Your essay obtained a similar response to my reaction to commercials for the latest flat screen television sets; why would I want one? What happened to the quality of content? What happened to invetigative journalism? What happened to a journalst's prime purpose to search honestly and report truthfully? The single most important factor in the demise of press and television reporting and the upsurge of web searching is the passing of that responsibilty from media to public. We know the media is pressured by both government and commerce to obtain required public responses; it's called propaganda. Mr. Murdoch and his ilk, like the purveyors of fatty foods, have created the conditions for their own demise. Unfortunately, as in all wars, it is the young who will die; if not from obesity then from wounds in Iraq , Afghanistan or Iran now on the media agenda for rescue in the name of democracy. I read recently however that 48% of all American adults are functionally illiterate so there will be some hope for the survival of Mr. Murdoch's Fox News.

I've been reading rather than watching CBC and Radio Canada for quite some time now, even when in Canada, and find the whole thing very useful indeed. However, although I actually prefer reading a news story to listening or watching, the actual medium is not really that important to me. What are of greater importance are the quality of reporting and the editorial choices made as to which stories to cover, and in these matters the CBC stands head and shoulders above any other Canadian, and indeed most American, sources - if perhaps lacking the breadth of coverage of the Europeans. I find your web site a most valuable resource indeed and can only urge you to carry on with this innovative approach, whether with text, streaming audio - I've Radio Two on now - or video on demand.

Cheers,
dba

A handful of commentors on a Tyee.ca thread were discussing the 2003 RCMP raid on the B.C. Legislature. The two leading figures charged after that historic raid are finally coming to trial in B.C. Supreme Court on 5 June 2006.

Some commentors said that the trial would likely be postponed again. Others said there would be a cover-up, that deals would be made, that there was nothing we could do, and we'd never know if organized crime is operating within the B.C. Legislature.

Everyone agreed that there's nothing we can do without a media willing to serve the public interest.

Then somebody wrote, "Jeez ... we can't just lie down and die! Maybe we could start a web-site or something!"

Well, just like that, ideas popped up, money was offered, and help was given. It was exhilarating! Someone took charge and set up a blogspot. Two others wrote editorials:

1) Why David Basi is important to us
2) An Open Letter to Basi and Virk

A chronology was prepared, relevant articles are added ... and that was just the first week.

The RCMP raids on the B.C. Legislature took place on 28 Dec. 2003, and resulted in a dozen arrests for fraud, breach of trust, influence peddling, and accepting a bribe (9 of 12 indictments are linked to the bidding process for BC Rail operating rights). There was drug trafficking and money-laundering involved at the time of the raids. And according to RCMP Sgt. John Ward, at the time of the raid, crime has reached critical mass in the previous 2 years (i.e., from 2001), "like a cancer on all levels of society."

The story is important. It's huge. And this blogspot is the only place, at the moment, dedicated to finding out what happened. It's at: http://houseofinfamy.blogspot.com/

I don't care how CBC is transmitted, as long as the uniquely Canadian perspective that it broadcasts persists.

Just as our understanding of what is mass media is broadening, so too is our understanding of what it means to be an “audience”. But in either case, it feels as if all our transformations are leading us, in the words of the poet T.S. Eliot, only “to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

There was nothing passive about an audience in ancient times. The word “audience” comes from the Indo-European nearly prehistoric language’s “awis”, which meant “to perceive, or to grasp”. Only in the Middle Ages did the meaning soften up to refer mainly to “a hearing, or listening”. Only recently in history have we equated it with a forum for being merely passively entertained.

Many spiritual leaders equate this watering down of what it means to be an audience with a loss of spiritual depth. To quote Rabbi Abraham Heschel: “The man of our time is losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating, he seeks to be amused.”

So for many, the “new” two-way relationships between content-providers and their audiences is a very positive and inevitable step, one that is perhaps more evolutionary than revolutionary. What we really have in place of an audience are the content-users of the content-providers, in a world where both user and producer must be a hybrid of contributor and consumer. This relationship is becoming more of a rich marriage than a simple exchange. And with all the same growing pains.

Most people are uncomfortable feeling like they are living at the far end of a long wavelength. Which is good, because if the analysts’ readings are correct, be they of websites or tea leaves, we are heading into a time of unprecedented transformation. And one thing to be sure about the brave new world: you can’t expect it to chase us down. It’s going to happen with or without us. And as they say in the movies, resistance is futile. But the opportunities for more closely connecting to our world are becoming infinite, even in our everyday.

I don't think blogs will kill the traditional reporter. Blog may change their role a bit but someone still needs to do the reporting for the blogs to talk about.

You are correct in focusing on the problem of "more outlets covering fewer stories etc." I read CBC News website early each morning. I am irritated later in the day to listen to the same news (the same words even) on A-Channel or CBC and read in the Victoria Times/Colonist, usually next day, the same stories told in the same words there.

There is a lot going on in the world and I know it costs a lot of money to cover even a fraction of it, but I feel we are not well served by our mainstream media and you are risking becoming irrelevant by tapping in to the same old, same old day after day. To be fair, your (CBC's) features and columnists are good. I have come to rely on the website in part because the stories are longer, ie more complete, certainly than television reports which seldom give the full story or its background. Thanks for trying and good luck.

