[Scape]

A CBC employee resigned from the public broadcaster because she says it's become too woke. The article she wrote about her departure has caused quite the buzz since it dropped. But who is Tara Henley? And is it all warranted?

Asking Tara Henley to explain what she means

$1:

In 2020, Tara Henley published Lean Out: A Meditation on the Madness of Modern Life, a nonfiction look at burnout that drew heavily on her 2016 experience of leaving a contract job at the CBC in search of a healthier existence.

“Had I really given up a fantastic gig at the heart of Canadian media, inspiring colleagues, a solid social circle, and an upscale apartment for this? For fruit flies and financial instability?” she asked in the bestseller’s first chapter. “Had I traded security, success — glamour, even — for fresh air and some vague suggestion of work/life balance?”

Having since rejoined the CBC, she once again left in December, this time laying out her reasons for departing her contract in a January 3 Substack post, “Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.” Accusing the public broadcaster of having dispensed with core values in favour of a “radical political agenda,” Henley’s 1,000-word missive made a far bigger splash than her 336-page book.

The next day, her dispatch ran on the front of the National Post and on page 3 of the Toronto and Ottawa Suns. By the end of the week, the former associate producer for various morning radio shows had spoken with Fox News and was getting cited in a Conservative fundraising email blast.

She’s also the guest on this week’s CANADALAND, where host Jesse Brown presses her for evidence for her contention that the CBC’s ostensibly “woke worldview” has come at the cost of journalistic integrity and coverage of issues that matter:

[Zipperfish]

Scape Scape:

A CBC employee resigned from the public broadcaster because she says it's become too woke. The article she wrote about her departure has caused quite the buzz since it dropped. But who is Tara Henley? And is it all warranted?

Asking Tara Henley to explain what she means

$1:

In 2020, Tara Henley published Lean Out: A Meditation on the Madness of Modern Life, a nonfiction look at burnout that drew heavily on her 2016 experience of leaving a contract job at the CBC in search of a healthier existence.

“Had I really given up a fantastic gig at the heart of Canadian media, inspiring colleagues, a solid social circle, and an upscale apartment for this? For fruit flies and financial instability?” she asked in the bestseller’s first chapter. “Had I traded security, success — glamour, even — for fresh air and some vague suggestion of work/life balance?”

Having since rejoined the CBC, she once again left in December, this time laying out her reasons for departing her contract in a January 3 Substack post, “Speaking Freely: Why I resigned from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.” Accusing the public broadcaster of having dispensed with core values in favour of a “radical political agenda,” Henley’s 1,000-word missive made a far bigger splash than her 336-page book.

The next day, her dispatch ran on the front of the National Post and on page 3 of the Toronto and Ottawa Suns. By the end of the week, the former associate producer for various morning radio shows had spoken with Fox News and was getting cited in a Conservative fundraising email blast.

She’s also the guest on this week’s CANADALAND, where host Jesse Brown presses her for evidence for her contention that the CBC’s ostensibly “woke worldview” has come at the cost of journalistic integrity and coverage of issues that matter:

I read an edited transcript of the Canadaland interview. She was repeatedly saying "That is not what I meant at all." There were no specific incidents of woke-ism she could cite; more of a tenuous miasma of political correctness that suffused the newsroom. Which I can believe. But on the other hand if you're going to write a very public screed to that effect you should be able to produce some sort of evidence.

I think she was trying to backtrack a bit, but there's no backtracking these days. There's no moderates in this battle, and she'll likely be radicalized, if she isn't already.

[Scape]

She was trying to stake a claim about wokeism to peddle her podcast. She wanted to stake out that she worked for the CBC is an avowed leftist and what the CBC corporate control in conjunction to the pressure of twitter has made racist mandates/quotas.

Under the very lightest pushback by Jesse her position crumbles like a cheap suit.

[Thanos]

I always went by the belief that the CBC invented Canadian wokeness and the rest of the media is now catching up to it. CBC's Achilles heel has always been that they take the word of opposition politicians from the NDP and of socio-political "activists" with pretty much zero examination of their claims. It's been that way with the CBC for decades - their light-touch approach to any of the FLQ terrorists back in the 1970's shows that their non-critical approach to entities from the left has been pretty much baked into their journalistic philosophy for a very long time. People were getting murdered in Quebec by those goons and CBC basically sided with the extremists with a "yes, it's all English Canada's fault" attitude during the crisis.

When CBC does straight reporting of an ongoing event they're the tops, with few out there being better. Examining the claims of those from the hard left though? They obviously have no interest in providing any really thorough examination of that part of the spectrum.

[Zipperfish]

I always like Barbara Frum, but that's going back a-ways, lol. And Marketplace--the one where they name and shame various business and corporate rip-offs. Love Marketplace. They could replace 3/4 of their news with Marketplace stories and I'd be happy.

I find CBC horribly maternalistic though "Here's why following government orders on CVOID will make you a happier person." Given the dross that passes as news these days, I'll take what I can get from the CBC though and not complain too much. Honestly, I can't be bothered with most of the woke stuff, especially if it comes from the US.

Fact is the world is unravelling. I'm no Casandra, or never was until now, but I really get the sense things are getting worse out there.

[Zipperfish]

Scape Scape:

She was trying to stake a claim about wokeism to peddle her podcast. She wanted to stake out that she worked for the CBC is an avowed leftist and what the CBC corporate control in conjunction to the pressure of twitter has made racist mandates/quotas.

Under the very lightest pushback by Jesse her position crumbles like a cheap suit.

I like when she says that all the comments on her substack were "overwhelmingly thoughtful" -- said no comments section ever.

[Scape]

I miss Barbara, she and Mary Lou Finlay were trailblazers when they hosted as it happens. Showed the world how to do real journalism over the phone!