Here are a few comments from the CBC.ca story:

Stursberg has presided over the dumbing down of the CBC, a policy for which he should be held responsible.
JackMcFadyen

A good opportunity for Harper to bring someone in that will ensure truly “fair and balanced” news coverage instead of being a Liberal Party propaganda force.
Logi Biob

Is this the guy who gave us Little Mosque On The Prairie? May he never work again.
I_See_The_Matrix

I think the last line confirms…. the information “Hub” was a failure and was universally hated by all of the services. Radio and Television may be more modern these days, but they are still fundamentally different mediums and information simply cannot be spread between them equally. Add the Internet to the mix and they all need to work to their strengths.
chrisale

I am surprised it took six years for CBC management to realize this guy was about the worst thing that has happened to the English services in recent memory. I remember the last six English TV vice-presidents and this appointment was the most stunning shock to anyone who cares about public television.
LannyMorry

I would guess that Richard Stursberg is fully aware of the huge budget cuts being planned for the CBC.
BCworkinman

He shouldn’t be ALLOWED to leave until he cleans up the mess he made. THe man never understood public broadcasting; hence your tax dollars are paying for Canadian cultural gems like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and reruns of the Ghost Whisperer. He never understood that public broadcasting shouldn’t have its success calculated by market share; rather by the quality of programs with which it reflects the nation, and the regions of Canada, to themselves.
smudgebuck

Stursberg is leaving because his job is done: there is nothing left to be gutted that the new owners won’t be able to do themselves, such as reducing further classical music to a daily 3 hours max. Just listen to the new grid soon enough
AntonioSan

Stursberg was brought in to amalgamate & consolidate, in the best possible fashion, the CBC’s English Language TV, Radio & Online services into a fiscally viable media services delivery system… And at that, he’s pretty much succeeded. Yes… It’s different. No… It doesn’t please everybody…. But so what??… Even back forty-odd years ago, people complained that the CBC was too-rigid & elitist in it’s programing… And those were the days of TV programs like Juliette. Front Page Challenge, the Tommy Hunter Show, Wayne & Schuster, and Reach For The Top…  Things Change… Like Them … Or Leave Them For Somebody Else To Appreciate Them… ;-)
RU Outa Ur Mind

$100 says he joins Al Jazeera, following other CBC ‘luminaries’ such as Avi Lewis.
TJOttawa

The CBC changed totally when this man took the helm. The fellow before him (Rabinovich) tried to break it and this man changed it into a more “American” type. Changed forever. Nothing stays the same.
ollie12

Richard, you can’t please everyone. Thank you for your contribution to the CBC and best wishes for future endeavors.
Maritimer

Is it too much to hope for that Ghomeshi will be next?
The Dude on Pender

Maybe the issue is that a national broadcaster like CBC was a good idea fifty years ago but in today’s world of instant communications, it can’t appeal to much more than a niche market. Perhaps that’s why Richard Stursburg left.
AButters

Stursburg was pandering to the Conservatives everything-has-to-be-marketable carpet-bagging ideology. The Harper supporters are the ones on here decrying the CBC as a “waste of taxpayers” money, an argument which got old when the Cons started shoveling money off the back of a truck to their private, corporate pals instead of using it to support our Canadian institutions like the CBC, health care, and our social safety net.
Emmy P Citizen

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{ 4 comments }

Richard Stursberg, head of CBC’s English services, is leaving after six years in the position.

CBC president Hubert T. Lacroix announced his departure Friday in a statement to employees. Lacroix gave no reason for Stursberg’s departure, which is effective Friday.

“When Richard was appointed executive vice-president of CBC Television six years ago, he brought with him a revolution that shook the foundation of the organization and eventually of the whole of our English services,” Lacroix said in his statement.

“He challenged every premise, attacked conventional wisdom, and uprooted whole parts of the internal culture. Six years later, the institution is better off than it was. I want to acknowledge his success in turning CBC Television around and thank him for his contribution.”

Kirstine Stewart, currently general manager of CBC Television, is to take his job as executive vice-president of English services on an interim basis.

(original text from CBC.ca)

{ 11 comments }

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With Canada’s switch from analogue to digital over-the-air television just over a year away, CBC/Radio-Canada today released the details of its plan for the transition to the Canadian public. The transition to digital television is an industry wide issue requiring a concerted effort by all players – broadcasters, the CRTC, and government – to ensure [...]

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