Canadian Heritage committee  I'm joking, but I'll give you a 30-second, made-for-television clip. Private television is linked to the market. Public television should be linked more and more to democracy. The way to link public television to democracy is through distinctiveness: the blue fish among the red o

Canadian Heritage committee  I think you should emphasize how they could be different and perhaps give some examples. Sports television, for example, has improved the quality of the French language in Quebec. The Radio-Canada announcers were so good that they found terms in French to describe hockey games.

Canadian Heritage committee  This is a an example that also shows that public television doesn't have to be at all elitist.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, but the problem with TVO is the same as the problem with Télé-Québec: their audience is so small and the appeal is not broad enough. CBC should not be a kind of TVO or Télé-Québec. They should find another niche.

Canadian Heritage committee  Ask them.

Canadian Heritage committee  No. The BBC is attacked because they are involved in many commercial operations abroad, with all sorts of things, but the main network doesn't have advertising. Those who attack the BBC say that because they are involved in commercial operations with commercial networks and all s

Canadian Heritage committee  I can send you a study that our research centre has just completed and that shows that in terms of news, television continues to be very dominant. The share of the new media we are talking so much about—because the world of journalism is infatuated with new ideas, that is one of

Canadian Heritage committee  I won't give you a straight answer: there needs to be a balance. Both of you talked about francophones outside Quebec. I realized 20 years ago—and listening to you, not much has changed since—that francophones outside Quebec had reason to complain about Radio-Canada. If you are i

Canadian Heritage committee  I would like to add a comment. Surveys that we have conducted show a huge difference between Radio-Canada journalists and those on private radio and TV. The difference is not based on their political beliefs, but on how they perceive their jobs. There again, I think there is a l

Canadian Heritage committee  Let me start with a general comment. If you go into journalism, I assume it's the same as when you go into politics--it's a little because you are idealistic and want to change your world, to have a better world. So when you want to have a better world, in a sense, you're going t

Canadian Heritage committee  This is, as you've said, a big challenge, but it has to be seen, I feel, in terms of democratic choice of pluralism and diversity and all those components of democracy. This is different from the glue holding the country together. What I was saying is that I frankly believe that

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll just add something, for a second, and then I'll go back to your question. Of course it is elitist to say that the leaders of opinion are listening to or watching CBC. I know this is elitist. But it is very important in every country in the world to have what are called “qu

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm sorry I went on too long.

Canadian Heritage committee  To reply, I could come back to what I told the member earlier when I began to talk about the BBC and I stopped. The BBC remains a model of public television because it does not have any advertising. Let's compare France and Great Britain. In France, ads appear on public televisio

Canadian Heritage committee  Do you mean a broadcaster like CBC?