Annenberg Public Policy Center

• Seventy years ago, Canadian leaders turned away from the British model of media policy that rejected advertising-supported private broadcasting.
• While it’s gone well for a few private corporations, it hasn’t benefited the Canadian public.

Aird Commission findings

• In 1928, the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting, also known as the Aird Commission, was created to consider alternative models for the future of Canadian broadcasting.
• The Aird Commission found much to be alarmed about regarding radio.
• As a result of its research, the Aird Commission proposed a publicly owned corporation not unlike the British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC).

Creation of the CBC/Radio-Canada

• Bennett proclaimed:
  “This country must be assured of complete Canadian control of broadcasting from Canadian sources.
• Canada’s vast territory and multilingual character made the CBC one of the world’s most far-reaching and complex public broadcasters.
• Yet the Aird Commission recommendation that private broadcasting should be fully replaced by public broadcasting never happened.

Cuts to the CBC

• In 1984, the Conservative government of Brian Mulroney made significant cuts to the CBC, and those cuts increased under the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien.
• Budget cuts to the CBC, often fuelled by partisan politics, have wrought havoc.
• In 1990, because of further budget cuts, CBC closed down the station’s news department, spurring street protests from thousands of Windsor citizens.
• A “Save Our Station” committee was formed to pressure both CBC and the Canadian government to preserve the Windsor operation.

The European way

• A recent study by the European Broadcasting Union shows a strong correlation between a country’s democratic well-being and robust public service media, including online media.
• Social media policy in the United States has generated echo chambers of misinformation and conspiracy and has certainly not curtailed the erosion of civic knowledge.
• U.S.-based, advertising-driven social media sites designed to stoke outrage are not creating more informed Canadians.
• Read more:
  Canada’s legal disinformation pandemic is exposed by the 'freedom convoy'

Looking ahead

• The future of advertising-driven media does not bode well for democracy.
• Even Silicon Valley leaders are warning against a laissez-faire U.S. policy approach in terms of generative artificial intelligence/large language models like ChatGPT.
• The American threat to Canada continues not because of U.S. power, but because Canadian leaders have not put in place policies to foster and protect Canadian democracy.

• In the series, Ingalls vetted claims of voter registration anomalies in three Washington counties made by the so-called Voter Integrity Project.
• His reports used public records requests, reporting and interviews to expose false and misleading claims about voter fraud.
• Chris Ingalls and the entire team of journalists at KING 5 work every day to lean into our responsibility to fight misinformation,” said Julie Wolfe, news director at KING.
• In 2003, Jackson co-founded FactCheck.org at the Annenberg Public Policy Center with APPC Director Kathleen Hall Jamieson.

• The 2022 survey found the first drop in six years in those who could identify all three branches of government and declines among those who could name the First Amendment rights, though knowledge remained high on some questions.
• "When it comes to civics, knowledge is power," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
• The Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey is conducted annually before Constitution Day (Sept. 17) by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC).
• An analysis found that taking a high school civics class is associated with giving correct answers to civics knowledge questions.

• "But this knowledge appears to have been purchased at a real cost.
• The Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey is a nationally representative survey conducted for Constitution Day (September 17), which celebrates the signing of the Constitution in 1787.
• An analysis found that taking a high school civics class continues to be associated with correct answers to civics knowledge questions.
• APPC's activities to enhance civics education include Annenberg Classroom , which offers free resources for teaching the Constitution, and the Civics Renewal Network , a coalition of more than 35 nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations seeking to raise the visibility of civics education by providing free, high-quality resources for teachers.