A CBC Twitter account now has a hashtag describing the broadcaster as “government-sponsored media.”
The addition of @CBC was shared on Twitter late Sunday by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who had asked the social media company to add the hashtag to accounts promoting CBC English-language “news-related” content, but did not ask for it French counterparts.
CBC media relations director Leon Mar said Twitter’s decision violated its own policy, which says state-funded outlets “may have varying degrees of government involvement in editing content.”
“That’s clearly not the case with CBC/Radio-Canada,” Mar said.
CBC/Radio-Canada is publicly funded through a parliamentary appropriation voted on by all MPs and its editorial independence is legally protected in the Broadcasting Act, he said.
Poilievre also posted a link in his tweet to a petition on the Conservative Party website calling for defunding the CBC.
“Now people know this is Trudeau propaganda, not news,” the Conservative leader tweeted.
The Canadian Press emailed Twitter asking for an explanation for the added hashtag, and the company responded with an emoji.
In the meantime, Mar said, no discussions have taken place between Twitter and CBC/Radio-Canada.
The company distinguishes between “government” and “public” funding because the funds it receives are awarded through parliamentary votes.
After the BBC was labeled as such, the broadcaster fought back and Twitter eventually changed the label to “publicly funded media”.
CBC’s Board of Directors decides how the funds received are used. In 2021-22, the CBC received more than $1.2 billion in government funding, down from about $1.4 billion in 2020-21.
In a sit-in interview with right-wing outlet True North last July, Poilievre said the only reason to own a public broadcaster was to provide content that the private market wouldn’t. He doesn’t think that’s the case with CBC’s English-language service.
He said in the interview that he would reserve a small amount for French and other language minorities because they would not get the news services that the market provided.
The CBC has said the Broadcasting Act would need to be rewritten if public funds were to be spent on only one language group.
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