Attitudes Toward Protecting Canadian Culture on TV, the CBC, Foreign Ownership and Media Concentration
Canadians are wary about foreign ownership and media concentration in the country's communications and broadcasting system. Two-thirds have an unfavourable opinion of foreign ownership in telephone companies (65% unfavourable), cable companies (65% unfavourable) and media companies (68% unfavourable). Furthermore, while 60% agree that "there is too much media concentration in Canada," 66% also agree that "Canadian media need to be concentrated to be competitive."
These are the findings from from selected questions contained in a national broadcast issue public opinion survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. They are released in advance of a more complete summary/release of the full survey results. Interviewing was conducted between May 4th and May 9th, 2004, among a representative cross-section of 1,100 Canadians. With a sample of this size, the national results are considered accurate to within 1773.0 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to 2001 Census data.
Protecting Canadian culture/identity on TV
The CBC tops the list among 13 groups/organizations examined in terms of public trust and confidence "to protect Canadian culture and identity on television." (77% in Quebec, 76% in rest of Canada).
In Quebec, CBC receives a rating of 77%, followed in order by consumer groups (67%), TVA (66%), TQS (57%), specialty channels (52%), the CRTC (52%), the provincial government (50%), the federal government (40%), telephone companies (38%), cable television companies (35%) and satellite television companies (32%).
In the rest of Canada, the CBC receives a rating of 76%, followed in order by the CTV Network (62%), specialty channels (55%), the Global Network (53%), the CRTC (46%), the federal government (40%), provincial government (37%), consumer groups (36%), cable television companies (28%), telephone companies (26%), and satellite television companies (20%). While both CBC radio and television are seen to be contributing to Canadian identity and culture, more Canadians think that it is CBC television (58%) than radio (35%) that makes the biggest contribution.
CBC mandate and funding
Eight-in-ten Canadians (81%) rate the CBC's performance good, very good or excellent in meetings its mandate of providing "radio and television services incorporating a wide range of programming that informs, enlightens and entertains."
Futhermore 78% of Canadians think that CBC's regional mandate is important - "to reflect Canada's regions to national and regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions." Regionally, importance is 88% in Atlantic Canada, 83% Quebec, 77% BC, 75% Ontario, 71% Saskatchewan/Manitoba and 67% Alberta.
Seven-in-ten Canadians rate CBC television (71%) and radio (70%) good, very good or excellent in meeting its regional mandate.
Other attitudes toward the CBC include:
- 94% agree that they want to see CBC "survive and prosper"
- 89% agree that the CBC is "one of the things that helps distinguish Canada from the US"
- 85% agree that they would like "to see CBC strengthened in my region of Canada"
- 80% agree that we "should build a CBC capable of providing high quality Canadian programming with strong regional content throughout Canada."
- 77% agree that "CBC provides value for taxpayers money"
- 9% would advise their federal representative to decrease funding for the CBC from current levels, 51% would advise to maintain funding at current levels and 38% would advise to increase funding from current levels.
Canadians are wary about foreign ownership in the country's communications and broadcasting system. Two-thirds have a somewhat or very unfavourable opinion of foreign ownership in telephone companies (65% unfavourable), cable companies (65% unfavourable) and media companies (68% unfavourable).
Furthermore, opinions are a bit more divided on the issue of media concentration. On one hand, 62% agree that "media concentration undermines the health of Canadian democracy," 73% agree that "owners of Canada's media have gone too far in trying to inject their own personal political opinions into what their media outlets say and what they report," 60% agree that "there is too much media concentration in Canada," and 63% agree that "the federal government should act to limit media concentration." Against these opinions, however, is 66% who also agree that "Canadian media need to be concentrated to be competitive."
In terms of political focus, Canadians across all regions are firmly decided about what position a political party could take on foreign ownership that would fit with their own personal opinions. The overwhelming opinion is that a position to "maintain Canadian ownership and control" (85%) is far more appealing that a position "permitting foreign ownership and control" (13%). However, Canadians are generally divided about what position a political party could take on media concentration that would fit with their own personal opinions. While a majority say that a position "limiting media concentration" (58%) would match their own, a strong minority (39%) say that a position "allowing media concentration" would do this. Please open the attached PDF to view the factum and detailed tables.
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For more information on this news release, please contact:
Chris Martyn
Senior Vice-President
Ipsos-Reid Public Affairs
(416) 324-2900
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