Fresh Hope for the CBC - Richard Stursburg Departs

I moved just shy of a month ago and, through a variety of technical issues, have been mostly offline since then. I think that all the issues are fixed now and I'm back. That's why I haven't said anything about Richard Stursburg's departure from the CBC until now.

People who know me, or who have been following my online activities for awhile would have wondered - I've wished for Stursburg's departure for years. In his 5+ years with the corp Stursburg has taken the CBC from a world renowned public broadcaster to just another commercial broadcaster that happens to be Canadian. Starting as the head of English Television Richard Stursburg maneuvered into position as the head of all English Language services - television, radio and online. Along the way he poisoned everything he touched.

He took CBC television from a safe bet any night of the week to the least of the Canadian commercial broadcasters. He dumbed down radio to match his television offerings and he took CBC News from a source of information and insight to a tabloid filled with trivia and sensationalism. He made token, superficial gestures toward the reality of internet based consolidated media but didn't really embrace it in the way the National Film Board, NPR or the BBC did.

The reality is that his departure doesn't mean that the CBC is going to come back but it does provide hope. The devil we don't know can't possibly be as bad as the devil we did.

The only words that really come to mind to commemorate his departure are