"Max Power" wrote:

I am baffled as to why anyone from Canada should care about the London
bombings: UK's cultural broadcasting to Canada.

I'm afraid your leap of logic left me shaking head in wonderment.

1. BBC World Service has totally abandoned transmissions to Canada,
calling into question the nature and structure of the existing
"Commonwealth" relationship with the UK.

Ummmmm ..... we watch BBC on Foxtel (on those rare occasions when we need
to). I'd not expect BBC to broadcast to Oz. We've moved on from the days
when the the Empire Builders needed to get the news complete with Big Ben.

2. There has been no UK encouragement for Canada to increase its
international broadcasting budget (via RCI), so as to allow RCI to
effectively become a 2nd "World Service" as it was during the 1950s and
1960s.

Can't comment. No idea what RCI is/was.

3. The UK has failed to persuade US TV broadcasting entities to abandon or
change the way they broadcast to Canada

Ummmmm ..... why would/should they? The Yanks probably don't know that
Canada exists.

[US News and Information broadcasters that should "localise" to Canada]
-- CNN
-- MSNBC
-- Fox News (replaced with Sky News, Sky Fox Canada?)

4. The UK has failed to encourage Australia & NZ to increase their (TV &
SW) transmissions to Canada, a vital part of the "Commonwealth" glue.

Ummmmm ..... why would/should they? And if they tried, the Australian
Broadcasting Authority would probably suggest that they go plait their poop.

5. Nor has the UK encouraged Australia (specifically) to increase its
external broadcaster Radio Australia into a "3rd" regional axis (*) of
commonwealth broadcasting.


Ummmmm ..... why would/should they? Don't think the
Indonesians/Malaysians/Singaporeans/Japanese/Filipinos would be much
interested.

(*) It is important for Commonwealth as a whole to have a somewhat unified
multilateral cultural broadcasting effort -- not only for the security of
the individual members, but for the security of the Commonwealth as a
whole.

I suppose we don't share your enthusiasm for the Commonwealth. Useful for a
tween-Lympics C'wealth Games (here in Melbourne 2006), but little else.

I recall the feeling of betrayal when I - Welsh-born and of Welsh parentage
but with an Oz passport was directed to the "Alien" THEM desk at customs,
while the Krauts, Frogs and other foreigners were waved through the "UK/EU"
US desk. So much for the Commonwealth.

Pemo

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