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“What the hell are you doing?”
“Have you lost your King mind?”
These were two messages among a few hundred that we received during the weekend before a special cross -border edition of Field check through.
Our national long -term Sunday call program organized by Ian Hanomansing is normally not a point of influence of controversy, although it has certainly addressed difficult and divisive issues in the past, giving voice to a wide range of perspectives of regular Canadians of the entire country world.
But this special edition, which was organized by Jeremy Hobson and the simultaneous transmission in the NPR and C-Span stations in the United States, was an indignation for many people, at least in Canada, before a single word had been spoken in the air.
What caused anger (and, in some cases, surprising affirms that CBC was involved in “betrayal”, “sedition” and “betrayal”) were two things: the title of the program and the question proposed to the audience.
The title of the program, “51st State: a cross -border conversation” He enraged several people who felt legitimized the idea of Canada’s annexation in the United States. Some called him clickbait; Others felt that he suggested that CBC was “platform” the repeated and hostile mockery of Canadian sovereignty of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, as a legitimate policy proposal worthy of debate and consideration.
That is not at all what was intended. Like regular listeners to Field check through I know, the program asks your listeners to answer issues and journalistic questions. And they often do it with great passion and personal stories that shed a new light on the news of the day and how it affects regular people who often do not get a microphone.
Sunday show producers not only wanted to emerge the great swell of annoying and changing opinions on the United States that have been washed to Canada in the weeks since the new administration began to threaten Canada with tariffs and acquisition, they also wanted to open A channel for regular Americans so that people on both sides of the border can listen to each other without politicians in the mixture.
The way in which the original question was framed for the audience: “What does Canada mean to you as a state 51?” – He also bothered several CBC fans who saw him as legitimizing an anathema idea for the vast majority of Canadians. Again, this was not the intention of the producers. They quickly adjusted and changed question A: “What do you think that Trump’s comments on Canada become the 51st state?”
There are important lessons in all this about the precision of language, the framing of the questions and the challenges of transmitting complex ideas when it only has a few words to use in a title or description of the program. There are also lessons on how good intention can be derailing through the choice of words.
The avalanche of heated complaints of people who had not yet heard the program is also an interesting evidence of the state of our nation: many Canadians are apparently fed up with Trump’s state rhetoric, they will no longer tolerate it and fear it. Receive a serious transmission.
As for the program itself, the producers and I believe it was a completely valuable exercise. They opened the program addressing the front controversy. As Hanomansing said, “there is no doubt that the question of the original program … hit a nerve. It was never our intention to normalize the idea that Canada would become the state 51.”
“We are very careful about how we do a program like this. We are not supporting in any way what Trump has been saying,” he said. “The objective of our program … is to listen to what those of you who are listening and seeing have to [say]. This is a place where people can talk about issues in which politicians so far have been talking about most of the majority. “
And the program did exactly that. All these points of view and difficult emotions arose, allowing Canadians and Americans to hear from each other at a historical and crucial moment in our relationship. A person who called Salt Lake City: “Thank you for having the show. I find it really interesting to know about Canadians.”
I encourage you to listen and/or look, and then disappoint:
Listening | Field check through
Look on YouTube | His thoughts on the comments of “Canada as State 51 of the State” | Field check through
