LILLEY: Dhanraj files show the many ways CBC is failing Canadians

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More than three weeks after CBC host Travis Dhanraj resigned in spectacular form and accused Canada’s state broadcaster of not living up to their ideals, CBC says Dhanraj is still an employee.

Yes, CBC still refuses to accept his resignation, which he said at the time was prompted by CBC’s bias, lack of diversity of opinion, and their attacks on his integrity.

“This is an involuntary resignation,” Dhanraj said in a letter released July 7.

“I am stepping down not by choice, but because the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has made it impossible for me to continue my work with integrity.”

Dhanraj, who was recruited to move to CBC from Global and then had a primetime show built around him – Canada Tonight with Travis Dhanraj – accused CBC of being the opposite of what they claim to be.

“What happens behind the scenes at CBC too often contradicts what’s shown to the public. Performative diversity, tokenism, a system designed to elevate certain voices and diminish others,” he said.

Now, new evidence is emerging of CBC taking vengeance on their once star host for daring to question CBC’s decision to cut jobs while handing out bonuses to executives. In April 2024, Dhanraj asked CBC’s then-CEO Catherine Tait for an interview on his show – it was a request that she declined, so he posted about that to social media.

“At a time when the public broadcaster is under increasing scrutiny and when transparency is needed, #CanadaTonight requested an intvu w/ @PresidentCBCRC Catherine Tait. We wanted to discuss new budget funding, what it means for jobs & the corporation’s strategic priorities ahead. Our request was declined. This is unfortunate,” he posted.

The next week Dhanraj was yanked off air and spent days going through disciplinary hearings. The Toronto Sun has obtained select portions of some of those meetings, including CBC executives questioning him about his social media posts.

“Are you aware of the public reaction your post has elicited,” asked Andree Lau, CBC’s Senior Director of Digital News, Publishing and Streaming.

Lau was the executive who had announced Dhanraj’s hiring for the Canada Tonight post with much fanfare just months earlier.

“Travis’s engaging curiosity and incredible range of experience allows him to translate complex stories into personal terms and help audiences make sense of the news, which will be key as Canada Tonight sharpens its focus on stories that matter at home and make a difference in this country,” Lau said in announcing his hiring.

Now, she was asking him to defend what random people on social media were saying about his post and asking him to defend a column by National Post’s Tristan Hopper.

“Are you aware of the National Post article by Tristin Hopper published this week that features your post, it’s a screengrab, that features your X post?” Lau asks.

Dhanraj said he was aware of the column but wondered why he was responsible for it.

CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices states that their standards do no change when CBC itself becomes the story, as was the case here, and that normal newsgathering techniques apply.

“This means that there should be clear editorial separation between those people reporting on the stories and those whose priority it is to protect the interests of the Corporation, or its partner,” the guide states.

That clearly wasn’t happening here as a CBC news executive was grilling Dhanraj about the impact of his social media request for an interview on CBC’s corporate reputation. There was no separation and, in fact, Lau was clearly trying to discipline Dhanraj for doing his job of holding CBC’s executive ranks to account.

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When journalists for a government owned and operated broadcaster like CBC are forced to be more concerned about reputation management than covering a story, that is a problem.

By the way, Catherine Tait stated before a Parliamentary Committee that she wasn’t aware of what was happening with Dhanraj. Yet, documents obtained through Access to Information show that Tait was briefed before her committee appearance.

CBC is rotten to the core, but rather than forcing reforms, Prime Minister Mark Carney has simply decided to give them an extra $150 million per year in funding.

The Dhanraj files show that MPs should be holding future hearings into how CBC is run, because right now, it’s not being run as it should be.

blilley@postmedia.com