National Survey: How Do Canadians Really Feel About the CBC?
Canadians Want to Reform and Grow the CBC — Not Cut It, National Survey Finds
Oct. 23, 2024
The future of CBC/Radio Canada has become a fixture of political debate, but to what extent does the partisan discourse match public sentiment? As the CBC/Radio-Canada undergoes its first formal mandate review since the 1990s, we asked Canadians how they feel about the CBC. Do Canadians really want to “defund the CBC?” A new national survey, Do We Need the CBC? examines how people feel about the current media landscape, and where Canada’s national public broadcaster fits within it.
The survey’s biggest insight: a majority of Canadians want to preserve the CBC/Radio-Canada.
Some key findings:
The vast majority (78%) of Canadians would like to see the CBC/Radio-Canada continue if it addresses its major criticisms.
Canadians are not aligned on what their major criticisms are of the CBC/Radio-Canada. We asked whether they agreed or disagreed with such criticisms as “it is irrelevant,” “it is too ‘woke,’” or it “doesn’t speak to me or my interests."
When asked what they would do with CBC/Radio-Canada’s budget, 57% of respondents would either increase (24%) or maintain (33%) funding.
Conservative supporters are the least aligned when it comes to funding, but more prefer to increase/maintain funding (47%) than reduce/eliminate (40%).
When asked whether a large public service media organization like the CBC/Radio-Canada is still essential or relevant to Canadians in the digital age, given the rise of social media — 79% of respondents said it was either equally important or more important than before.
Two-thirds of Canadians could not think of a single journalist they trusted; the most-trusted names, however, were from mainstream outlets like Radio-Canada and CTV, even when the journalists themselves were no longer active or had retired from their platform posts — such as longtime national news anchor Peter Mansbridge.
“What these survey results tell us is that the current political rhetoric does not necessarily reflect where Canadians are at,” said Jessica Johnson, the project lead and a senior fellow at the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy. “Across the political spectrum, there is a fair amount of agreement about the purpose and value of public media. In spite of what’s written in opinion columns and on social media about defunding, most Canadians want the CBC/Radio-Canada to keep going — and a quarter would even increase funding.”
This survey is part of “What Should the CBC/Radio-Canada Be?” — a multi-year research project launched last year at the Centre for Media, Technology, and Democracy at the Max Bell School for Public Policy at McGill University. The project explores the role of public service media within the Canadian media environment and against a global context.
Media Contact:
Isabelle Corriveau
Senior Manager, Public Outreach and Communications, Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy
isabelle.corriveau2@mcgill.ca
