Yet More Evidence of Bullying and Culture Problems at the CBC

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Photo from kris krüg at Flickr http://bit.ly/1ImRDFS

I’ve written in the past that as many questions as answers were left by the Rubin Report into Jian Ghomeshi’s rampant workplace bullying and management’s indifferent response.

Sadly, with no more salacious sex stories to detail, Canada’s media seemed to drop the issue entirely. After the usual copy-and-paste newswire stories at the release of the report, no commentators were interested in pressuring our public broadcaster to end its culture of bullying.

Until now, that is. Thanks to John Doyle in the Globe and Mail, we now have even more evidence of the CBC’s toxic culture.

A Thoughtful Analysis

As the Globe’s TV critic, Mr. Doyle has had first-hand exposure to out-of-control behavior from prominent CBC personalities.

“As recently as June, an evening I attended was ruined after being hijacked by a guy with a CBC show. The rude, roaring, attacking conduct was unspeakable.” This was at a function with outside guests. One can imagine how a mentality of arrogance and entitlement leads hosts to behave behind closed doors.

And Doyle makes clear that this type of behavior isn’t some kind of universal trait inherent to national news personalities: “I’ve never had to contact Bell Media, Rogers or Shaw to point out that the behaviour of people connected to their shows was unacceptable. But I’ve had to speak to the CBC about that.”

Media Bullies Continue to Thrive

This all aligns with information I have received that strongly suggests that CBC’s hosting lineup still includes another notorious bully in its ranks.

Why is it tolerable that over a billion dollars of public money annually is poured into an organization that refuses to come to grips with abusive, bullying behavior? It’s time for the public, other members of the media, and political leaders (who ultimately deposit the cheques into the CBC’s coffers) to demand accountability.

Until there is evidence of a real culture change at the CBC, they will have no credibility reporting on the harassment and bullying problems of others. What would that change look like? Well, Ghomeshi was fired when his bullying came to light, and I see no reason why other serious bullies warrant less severe responses.