As a Canadian, your taxes fund the CBC.
A recent interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges on the CBC News program The Lang & O'Leary Exchange contained the latest in a series of mean-spirited and offensive commentary by the show's co-host Kevin O'Leary.
While Mr. O'Leary's abraisive and at times abusive "personality" may be entertaining within the confines of an entertainment program like the Dragon's Den, it has no place on a news program. By providing an unqualified, uninformed bully with a credible news forum in which to shout down and publicly ridicule those who express an opposing view, CBC is management is compromising the quality and reputation of our national public broadcaster.
Please join the call to remove Kevin O'Leary from CBC News programming and help hold our national broadcaster accountable to Canadians.
A recent interview with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges on the
Lang & O'Leary Exchange contained the latest in a series of mean-spirited and offensive editorializing by program co-host Kevin O'Leary. CBC has publicly acknowledged that Mr. O'Leary's comments characterizing Mr. Hedges as a "left-wing nutbar" represented a breach of policy, but a disavowal is insufficient to repair the ongoing degradation of CBC's reputation in Canada and around the world.
The decision by CBC management to employ Mr. O'Leary on a news program beyond the confines of an entertainment program such as
Dragon's Den is not reflective of CBC's commitment (as stated within the corporation's five-year strategic plan, titled
2015: Everyone, Every Way) to "address Canadians as citizens who want to be informed and challenged, as well as entertained. They want to be exposed to a broad range of subjects, opinions and ideas that reflect the diversity and complexity of Canadian society and that add depth to its democratic life."
Kevin O'Leary is frequently uninformed and profers his opinions as though they were fact. Further, with a credible news platform from which to shout down and publicly ridicule guests who express an opposing view to his own, Kevin O'Leary has actively alienated those who would otherwise contribute to the cultural conversation.
We the undersigned Canadians call upon CBC management to act to restore our faith in the broadcaster's corporate integrity and commitment to journalistic ethics by removing Kevin O'Leary from CBC News programming.
