Monday 25 May 2015

 

The Economics of "L'affaire Ghomeshi"

* Jian Ghomeshi appears to be a predatory male surrounded by more or less idolatrous men and women and as such would likely have found prey whatever his career trajectory. But the willingness of his employer, the CBC, to overlook, if not actively condone, his behaviour, would have been significantly limited were it not for their recent history as a bete noire of right wing neo-liberal forces bent on reducing the power of the state and so the economic and cultural comfort of any employee much to the left of favourite CBC bland-son Peter Mansbridge . 

As a relatively young musician with a relatively successsful arts programme catering to a relatively younger demographic than that of the mainstream CBC audience Ghomeshi was arguably an asset too prized by CBC management to displace, or even discipline. And however agonized his CBC managers may have been about behaviour that seems to have been common knowledge at the broadcaster for pretty much anybody willing to open their receptive organs, the associated lips and ears remained sealed. 

Simply put: as many alternative voices have been affected in neo-con/liberal regimes in other Anglo-American jurisdictions in recent decades, so too economic and cultural attacks have largely rendered gutless Canada's national broadcaster. Can we expect any any really critical opinion from such fatally weakened voices? The evidence is  in and we cannot. The door has been opened for alternative voices like TruthOut.com and truthdig.org and, yes, whistleblowers.We can only hope such sources of real informational nutrition will find their way to the many starved of real  news, rather than the "news shows", whether public or private, that currently occupy their advertisers' chosen locations in mainstream broadcasting's 24-7 entertainment pablum.                                   



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