Dear Mr. Burman, I have noticed my own habits change in how I consume the news. Simply reading your article on cbc.ca instead of buying the Globe is example enough. Even more true is the media's own fasination with the public's changing patterns of receiving the news. After all jobs are on the line and profit margins must be reviewed. Advertisers would not want to invest in a forum in which no one is attending.

From a personal perspective, as a small business person and an upstart journalist, change has createed some opportunity. As one mans junk is another mans gold I find others rush towards the electronic media with its obvious limitions has offered my company an open road to produce print journalism. Even more interesting is that for a good portion of our readers the print format is refressing. The cycle of old to new, new to old would appear to be speeding up.

As well, a diploma I have in radio broadcasting from ten years ago has renewed meaning as audio programming has found a new home in an mp3 format. The overwhelming amount of selection and choice in music that came from the mp3 culture has brought about the resurgence of the host. Someone who can dig through and pick music for you.

A powerful and well funded media and journalism community is needed to take on the those in the powerful positions in politics and business. Perhaps the changes taking place in media will create space for younger journalist to gain some experience removed from the draw of pop culture. Once again able to get their feet wet with local news. This has been my experience but I admit I am very much alone in it. A public being able to get what they want when they want it may have limited a key component in developing the next generation of journalists, curiousity.

We have a generation which does not know what a typewriter is. I'm certain your scenario will materialize. If there are "more outlets covering fewer stories ... with fewer staff" we'll have to read global newspapers to stay abreast of international news (which many of us do already); however, there will be fewer perspectives with which to balance our understanding of situations/events/current affairs.

I already do only read the BBC and the CBC, and not just because I live in Germany. Until recently I lived in the US, and then I read CNN but never watched it. (I don't read CNN now because it isn't very good any more.) Online text and still images are just so much better for me than either newsprint or video (whether broadcast or downloaded). I never have to turn to page C23 or tote blue boxes full of used car ads to the curb, and I never have to wait through sports scores or commercials to get to the headlines.

... and with the presence of blogs in the internet universe I'm sure the traditional reporter will become extinct as well.

With the USA set to end all analogue television broadcasting in February 2009, how will this affect CBET channel 9 in Windsor? If the USA quickly auctions off the VHF spectrum to Microsoft and Verizon, as they have said they will do, will the CBC be forced to broadcast a digital TV signal in this area only? Will the CBC, along with all of the other Canadian television broadcasters, be forced to broadcast in digital from coast to coast just because the USA decided to? I look forward to watching or reading about the Canadian government's position and policies (if any exist) in a CBC documentary or news item someday. Another topic: Why are all of the Canadian banks (RBC comes to mind) changing how they refer to the bank machines. The banks brochures and signs used to to refer to the machines as ABM's . Now, almost overnight, they are calling them ATM's. . . like in the USA. I believe that Automated Banking Machine is more accurate than Automated Teller Machine. How does "Teller" fit in between "Automated" and "Machine," if a teller is a job title bestowed upon a person. We are slowly being taken over by the USA, one company, one regulation, one tradition at a time. Can someone put some pressure on the Canadian banks to stand their ground and not get sucked into the great USA wannabe vortex? Is anyone else in Canada bothered by the increasing tendencies to dumb down our names, rules and regulations so that we won't notice when the water starts to boil? Perhaps The National will return to broadcast from Windsor again soon. The focus of the newcast could be on why Canada should NOT try to be more like the USA. Maybe the two themes mentioned above could play some part. With 12 US TV stations in Michigan and Ohio available on a decent rooftop antennae (more with a really good tower) Windsor/Essex is unique regarding US over-the-air TV/radio exposure. I send this to you as a rant (for my benefit) and food for thought(for your benefit).

I am a regular contributor to Maclean's "Forums", a blog site with a moderator where what you present is published online immediately and served up for debate. If it is inappropriate, it is removed from the site. The Globe's website also lets you publish opinion but it is not immediate and very often not published. Very unsatisfying. But nowhere near as unsatisfying as sending a "letter to the editor" to CBC's website and never hearing from them, which is what will happen with this "letter". If this is actually read, consider what I say reasonably. I go to Maclean's webpage daily and spend time there. I am a 51 year old male health care professional and I know quite a few of the other "contributors" on Maclean's Forums to be 50 something professionals. Seems like a reasonable demographic to go after doesn't it? Want me to spend more time on CBC's webpage? May I please have a CBC Forum?

Well, Tony, you've got a good point about 'readers' utilizing internet news, weather etc., instead of waiting for that TV station to actually feature what they said would come up 'next', after the commercial break, or blow 365 dollars a year on a newspaper that the dog has more regard for. However, although I am grateful to access various news sources, and admittedly subscribe to sources that I am supposed to be an authority in, the people that I do know who sample the news, are becoming the exception over the rule. Those of us who do partake of the missives, tend to have less in concert with each others sources and variable views seem to separate us rather than unite. That seems to be a sign of the times, but more interesting is that many people I know are dismissive of people whose views are publicly formed, opting themselves to not invite the 'world' into theirs. Although there is so much insightful comment to be found, I am often left wondering how many people consider being in any degree informed is of any benifit to our lives at all.