I, then, need to ask: does the media actually broadcast to the "common man"? If so, then they clearly misread that public on a daily basis! If not, why even bother keeping the power on?!

The issue here is with decreasing personnel and increased pressure to break the news, NDs and PDs search for topics that they think will interest the public. Recently it was the Sammy Yatim/James Forcillo trial where local media where shoving that down the collective throats of the dashpounding public. To what end? Those that hate the cops will continue to do so. Those that bleed for every person that wields a weapon at the police and expects them  to use psychic powers to disarm him will continue to whine about the kid that got whacked.

Now, RBs resident busybody, Christie Blatchford is providing endless coverage about Jian and his BDSM proclivities ad nauseum. It's like a soap to them.

I'm not sure 640 could afford Mr. Ghomeshi after all this. They tend to use producers, receptionists and the maintenance guy with a severe lisp as hosts these days. Shame. It would be nice for RB to have a bit of some competition. Sadly, given Corus Toronto's recent decision to only offer extremely short term contracts to its yakkers, clearly a dusting is 'a coming to that frequency soon.

Agreed, Mike. But can she discredit all 8 women? Even if she takes down 7 of them, all it takes is just 1 for his guilt.

Me thinks you all watch too much Law & Order.  All this information was in both parties hands prior to the start of the trial.  There are no secrets & no sudden flash witnesses like on TV.  Now, I'm no judge but I do going to court (and no, not for criminal harassment or murder) lol. 

Court is mostly procedural. It's boring as fuck. While the lawyers can make the argument the victims did spend further time with Ghomeshi, the Crown can easily produce highly trained and reputable types who will demonstrate that's normal behaviour. 

And, again, it's all procedural. I've worked with a few police forces and I'd often talk to the Sergeants about law, policing etc and why the legal system was such an ass sometimes.  Example:  A path to getting off impaired driving charges was to question the handling of the breathalyser.  Who handled it. Who did maintenance.?  Did it receive regular maintenance.  Etc. Etc.  The guy could be falling down drunk, puke on the cop & yet he could well get off on a technicality. 

It's even stricter with data gathered by forensics.  The chain of handling and command MUST be adhered too.  If not, it's no longer evidence even if it's 150 000 photos of kiddie porn & the dude who owned the computer has been charged repeatedly. 

As for Jian being a CBC phenom, sure.  That's because he developed his career in that ecosystem.  Whose to say he couldn't step outside of it?  Could Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh work for public broadcasters?  Could they do anything outside their narrow little realm.  Probably.  Same for JG. 

Fausto wrote:

Okay, here's a dumb question: If "All this information was in both parties hands prior to the start of the trial", and there was a great chance of discreditation, why didn't the respective lawyers of the (3 thus far) accusers suggest to their clients a withdrawal of their charges?

You said it earlier "presumed innocent until proven guilty".  Further, in American there is a document that starts "We the People" and in Canada it's called the Charter of Rights.  The right to a fair trial in front of a jury of your peers or an impartial judge.  One could ask should Bernardo have a trial?  Should Dell Millard have a trial?   All parties have access to the same information prior to the start of a trial.  The legal teams then use their arguments in the hopes of convincing a jury.  In the Ghomeshi case it's a judge (as chosen by Ghomeshi I believe).  

As for the statement that one doesn't have to be good when it's taxpayer funded state broadcasting.  That's absolutely nonsense.  The CBC produces great programming & some weak programming.  BBC does the same.  Regarding ratings, Radio 1 trumps both CFRB & AM640.  You confuse your emotional point of view with actual fact because your comments imply you dislike public broadcasting. It's like saying "look, that guy drives a Harley and has tattoo's, he MUST be a criminal".  

Finally, let me debunk your "Can-con" argument.  Recently much of the Top 10 in the USA was..Canadian music.  Canadian music can be world class and is, but only when it's signed to an international label.  If it's signed to a Canadian label it's the kiss of death even IF the songs are good. 

Now, is Cancon a failure?  Well yes and no.  A major part of the "yes it's a failure" is because radio was just outright lazy.  Rather than hire people that understand music, it took the easy route out.  It played what it was fed & had no time to even investigate other options.  Now, in a dial full of "classic hits" the burnout factor is high.  
 

@Fausto.  "Comparing that to a Bernardo isn't the same as there was hardly any possibility of discreditable crossexamination."

Well how does that explain the situation with Karla?  To the average layman it was very clear she was willingly involved in those murders.  She got 12 years.  The law is sometimes..an ass. 

Now..come on, you don't really believe that CBC's ratings are high because of spot load.  And if CBC can deliver 30% more "bad, unlistenable programming" an hour logically wouldn't people tune out?  The fact is CBC produces some exceptional programming whether or not the biased, robot partisan right wing WANTS to accept that.  It's the same as CBC supposedly being left wing.  A week or so ago the host of CBC in Calgary (Eyeopener) was defending the oil sands.  Hardly sounds "left" wing to me. 

Re: Cancon.  Long ago, in a Baby Boomer galaxy far away, the common theme was that if it was Canadian, it sucked.  I remember as a kid in the 70's hearing that.  Today's generation makes no such differential.  They like what they like & country of origin doesn't much matter.  The likes of Justin Beiber, Drake, The Weeknd and even Nickelback would exist today with or without Cancon.  Like the bands or not they are talented & the numbers prove people like them.  What wouldn't exist is classic hits stations burning the same 100 songs into the ground.  But that's their own doing isn't it?  Dribble like Trooper had more than 1 song. 

Finally CBC's ratings are not meaningless.  They demonstrate the station's programming department IS making the correct choices.  They just don't have to sell it.  Let me turn this around on you.  A "typical" right wing response is that government has "no oversight" blah blah blah.  Well PPM's ARE oversight.  They demonstrate public money is being used on a successful endeavour.  




 

Well Fausto, while we're on the topic of "taxpayers paying for things they don't want to" and perpetual bailouts, allow me to retort. 

I'm from Alberta. And while my province is currently enduring hard times over about the past 50 years has subsidized the rest of the country.  In the past 3-4 years that included billions to your province, Ontario. The economic train wreck that is Ontario is the fault of the voters & the government who lacked the foresight to plan ahead.  So while you take exception to tax dollars being used to subsidize the CBC, I shall take exception to MY tax dollars being used to inflate the Ontario economy. 

And ..on the topic of bailouts, I mean really?  Didn't we bail out the auto industry under the supreme leadership of Harper?  There ain't no train car loads of cash heading west for a oil bailout.  And, knowing the oil industry, I don't think they'd accept it. 

And do me a favour. Can you send the funds in Bitcoin please.  This way I avoid paying more taxes to line the coffers of Ms Wynne & crew.  




 

Well I'm not really pissed off, I was just making a point.  We've all got something we dislike about the Feds & how things work.  But if you send me Waterloo Dark I'm good. 

quadcities wrote:

*yawn*

TL:DR

I think the Ghomeshi thing is a good subject of debate.  Monsters (allegedly) are always among us but when they're public figures it's always a bigger deal.  The BBC just went through a shit storm over pedophiles (Saville was part of it I think).  It was a national issue and received a lot of media attention on the internet. 

Narcissism seems to run rampant in some broadcasters. I think they become detached from reality.  I think the same for politicians and big corporate types.  That's a dangerous place to be especially in a wired world.