My issues with CBC. Wonder if I should write them about it, and if it is going to make any difference.

This has to do with National with Peter Mansbridge

(1) Any news special related to India has to be a project done by some Canadian (may or may not be of Indian origin) in rural India. How backward India is, and what a Canadian is doing to uplift the situation. Or there is some old documentaries about the lifestyle of eunuchs, dowry issues or other such related topics.

Agreed with all other issues. But for once in a while, why not to look at positive side of India (the list is endless). Forget about the booming economy and recent rise in 10 years. There are lots of topics such as IITs/IIMs, subsidized education system, Bollywood, architecture, fashion etc. etc that can be tackled. And I believe, there might be many Canadians of Indian origin, who can make a documentary on positive aspects of India. Or is CBC afraid of the viewer ratings?? People still like to see India as land of beggars and snake charmers?

(2) A strong obsession with Middle-Eastern politics (Israel-Palestine) & very soft and subtle attack on Pakistan/Iran/Afghanistan - Yesterday I was watching a special about an Iranina cartoonist who was ousted from Iran and has now settled in Canada. The entire feature was almost anti-establishment and pro-American. Or they tackle the issue of how women are supressed in Pakistan/Afghanistan.

If you watch National regularly, you can almost sense a pattern in their programming.

CBC is not blunt like CNN, but at same time I doubt its impartiality and integrity when it comes to world politics. But I do like their features on Canadian lifestyle and issues. You become aware that Canada does exist beyond 416-905 :P

Meghal

Meghal,
CBC is under no obligation to cover India in a positive way or negetive way. CBC is interested in only covering countries where Canadians help or gain (India is not a volatile region to have the coverage of the middle east, afganistan or Iraq). Since Canadians gain nothing from india (as of now in business, natural resources, export - import etc.. exception being immigration), it covers how Canadians help india. It also covers how Canadians help Africa etc...
Regarding old Documentaries about India, it is clearly CBC's fault. They must show the positive side of india as per your comment.
This is my opinion
TK

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I am a Gents and not a Ladies.

Try writing/emailing your views ot CBC and see if you get any response from them.

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What can be imagined, can be achieved.

I see mostly all the CBC national news and documentary at 10:00 pm PST. I agree that there are lot of changes in India especially in 3-4 cities and we mostly belong to that class and job profile so it seems that what reports showing it's not happening these days. I think all hi-tech development effecting may be 5% people of 1 billion populations.

We can see few castes in AP, Marwadis and lot others too that there is so much dowry. I know tons of AP guys in US who bring girl from any village from AP and boy's father took 70-75 Lakhs for that in different forms. I know one guy who got 1 crore total (he told me) because his US gc is near to come, had full time job with 401K benefits and masters in US, single boy in family.


There is CBC documentary for killing a boy in northen UP for devi ki bali and killing the boy step by step and slow. I changed the channel after 15 mins because I can not see that too much.

It makes sense that CBC and CNN must show developed part of country and how things are changing rapidly in India but we can not ignore 95% population and lot of old bad customs that called cultural values be some people.

Re: point # 1
The mandate of the CBC, NFB etc is understandably to promote docs which have a canadian content/angle. Here is why:
Due to the gigantic clout of the industry down south, the CDN govt HAS to do this inorder to have a 'canadian voice/identity' in the media. If not...we are going to have ALL our programming come from the US.
With this in mind and the limited resources available, if you were to choose between producing a doc about canadians in India OR about bollywood, which would you be likely to choose? Unlike down south there is not much in terms of private funding for the film industry in Canada. We would not HAVE a viable film industry if not for govt funding. Its tough competing with the hollywood juggernaut.

If you really want to draw a comparisoin we can relate to...imagine the plight of the Nepali film industry when compared to bollywood. They probably get all their films from India. Thats good for India, but what about Nepal, what about its media artists/techs...move to b'bay or fade, right? Why do you think major Canadian artists move to hollywood?

Nevertheless, NFB recently produced a doc on the life of call-center youth in urban india. It was directed by a canadian of indian origin if I am not mistaken. Check out their website. Due to the afore mentioned reasons such docs are few. With Indias emerging status things are going to change and Canadians will be more interested on seeing docs about India as they did with the recently telecast series on China. I would not be surprised to know that some are in the works already.

In Canada, unless one has deep pockets, one has to rely on these govt bodies for Funding.

OR get funds from private investors.
If you are ready to produce...i'll come up with a doc on Bollywood for you .

p.s: I may even surprise you without your funding


BTW: I would encourage you to write your concerns to CBC. They may even green light my projects faster.

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Originally posted by meghal

My issues with CBC. Wonder if I should write them about it, and if it is going to make any difference.

This has to do with National with Peter Mansbridge

(1) Any news special related to India has to be a project done by some Canadian (may or may not be of Indian origin) in rural India. How backward India is, and what a Canadian is doing to uplift the situation. Or there is some old documentaries about the lifestyle of eunuchs, dowry issues or other such related topics.

Agreed with all other issues. But for once in a while, why not to look at positive side of India (the list is endless). Forget about the booming economy and recent rise in 10 years. There are lots of topics such as IITs/IIMs, subsidized education system, Bollywood, architecture, fashion etc. etc that can be tackled. And I believe, there might be many Canadians of Indian origin, who can make a documentary on positive aspects of India. Or is CBC afraid of the viewer ratings?? People still like to see India as land of beggars and snake charmers?

(2) A strong obsession with Middle-Eastern politics (Israel-Palestine) & very soft and subtle attack on Pakistan/Iran/Afghanistan - Yesterday I was watching a special about an Iranina cartoonist who was ousted from Iran and has now settled in Canada. The entire feature was almost anti-establishment and pro-American. Or they tackle the issue of how women are supressed in Pakistan/Afghanistan.

If you watch National regularly, you can almost sense a pattern in their programming.

CBC is not blunt like CNN, but at same time I doubt its impartiality and integrity when it comes to world politics. But I do like their features on Canadian lifestyle and issues. You become aware that Canada does exist beyond 416-905 :P

Meghal

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