Cinema Canada (Apr-May 1974)

Mark Irwin An optimistic look at the CRTC hearings Ibranyi-Kiss The most important aspect of the Canadian Radio and Television Commission’s hearings regarding the CBC license renewals was this: A lot of Canadians teally believe in a public broadcasting network and are willing to help improve it. It’s a sign of the times. People are becoming aware and increasingly ready to work for change. Of the 351 briefs presented to the CRTC, 29 were invited to appear during the week in Ottawa. Of these, this is a sampling of six which were especially interesting and relevant. \ a I produce the creative shows they also would like to see on televison. Wally Firth (MP from Northwest Territories) and Sam Raddi (President of the Committee for Original People and Entitlement) represented four large groups of Native People of the North in their presentation. One of their basic complaints was the lack of TV and Radio for many communities. They also pointed out certain racist policies. Some examples: an Imperial Oil town with a population of 250 to 300 mainly white people is already being served by television, although countless Inuit communities over ten times as large have still not received CBC service. The Sel i 3 e \ is 4 \ | . ha The Canadian Radio and Television Commission, as seen from the intervenors’ table Most interesting for filmmakers was the Council of Canadian Filmmakers’ presentation. It was one of the most effective and (hopefully) fruitful briefs. For a detailed discussion, please refer to the CCFM’s pages in this issue. The Committee On Television prepared an intervention that was by far the most serious and in-depth look at the CBC. However, it seemed to be potentially so radical, that it scared the Commission, which quickly rejected its basic thesis — that of separating programming from broadcasting. From Inside came a presentation by the Association of Television Producers and Directors (Roy Hazzan, President and producer of Children’s Programmes; Louise Lore, Vice-President, producer of Religious Programmes; Robert Allen, Drama producer; Vincent Tovell, Arts & Sciences producer; Ralph Thomas, producer of Current Affairs; Jim Murray, The National Dream’s producer; and award-winning producer of musical specials, Norm Campbell). The producers appealed for money for a centralized CBC plant in Toronto to improve on the numerous _space-limitations. They also discussed the problem of CBC’s bureaucracy making it difficult to Northwest Territories receives French TV although only 5 per cent of the population has French as their basic language; yet there is still no programming done in the language of two-thirds of the population. People in many areas get only Alaskan and Russian programs on their shortwave radios. The two re porters in Yellowknife are not allowed to travel and can do so only when they get a lift from the Commissioner. Northern Service executives all live in Toronto or Ottawa, not in the North. The list of outrageous practices seemed to be endless, until Wally Firth said, “I could go on and on but we don’t want this to get too embarrassing, do we?” The group also strongly requested relevant programming — their people are tired of receiving news broadcasts of Toronto traffic jams! Women for Political Action had a very simple brief — the image of women on television is still ridiculous and very harmful years after the Royal Commission’s Report filled with recommendations. Again, there was reason for embarrassment on the part of the CBC... The British Columbia Committee on the CBC arrived with hundreds of brightly colored helium balloons proclaiming “Chinook Day” with the other side recommending, “Blow Up Your TV”. The group consisted of Robert Harlow, Vivianne Lyman, Wendy O’Flaherty, Tom Shandel and Marianne West. They brought with them over 300 letters from B.C. which summed up the majority of complaints on the part of many groups appearing that week. They called for the banning of commercials, service for communities still not receiving CBC television, and a drastic increase in regional programming. The results of the hearings are still not known. No doubt, all the licenses will be renewed. However, this year the hearings had to be moved from the Skyline Hotel to the Talisman to accommodate the enormous turnout. Unless the CRTC makes strong and detailed recommendations, and the CBC in turn executes major changes — it may be necessary to hold the hearings in a football field next time the renewals come upe Part of the Committee on Television — Abe Rotstein, Robert Fulford, Patrick Watson and Allan King during the hearings Cinema Canada 13 UTA] EW,