Necessity is the Mother of Invention

One of the reasons the Star calls itself the ''Paper for the People'' is because, in 1892, it sprang out of a labour lockout.

Born on November 3, 1892, The Evening Star had been created almost overnight by 21 printers and four teenage apprentices who were locked out during a labour dispute at the afternoon News. Their aim was to publish a serious journal - and possibly to teach the News a lesson. Little did they realize that their bright new four-page sheet would grow into Canada's largest daily newspaper, The Toronto Star.

Out of little acorns and all that.

All across the country, no thanks to CBC management's lockout of 5,500 employees, new media are being birthed by these talented journalists and technicians. It's impossible to name all the webcasts and podcasts being produced, not to mention conventional radio. But this would be a good place to start clicking.

You'll find other websites and blogs listed here and here. Oh and the Canadian Media Guild finally has a decent site here.

In Toronto, they're a little slower in getting their act together. This went out to locked out Guild members last week.

Just because the Corporation won't let us go to work doesn't mean we can't do the work we love to do!

Sometime next week, CMG members will launch an internet-based media service for the public.  It will  present journalism, and eventually other programming,  produced by CBC's locked out reporters, researchers, writers, hosts, producers, technicians and support staff and will adhere to the same standards the Canadian public expects from CBC professionals.

Various ad-hoc groups have been meeting in Toronto and around the country to develop the idea.  The CMG leadership has now approved the project and, since we are without a collective agreement, there are no conflict issues to prevent us from providing quality content to our audiences.

We plan to begin with a text and picture site.  It will be followed closely by an English National daily newscast which will be available via podcast and downloadable file at 6 PM EDT (our French colleagues are also developing programming suitable to their audiences). Once those streams are running, we could expand to provide more local, regional and national news, current affairs and entertainment content..and even some 'moving picture' TV elements.

One of the main issues at the steering committee concerns quality and credibility.  To make sure our new service has both, we need you to volunteer and commit.  Any time spent working on this news service will count toward up to 10 of your 20 hours per week of lockout duty. We need writers, editors, reporters, photographers, camera operators, researchers, technicians, resource experts.. every position that you would find in any other newsroom.

Some workers fear that, by competing with CBC, they'll be signing their own death warrant. That's the more pessimistic view. I believe it will show CBC that there are other ways to reach Canadians -- especially those hard-to-reach young Canadians -- that have eluded CBC management until now.

Too bad all this innovation is coming from people being deprived of pay and benefits.

Comments

[20/20]

"Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Necessity is the Mother of Invention"

I assume that the underlined title, Necess.....vention, is the link to the list of weblogs---but I cannot get it to work.

[jbartman]

I really miss the CBC and wish you all well and a speedy return.
Joan

[billonlogan]

cry me a river

[CharLeBois]

This is a great development. Maybe CBC Unplugged could start holding membership drives now and then to raise funds, and perhaps look into a few sponsors. It'd be fantastic! Real public radio instead of state run radio. They'd have to eventually change their name to something a little more serious to reflect that they're not just a protest outlet, but a real "National Public Radio". I wonder if something like that could work... oh wait.

Seriously though, with NPR such a shining success south of the border, it's a wonder Canadians haven't opted for something like this sooner. Ironic how the people behind NPR studied the CBC before it started, just to go on and surpass the CBC in quality and audience, without the government's help. Actually nevermind, that makes perfect sense!

[Jay Currie]

Dead right Antonia; but I don't see this as a bad thing. It is time for the CBC to be dismantled. The FM ops can be run on a subscription/internet basis. AM can be sold - it is fast being replaced by online radio anyway. The television assets can be sold as well. Really, do we need a full scale government television network?

If there are core identity functions performed by the "public" braodcaster why not put them out to private tender and renew the bidding every five years to avoid entrenchment.

We should be able to cut the silly 1.5 billion a year to a more reasonable 150 million and not lose any essential services or very many viewers.

I mean, seriously, has anyone missed the CBC??

[neil]

"I mean, seriously, has anyone missed the CBC??"

Yup, I do.

[20/20]

Yeah! I have missed the CBC, which has never been the same since some run-ins with the Government, notably LY'n Brian. More recent Gov. pressures and budget strangulation have only engendered a pissy management club who get it wrong. Private tender? Sure, sell the public wealth to private owners---cheap---and let the public be treated like the braindead thereafter, just like much other tv and radio. Better to kill it outright, or better yet, let the talented run with the podcasts and blogs until a new public form(forum) shakes out. The private sector is the way to braindead hell.

[jyzook]

Seriously? Missing it in tonnes and bucketfuls and wagon loads. CFTO in Toronto isn't so bad, but CJOH (Ottawa version) is a joke. The GlobalNews and CityTV sensationalism is off putting and Radio-One is the best thing since sliced bread.

Also, the 1.5 billion has already been whittled down to about half.

[Gary]

Thsnk God for the lockout! May it last forever!. I detest the CBC. I object to the waste of my tax dollars paying for a left wing, elitist, Toronto centered, inward looking, irrelevant, naval gazing, propaganda "news" and "entertainment" broadcaster! The sooner the CBC and its core idea a state broadcaster ends the better. None of the CBC services deserve to exist any longer. At one time - 70 years ago - one might have made an argumrnt for the CBC. In todays flood of sources for news and entertainment there is absolutely no reason for a CBC.

[Dana]

Ah, the Conservative party policy wing heard from again. Such a refreshing change from the old Refoooorm crowd aren't they?

[Lucas zer]

great very interesting