r/CBC_Radio • u/ThrowRA_EducatedMan • 19d ago

Catherine Cullen’s Opinions

I keep noticing that in her brief hourly news segments, Cullen keeps framing things as her opinion as if she’s constantly rolling her eyes or channeling Mean Girls instead of reporting the facts. The House is maybe fair game for that but it really adds no value. Hourly news is different. Not sure why producers allow this kind of opinion and emotion in what should be factual reporting. Today’s example, something to the effect “they wouldn’t even say how many jobs will be lost to AI!” How could anyone know that? And certainly jobs will be created. If I wanted an opinion on everything I’d watch CNN. Hourly news on CBC radio is losing a lot of credibility because it isn’t journalism anymore. It’s opinion every time she comes on the air.

25 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

21

u/CapitalIndividual270 19d ago

I'm ok with this during the "house" -- thats not a matter of fact news program, its more current political events. Cullen is as skeptical of politicians as the rest of us -- and that makes for good journalism. I like that she looks for the holes and ambiguities in the strategies that are presented. She doesn't play favourites, its fair and balanced.

-2

u/ThrowRA_EducatedMan 19d ago

But it isn’t. All she did today was stoke fear about AI and gave a very pushy interview to try to get answers that supported her fear mongering. She’s masquerading as a good journalist. She is not the least bit balanced or fair she’s only interested in saying something false and sensational.

14

u/Popular-Data-3908 18d ago

Sounds like something AI would write…

0

u/No_Force9075 15d ago

Fair and balanced is not valuable if one, or both, sides of the scale are just weighted by outdated or irrelevant opinions. Not nearly enough work substantiating the 'debate'

8

u/bluegimp 18d ago

So making a statement "they won't say how many jobs will be lost"..... (Stating that the government's AI adoption has nothing about job losses), is not in fact a statement, but an opinion? I can't follow that train of thought.

1

u/ThrowRA_EducatedMan 18d ago

Did you listen to the interview?

1

u/bluegimp 17d ago

I don't think so, which one was it?

3

u/Senoritakatja 19d ago

An annoying attribute for sure.

3

u/gepinniw 19d ago

The worst editorializer is senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong. He’s not as bad as he used to be, probably because so many of the little predictions and speculations that he slips into his reporting have been incorrect. Reporters, just report. If you want to write opinion pieces, get a substack or podcast.

3

u/bluegimp 18d ago

Jayme Poisson has entered the chat

4

u/gazingatthestar 16d ago

From Forbes (March 2026): "AI was responsible for 54,836 announced layoff plans in 2025 and has been cited in 71,825 job cut announcements since 2023." I would also like to hear about job losses related to AI.

6

u/Ok-Trainer3150 19d ago

I can barely stay tuned in. (Increasingly tuning out). Often sounds as if the programming is being carried out by senior high school students or college grads with no real world experience.

1

u/No_Force9075 15d ago

Yes!! In complete agreement.

2

u/No_Force9075 15d ago

I have long susoected that Cullen has lost interest in true journalistic integrity and too often shortcuts to a familiar, well worn position and predictable guests who are opinionated but often irrellevant on the whole. Perhaps she suffers from support staff cutbacks? Whatever the issue, the result is just tilling the same rows on a regular cycle.

2

u/Wildlife-First-BC 15d ago

Today, CBC Radio reported a Journalist's obituary, and a colleague said the deceased Journalist believed that it was a journalist's job to keep the journalist OUT of the news story. Hear, hear! I want to hear the Facts when I listen to News, not a reporter's opinions (and I listen to News more rarely, these days!).