Comment pouvez-vous mettre un stop à ces compressions de 80 % de Radio Canada International?

Écrivez s’il vous plait au ministre canadien des Affaires extérieures, John Baird ainsi qu’au ministre des Finances, Jim  Flaherty et au ministre de Patrimoine Canada ( voir les adresses ci-dessous ). Si ces personnes sont aussi votre député à la  Chambre des Communes, mentionnez-le-leur également.

Demandez-leur: est-ce que CBC/Radio Canada devrait-elle être celle qui décide la force ou la faiblesse de la voix canadienne dans le monde?

Demandez-leur: êtes-vous à l’aise avec le fait que notre auditoire chinois international ne pourra plus obtenir une  information non censurée sur le Canada, la Chine et le monde?

Nous sommes d’avis qu’en raison d’une succession de compressions budgétaires à Radio Canada International depuis 1990 ( voir  blogue http://rciaction.org/blog) le gouvernement doit donner à RCI une autonomie financière et retirer des mains de Radio Canada le  contrôle budgétaire de RCI .

Si vous être d’accord avec nous, écrivez s’il-vous plait et donnez votre opinion aux ministres responsables canadiens.

Nous avons très peu de temps pour atteindre notre objectif. Nous comptons sur vous.

Quelques points que vous pouvez aussi ajouter dans vos lettres aux ministres responsables:

• Le budget de RCI a été coupé de plus de 80 % – de $12,3 millions à 2,3 millions
• Le service des nouvelles de RCI sera éliminé; tous les bulletins de nouvelles coupés
• RCI ne sera plus un diffuseur d’émissions sur ondes courtes ou sur satellites
• L’auditoire chinois sera coupé des nouvelles de RCI non censurées, car seules les ondes courtes peuvent atteindre les résidents de Chine, le site web de RCI étant comme d’autres bloqué par la  Chine
• Les services russe et portugais seront éliminés
• Des partenaires économiques potentiellement important tel que la Chine, l’Inde, le Brésil seront coupés du Canada, car le site  web de RCI y est bloqué ou l’internet n’y est pas aussi facilement accessible qu’en Amérique du Nord.
• Pour les services restants, anglais, français, arabe, espagnol et mandarin, il n’y aura plus qu’une présence sur le web encore non défini et beaucoup moins efficace que les transmissions radio.
• Les citoyens de plusieurs pays d’Asie, d’Afrique et de l’Amérique Latine n’ont qu’un accès limité à l’Internet et ils dépendent de nos diffusions radio pour obtenir les nouvelles du Canada.
• Le caractère unique de RCI n’est que nous diffusons en plusieurs langues, mais que nous expliquons le Canada dans ces langues.
• En raison de la mise en contexte de l’information du Canada par RCI pour des gens qui ont peu ou pas d’information sur notre pays, nous aidons à la promotion économique et touristique du Canada en plus d’aider dans le secteur de l’immigration.
• Avec les compressions annoncées, le Canada va faire perdre au Canada des décennies d’expertises dans sa capacité de se faire voir et comprendre à l’étranger.
• La voix du Canada dans le monde est une source d’information et de journalisme respectée depuis 67 ans.

Veuillez prendre en considération notre invitation à envoyer des courriers électroniques aux trois ministres responsables de  RCI au gouvernement canadien. Si vous êtes au Canada, vous pouvez envoyer par courrier postal vos lettres gratuitement, sans  timbre-poste aux ministres, députés et sénateurs.

Merci,

Facing the reality of job cuts in any workplace is hard enough. When you’re an employee at Radio Canada International – it’s more than a job. It’s more than just a job loss.

Most of us have worked several decades for RCI. It may be an  under appreciated service in Canada. But in the last few weeks, since the April 4 announcement that we would be cut by 80% and stop being a radio station, listeners around the world have rallied to our cause to stop the cuts. They have also told us how much they appreciate what we do, and are astonished that our national public radio and television broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada would hit us with such a huge budget cut, much more then any other service under their control.

Strangely, even when we say an 80% per cent budget cut, it sounds sort of theoretical. When the letter is given to you that you no longer have a job, that your decades of service to Canada’s Voice to the World are redundant, well, that’s something else.

Today that happened to most of us.

About 15 permanent staff have been told they still have a job, 30 have been told they don’t. Three contractual webmasters will remain, but about 10 to 20 contractual employees (researchers, interviewers, hosts) will lose their jobs. Another 10 or 20 people who fill in for staff will have little or no work.

More importantly to us RCI has been almost made to disappear, no more radio programs, just a website, that is yet to be conceived, with little support. How much three employees in each of the five language services: English, French, Arabic, Mandarin and Spanish can do, even with the best of intentions, remains to be seen.

