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CBC Missed the Story No one knew George Bush would turn out to be George Bush four years ago, especially not George Bush. This determinedly ordinary, not-too-bright kid with a swagger, dyslexia and a 500-word vocabulary confounds expectations every time he hits another major chord on that big loud church organ that is the Republican Party. This week, Thursday night in particular, was no different. Political conventions are my weakness, so I had a clever kid come over with an expensive bit of equipment, fiddle with my PC and my satellite Internet downloading modem, and lo and behold, I could stream the forbidden Fox News Channel. The repressive dinosaurs at the CRTC have not got round to making this illegal. And if I was going to see the Republican Party in full glorious honking spate, I was going to watch the television channel of record. To be fair, I popped on CBC-TV for comparison. Big mistake. No one I know watches it. CBC Radio can be an impressive thing, I'll admit. The cable news outlet could make some sense, had it not been high-jacked by statists with their hands dug deep in the collective pocket. But why the broadcast network? What earthly purpose does it serve, other than to leech money, talent and programming from the private sector and skew the market? As far as I could make out, the broadcast network ran one two- minute convention story per night. On cable's Newsworld, they ran a video feed for three hours in total with an ancient and kindly host and a commentator from an obscure political newsletter and called it coverage. Excuse me? Putting aside the convention's extraordinary entertainment value, this is Canada, the Yanks are both at war and setting out their agenda for the next four years, and it will affect our security, trade and income in massive and concrete ways. So the official broadcaster runs a video feed? Never mind. I have Fox News. Which is a breakaway triumph and has been trouncing CNN in the ratings for at least two years. This week, it beat everyone, including the major U.S. networks in prime time. Its four hours of night-time political programming is like a Grimm Brother's nightmare for liberals. Mary Matalin, Newt Gingrich, Bill Bennett, Rush Limbaugh, Jack Kemp, Laura Bush, Bush Senior, Dick Morris, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani -- characters of legend crawl out of the woodwork. My heavens it is a liberating thing to hear open commentary, argued without fear and cant, with actual feeling and rhetorical skill not extinguished by our endless Canuck correctness. Watching this from up here, where fully half of the political debate is firmly shut down, feels like getting another 10 years of healthy life. Little wonder Fox News is printing money. So Monday night, it's Rudy Giuliani and John McCain. The McCain speech is notable for explaining in severe, rational terms why it was necessary for Bush to go to war, and firmly backing the President. This is news because John Kerry spent months begging McCain to be his VP nominee, and McCain has a strong following on the left. The CBC does not mention the speech and runs yet another story on the street kids protesting outside. Then Giuliani hits one out of the park. For sheer rhetorical skill, this is one of the best political speeches I've ever heard. During the Giuliani speech, the CBC reruns The Nature of Things. Fox News beats CNN in the ratings 4 to 1. On Tuesday, CBC News mentions the convention -- its fifth story in -- and informs us that 40% of the delegates are members of the Christian Coalition. Wednesday is Democrat renegade Zell Miller's night. He electrifies the convention floor and takes down John Kerry's Senate voting record on defence. The CBC does not recognize his existence. Fox News beats CNN in the ratings 3 to 1, and trounces Rather, Jennings and Brokaw. Actors and celebrities in the Republican universe assume their proper place, as trivial charmers, with lovely but impractical ideas. Bono and P. Diddy turn up on Bill O'Reilly, but neither can really engage in the current discussion. This is the grown-ups' time. And George W. Bush is, astoundingly, a grown-up, grappling with the stuff of survival for families and freedom alike. For the CBC, the stuff of Bush's speech is completely irrelevant, except for the sneering. Without the strong representation of conservative voices, our national broadcaster long ago became irrelevant. This week, by under- reporting a critical story with real import for our future, it became a danger to our democracy.

© 2004 Elizabeth Nickson The material at this website is available only for personal non-commercial purposes, and it may not be reproduced without permission.