Floored

Just working on my treeware column for tomorrow's Star on today's appearance by CBC president Robert Rabinovitch and his posse before Parliament's Heritage Committee where things did not go so well for them.

It started with Rabinovitch pouring water over himself and then falling off his chair. Here's the CP photo:

CP PHOTO

It went downhill from there.

Now comes word that Radio-Canada, CBC's French-language network, has expressly forbidden the use of the image, except in today's original report by Davide Gentile. That means no online use, no use on RDI, the all news network, no use on any other programming.

Here's le memo:

From: Champoux Pierre, Montréal, Info-TV
To: tout
CC:
Sent: 10/27/2005 15:37:06
Subject: Images de la chute de Robert Rabinovitch

Bonjour,

Veuillez prendre note que les images de Robert Rabinovitch glissant de sa
chaise alors qu'il s'apprêtait à comparaître devant le comité du patrimoine,
ne seront diffusées qu'à l'intérieur du reportage de Davide Gentile.

Ces images ne doivent pas être diffusées sous une autre forme: ni pour
appuyer un texte, ni pour illustrer une converse, que ce soit à RDI ou dans
les émissions d'information de la première chaîne.

Seulement dans le topo de Davide.

Merci de votre collaboration!

Pierre Champoux
rédacteur en chef à l'information en continu
RDI

Talk about two solitudes. The photo is on just about every English-language media organization's website right now.

I wonder which Rad-Can flunky decided to put out this edict.

Comments

What happened to your National Post anniversary editor's memo item? It's disappeared completely.

[Dana]

I hope they're all terminated. With cause would be good but I don't really care. I just want the CBC run by people who give a crap about it. These Brownie's clearly don't.

Antonia,

Not only.... RDI can't use the material.. but some IR manager...turned off all three set in the HR department today.. no TV during the broadcast of those baboons... Other employees from Sales... were told to go back to work and turn off the TV if they weren't on break? What is this...A regime? they have lost their mind.

[Ivan Prokopchuk]

re La Chute de Robert Rabinovitch:

What's next? Dousing the Nelson with a
fire extinguisher? Dousing Rabinovitch?
French clown wear mop wig ha-ha.

I'm surprised, Antonia, that you haven't noted the absence of this photo on CBC.CA as well. It never appeared, and I suspect that the reason is even more troublesome than the one at RDI: self-censorship. I'd be shocked to find out that the Website people were actually told not to run the photo (anyone who doesn't understand the newsworthiness of this image shouldn't be in journalism), but they simply assumed their bosses wouldn't want it there. This is in many ways the worst aspect of working at CBC right now -- and Michael Posner alluded to it in his Globe article today -- the climate of fear that has been instilled by people well below Rabinovitch, Stursberg and other members of that clumsy Gang. And fear is a terrible thing because there are no prescriptions for getting rid of it...

[katie]

Write your MP and the Heritage Minister and tell them that as our public servants we, their bosses, would like Rabinovich and Strusberg fired. NOW!

We do not need a spooked CBC. If the journalists are self-censoring then what's their use as a broadcaster public or otherwise?

[CapitalCat]

In the Friday papers I have seen so far the Globe and Mail ran the picture, the National Post and Ottawa Citizen did not (nor did they mention the incident in the copy) and the Ottawa Sun ran the photo under the cutline "Umm...it's a standing committee, sir".

[Ivan Prokopchuk]

Note to "Posted by":

Two generations ago, they spoiled the hell
out of us at Ryerson, insisting that there had to be respect for the kook, the weirdo, the only one in town who knew anything.
Well,take these kooks and weirdos, the truly creative people, and put over them the toadstabbers and dropouts that seem to lead the CBC and watch the product slip to one-star status. Never mind the old shibboleth
that "this is good because we are informed by a higher power";the CBC's creative properties appear to have no commercial or artistic value. Is that why we keep getting Brit stuff? A creative person has to be
relaxed, loose, like the lucky and talented
people at Definitely Not the Opera. Imagine
Robert Rabinovitch as the immediate creative director of something like that.
Everybody would be scared sh*tless.
It is a damn miracle that talent does somehow win out. The Farce, 22 Minutes, DNTO, Vinyl Cafe
and other great offerings well worth the pain of paying Mr. Rabinovitch's salary.
And yet, on a quality program like IDEAS, there has been, and is, this fear.
Ivan