Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE
TV and radio producer Tara Henley quit the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Monday after slamming the network in a scathing column that accused it of abandoning journalistic integrity to embrace “a radical political agenda that originated on Ivy League campuses in the United States.”
She went on to assert via Substack that the CBC has taken a “woke” worldview rather than reporting the news that Canadians and others are interested in. Henley described a newsroom infected by a far-left ideology that has suffocated critical thinking and fixated on race.
“For months now, I’ve been getting complaints about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,” she stated. “People want to know why, for example, non-binary Filipinos concerned about a lack of LGBT terms in Tagalog is an editorial priority for the CBC, when local issues of broad concern go unreported. Or why our pop culture radio show’s coverage of the Dave Chappelle Netflix special failed to include any of the legions of fans, or comics, that did not find it offensive. Or why, exactly, taxpayers should be funding articles that scold Canadians for using words such as ‘brainstorm’ and ‘lame.’”
When Henley started out at the CBC in 2013, she claimed, it “produced some of the best journalism in the country” but, almost a decade later, “it embodied some of the worst trends in mainstream media” and she had to leave because of it.
“The CBC went from being a trusted source of news to churning out clickbait that reads like a parody of the student press,” Henley scorchingly wrote. “Those of us on the inside know just how swiftly — and how dramatically — the politics of the public broadcaster have shifted.”
Why I resigned from the CBC and went to @SubstackInc. Speaking freely: https://t.co/9jqVKzq6yZ
— Tara Henley (@TaraRHenley) January 3, 2022
Ironically, Henley claims that she used to be one of the most liberal staffers at CBC. That is no longer the case and the entire network has veered sharply to the left, she contended.
“I am now easily the most conservative, frequently sparking tension by questioning identity politics. This happened in the span of about 18 months. My own politics did not change,” she noted. “To work at the CBC in the current climate is to embrace cognitive dissonance and to abandon journalistic integrity.”
She went on to blame “a radical political agenda that originated on Ivy League campuses in the United States and spread through American social media platforms” which “monetize outrage and stoke societal divisions.” Henley also contends that working at the CBC requires that one “pretend that the ‘woke’ worldview is near-universal.”
“To work at the CBC now is to accept the idea that race is the most significant thing about a person, and that some races are more relevant to the public conversation than others. It is, in my newsroom, to fill out racial profile forms for every guest you book; to actively book more people of some races and less of others,” she added.
“To work at the CBC is to submit to job interviews that are not about qualifications or experience — but instead demand the parroting of orthodoxies, the demonstration of fealty to dogma. It is to become less adversarial to government and corporations and more hostile to ordinary people with ideas that Twitter doesn’t like,” Henley said, blasting her former woke employer.
She eviscerated the network for a whole host of reasons, including its recent history of having journalists “endlessly document microaggressions but pay little attention to evictions,” “spotlight company’s political platitudes but have little interest in wages or working condition,” and “allow sweeping societal changes like lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and school closures to roll out — with little debate.”
“It is to capitulate to certainty, to shut down critical thinking, to stamp out curiosity. To keep one’s mouth shut, to not ask questions, to not rock the boat,” Henley charged. “This, while the world burns.”
“How could good journalism possibly be done under such conditions? How could any of this possibly be healthy for society? All of this raises larger questions about the direction that North America is headed,” she commented. “Questions about this new moment we are living through — and its impact on the body politic. On class divisions, and economic inequality. On education. On mental health. On literature, and comedy. On science. On liberalism, and democracy. These questions keep me up at night.”
People were in complete agreement with Henley, taking it a step further and applying her sentiments to the rest of the mainstream media:
This can apply to @globalnews and @CTVNews as well
— Doug (@TheDuggerD) January 3, 2022
@TaraRHenley is right. As a long-time CBC viewer/listener/supporter, it’s clear that the enterprise has gravitated from being an educated window on the world to a cabal determined to push a social engineering agenda. Tell me what’s happening in the world, not how to think/live.
— thepoppinator 🇨🇦 (@thepoppinator) January 4, 2022
The CBC IS the propaganda arm of the liberal party
The biased is so overwhelming
Should the conservatives ever form a government one of its first priorities is to stop funding the CBC— Greg Burke (@Greg01Burke) January 3, 2022
Refreshing. Thankfully, she is brave enough to burn these bridges with CBC. I’m going to make sure I support her in her next venture by subscribing to her content when I can.
— Rosemary🇨🇦 (@Rmmhayes) January 4, 2022
This is good, she is very brave. Much respect.
— Alison (@Alison10148950) January 4, 2022
Our tax dollars should not be subsidizing woke, radical leftist propaganda to the tune of over a billion dollars a year.
— Priority News Now (@WandS_Headlines) January 4, 2022
Tara Henley is a hero. Very few journalists have the courage to stand up to the media industrial complex.
I'll have more later. #DefundCBC
— Mark Slapinski (@MarkSlapinski) January 4, 2022
It’s not just the CBC, it’s the entire Canadian media landscape that has changed.
There are only a few voices opposed.
— judu (@jaygenki1) January 3, 2022
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- DoD cancels drag show at Air Force base after backlash; General Milley ‘visibly angry’ when told about event - June 2, 2023
- Target reportedly feeling the heat from rank-and-file employees who question if they ‘belong’ there - June 2, 2023
- ‘Who’s interfering in elections?’ Social and mainstream media stick it to RFK Jr. from all sides - June 2, 2023
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.
