12/21/24
April 04, 2003
No freedom of speech in Canada, eh?: Don Cherry ripped Montreal fans for booing the American national anthem on "Coach's Corner" a couple weeks ago. He also griped about the lack of Canadian support for the U.S. going into Iraq. Co-host Ron MacLean took the other side and defended the Canadian government's choice to stay out of it. Now the CBC has pulled the video of the segment from its Web site.
You mean say that countries other than the U.S. don't like to be criticized, no.... The CBC was wrong, just as many US media outlets are wrong for tending to be not critical of the war (including ESPN). well within their own rights Why do most people (not particularly aimed you, 86) allow non-US media to such things, while bashing US media for doing the same thing? Why the double standard?
posted by Bag Man at 11:04 AM on April 04, 2003
Two reasons they may have pulled the video from the web site, neither of which have anything to do with "freedom of speech": 1) It would be dishonourable of the CBC to leave that clip up on the website after previously chiding and admonishing both Cherry and MacLean for having that very lively discussion in the first place. There were many newspaper articles about a meeting after the fact between the CBC head honchos and those guys, and it was implied that their wrists were slapped for the debate. To leave it up afterwards would seem very hypocritcal. 2) It is also quite possible that the load on the webserver might be too much. It was the most talked about segment of Canadian TV since Trudeau stated historically "Just watch me." I can imagine there were many requests from people who may have missed the segment to see it themselves. I'm not saying that either of these reasons were the correct one, but I am presenting options other than "the big conspiracy".
posted by grum@work at 11:39 AM on April 04, 2003
For clarification: I was responding to the idea that somehow this infringed on someone's rights. The evidence against that is that everyone involved has made very public comments on the subject and CBC has rights to their property and can do with it what they will. I then went on to convey my opinion that not only is it silly to get worked up over this because no one has been silenced, but also because this happened on a hockey show. While I'll take Don Cherry's opinion on blue-liners and penalty shots, I could care less what he thinks about matters of political import. He can say it all he wants, but I always know to take what he says in the context that he is a hockey commentator.
posted by 86 at 11:42 AM on April 04, 2003
I watched this, and I don't see what the big deal is about. Cherry's entitled to an opinion. This is typical CBC reactionary drivel. The guy talks about non-hockey stuff all the time and you don't see the CBC bitching. As far as telling Don to focus on hockey, that's fine from a creative (i.e. TV programming) standpoint, but all I see here is the CBC disagreeing with Don's opinion. You don't see Ron McLean getting chewed out.
posted by Succa at 12:37 PM on April 04, 2003
Actually, it was Ron MacLean that got chewed out the most by the big brass. That's because he deliberately ignored a message (in his earpiece) from the producer in the truck to change the topic. (bottom of article) And in the end, CBC probably loves this because it's another case where if you didn't watch the show you missed out, so you are NEVER going to miss it again. There is no such thing as bad publicity.
posted by grum@work at 03:12 PM on April 04, 2003
It's fine if you choose not to get your political news and views from Don. It's ALSO fine if other people choose to get theirs from him. Part of this is whether or not you feel the CBC is a public trust. A media company has a responsibility greater than saving face, and that's being honest. If Cherry had come out and said, "Canada's the greatest country on the face of the earth, and I support the government 100%!" do you think THAT clip would have been pulled? What about the rights of the viewers? Don't they take precedence over the network being embarrassed? As a journalist (and like it or not, Cherry, as a commentator, is under that umbrella), if my work was suddenly expunged from the records by my parent company, I'd walk. You don't like what I said? Fire me. It's part of being in the media business ... at least it is here. I guess it isn't in Canada. As for the overloading the site, wouldn't they just say that? And if the two had their wrists slapped by their bosses, how does that warrant content removal? Maybe this is all WWE stuff, meant to stir up false controversy. The CBC as Vince McMahon ... now THAT'S entertainment.
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:13 PM on April 04, 2003
Grum, thanks for the extras. I think that article just bears out my thoughts. Apparently not a big deal to the CBC brass, and MacLean should have listened to his boss and changed the topic of the convo. How does that add up to censorship?
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:17 PM on April 04, 2003
Interesting, Grum, didn't know that. In light of all this, I wonder how long it'll be before MacLean and Cherry get their own weekly talk show.
posted by Succa at 04:40 PM on April 04, 2003
Both Cherry and MacLean have said their piece. And CBC pulling the video is well within their own rights. Frankly, I think they did the right thing considering the two guys in question are hockey broadcasters. Everybody's said and done what they had to. No fuss. And here are two other articles on the subject.