Technology

In a letter written to X's head of global government affairs Nick Pickles on April 17, the CBC said their label was "factually incorrect" because the government doesn't have involvement in CBC's editorial decisions.

Many public broadcasters are set up so that their governance is done at 'arms-length' from the sitting government. The problem is that the mechanisms used to achieve this (usually a government-appointed board of directors, a parliamentary committee, etc.) often intervene in coverage on behalf of an annoyed government, including threats to litigate against the entity, termination threats against the director or other personnel, tabling of targeted legislation designed to make the entity's life worse, etc. These governance bodies are kind of like car brakes made of balsa wood: rock solid when not in use, then a pile of sawdust during the organization's time of need.

For that reason I'm happy with X's label, even though I value public broadcasting, because history has shown executive government tends to issue marching orders to media (no matter their 'independence') whenever it feels that getting its way is particularly vital. The motive for the label may be ideological given Musk's record, but it has some utility to the reader in that it reminds them of a broader, awkward truth about government funding.

(I think the general media's shunning of X has a certain coordination about it, and that it's really about sector-felt resentment rather than engagement metrics. The metrics stuff is just noise, and likely explains the refusal to disclose the engagement figures mentioned in the article. Musk to them is a foreign occupier, and they are the underground resistance, withholding their content/advertising dollars, determined to undermine his efforts to reforge Twitter to X and ensure they get 'their' platform back.)