The CBC: How Canada's Public Broadcaster Lost Its Voice

by David Cayley

Conceived as an institution that would embody Canada as a whole, the CBC now struggles in a fractured media landscape.

Its narrow programming choices, dogmatic politics, and politically correct hosts cater to ever shrinking audiences. The once proud broadcaster has alienated so many viewers and listeners that Canada's Conservative Party now sees a winning strategy in promising to defund it. Author and producer David Cayley, who for three decades made radio documentaries for CBC Radio’s Ideas, goes back to the CBC’s roots to examine how it lost its way and to ask searching questions about the nature of media and the “public” in the twenty-first century. He calls for a bold new vision—a CBC that transcends its recent past and rebuilds as a unifying force, championing curiosity, dialogue, and a pluralistic Canadian identity.

A must-read for anyone who cares about the cultural heart of Canada.

Genres: Canada

320 pages, Paperback

Published September 16, 2025

Reviews

[Hugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, and I enjoyed the author’s deep knowledge of CBC history, but it’s written so densely and academically, that it will feel very inaccessible to the general public. It’s nice to be clever, but it’s even better to be understood.

[John Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book wasn’t quite what I had expected from its title. Cayley gives a relatively detailed history of the CBC (radio and television) from its inception to the present. I was impressed by both the breadth and the depth of his scholarship. However, the book keeps to a largely theoretical level, with the exception of a couple of issues, namely the CBC’s coverage of the COVID pandemic and of the truckers’ demonstration in Ottawa. In both cases there was a refusal to pay any serious attention to “the other side” of these issues, exposing an unwillingness to engage in any meaningful dialogue and the CBC’s inability to relate to a wide swath of the Canadian population. Unfortunately I didn’t glean any clear vision from the book as to how this might be corrected.

[Burt Schoeppe · Rating 3 out of 5]

A confusing book. The first half of the book is a history with nothing much interesting. It points to the big question about the CBC in the eighties 'what kind of CBC would be capable of generating real unity in the country"? That clearly isn't a concern for the CBC at the moment.

Then the book gets very interesting in questioning why CBC agreed with the accepted narratives about COVID-19 and the Freedom Convoy. This was a revelation. Good to see there were at least a few people inside the CBC

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting history of the public broadcaster. I wish the vision for how to move forward had been clearer.