Management is saying we’ll be putting up text, photos, audio, maybe even video. But details are scarce. In fact, that’s the most surprising thing of all. There’s little information on how the website will look or function, there’s no real lead up time to prepare it, we’ll all be busy doing are regular programming until June 24. Then the new website is supposed to be up and running and those of us left, will have to somehow magically make it work.

For those of us who have lost our jobs, the pain on our faces was all too evident. This was not just a job, this was a passion for an institution we believe in.

For those of us who remain, there is the pain of losing our experienced colleagues. There is also the concern about how we will manage.

Next week we are promised a blueprint of the new RCI. Today it’s hard to believe in that future.

On the day that most of us at Radio Canada International were getting letters that said we were being fired. We took time to show our support with other colleagues at Canada’s national radio and television broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada who also were getting their letters. For more on our struggle to stop an 80% cut to RCI’s budget please check out this blog and what you can do: http://rciaction.org/blog/what-you-can-do/

Many of the people you see in this photo are losing their jobs – many with decades of experience in international broadcasting.

RCI’s Director Hélène Parent met with staff today (April 24)  at 1PM to update us on the impact of the 80% cut to our budget that was announced April 4.

She announced that of RCI’s 45 permanent staff, only 15 will keep their jobs. Three contractual webmasters will continue to maintain RCI’s website. Of the other contractual employees who will be let go (which include researchers, interviewers and some hosts) they would continue to be paid until the end of their contracts. Temporary staff (who fill in for permanent staff) would be informed shortly about what kind of replacement work would remain once RCI stops broadcasting programs on June 24.

She said that tomorrow, Wednesday, April 25, redundancy letters would be given to employees whose positions would be abolished.

And she promised to present a blueprint for the future of the service next week.

She thanked employees for their professionalism in a difficult situation.

When she asked for questions, there were none.

Tomorrow, April 24,  on the eve of getting our redundancy letters following the 80% budget cut to our service, RCI’s Director Hélène Parent has convened an information meeting at 1PM Montreal time. No other details are available at this time.

So now, we hold our breath again.

It’s been quite humbling and touching to read the many, many reactions from listeners around the world to the news of the cuts at Radio Canada International.

The comments are coming from all countries, in many languages. People are very upset. Others still in shock. Many ask what they can do. (Please check: here for suggestions.)

An American listener writes: “A very shortsighted decision to cut shortwave broadcasting in favor of the glitz of the internet. As has been observed around the world, the internet can be interrupted at a moment’s notice by governmental authority. Shortwave radio transcends borders and ideologies. The internet is not available to 90% of the people in the world, hard as that is to believe to us in the West.”

A Serbian listener writes: “This is absolutely dreadful. RCI has been one of the best shortwave radio stations and a much needed voice of solid, objective reporting. I’ve been a loyal listener from the mid-1990s and I am really saddened by this news.”

From a Chinese listener: ” It must have been 6 or 7 years since I started to listen to RCI Chinese section’s daily broadcasting via shortwave radio, I really enjoy it. However, when I heard that RCI will stop the mandarin broadcast to China at the end of June, it made me very sad, even depressed. I cannot understand the reasoning behind this decision… For me, the shortwave radio is the only way to know what happen in China, in Canada and in the world. Now you are burning this only bridge down! How sad. I hope it is not too late to reverse this decision!”

Some of the comments you will find on our blog. Others on different pages of the RCI website.

Here are a few links on the RCI website:

Some comments in English: here

Des commentaires en français: ici

En español: aquí

Em portugues: aqui

中文  请点击这里

Россия комментарии здесь

Common front meeting in Montreal of employees of CBC/Radio-Canada and RCI staff, April 18, 2012.

Yesterday at noon in Montreal, a common front of unions representing on air production staff, producers, technicians, administrative staff at our national radio and television public broadcaster CBC/Radio-Canada convened a meeting of hundreds of employees. The impact of the cuts on public broadcasting in Canada were discussed, and the near elimination of RCI was raised numerous times. The unions are working together to come up with a common strategy to fight the cuts.

RCI staff walking to common front meeting April 18, 2012.

Almost all of 60 plus RCI staff attended the meeting. This is a shaky picture of us walking to the meeting.

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How can you help us? Comment mettre un stop à ces compressions?

rciaction.org/blog/what-you-can-do

It is CBC/Radio-Canada, not Canada’s federal government, that so severely cut the budget and services of Radio Canada International. But it is the government that can step in, stop the cut, and protect RCI.

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How can you help?

Comment mettre un stop à ces compressions?

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Como você pode ajudar a RCI?

http://rciaction.org/blog/what-you-can-do/

Article on RCI in Montreal Gazette of April 12, 2012

Link to the Montreal Gazette article on line: http://tinyurl.com/7cw9mmz