossible to know where to start.

First of all, no broadcaster or newspaper has any business promoting attendance at any partisan political rally. The CBC, Metro Morning, and Andy Barrie should all issue a public mea culpa for allowing their political sympathies to show so clearly.

If this had been private radio, a host who suggested a listener stop listening (as Mr. Barrie did by telling the blogger to leave the country) would be at risk of losing his job because every lost listener is a loss of revenue to the station. But this is CBC Radio, a lost listener means nothing because their funding comes from taxpayers.

At very least, Mr. Barrie should have his email privileges revoked to ensure he doesn't attack anyone else.

Posted by maxthecat at March 17, 2005 04:16 PM

http://www.maxsmewsings.com/mt/archives/2005/03/cbc_host_tells_listener_to_leave_canada.php