The evil tongues that say we’re twiddling our thumbs at Radio-Canada should know Marc Pichette.
• Also read: Radio-Canada infantilizes its own executives
Marc Pichette does not appear in any series or host a talk show.
In fact, there’s a good chance you’ve never seen him on the small screen or in the hallways of the new house on Papineau Avenue in Montreal.
Mr. Pichette, Radio-Canada’s first director of advertising and public relations, spends most of his time at his modest desk. He either talks on the phone or sits in front of the computer to publicize his employer’s successes. Or, more importantly, to excuse the incompetence of their bosses or to correct the “untruths” spread by certain thoughtless columnists, including me.
This tireless guardian of Canadian radio orthodoxy must not only be on the lookout for any inaccuracy to which his station may be subject, but must also demonstrate great self-sacrifice. In serious cases that could jeopardize his reputation, he must resign before his CEO Catherine Tait. It was she, for example, who tearfully apologized for “Alone, A Love Story,” the podcast that CBC dubbed in Paris because Cesil Fernandez, its Toronto producer, doesn’t like the French we speak in Quebec. It must be said that Ms Tait has extensive experience with apologies.
Lessons from Madame Tintin
This week, too, it was he who had to sweat blood and water to explain to my colleague Sophie Durocher why Madame Tintin, “head” of diversity and inclusion at Radio-Canada, had sent the eight commandments to all of the company’s executives, including Halloween -Party.
It’s not easy to justify such an infantile remark… Well! He openly stated that it was merely an “awareness initiative.”
Since the Toronto tentacles of wokism joined Radio-Canada, Marc Pichette has been so busy that I regretted causing him trouble on Tuesday last week when he wrote that Radio-Canada was “national television.”
He’s been to all his states, poor guy. He immediately sent me a long email explaining that we have to say “public television” even though the CEO, chairman and all directors of Radio-Canada are appointed by the governor in council and the state provides more than 65% of the financing.
However, it is true that Radio-Canada enjoys unassailable independence from the government (although Pierre Poilievre doubts this). I can confirm this as president and board member.
So that Marc Pichette can catch his breath, I promise from now on to always write about “public television”, even if it is not wrong to speak of state television, as the French and British often do for France Télévisions and the BBC, which have done nothing to envy the independence that Radio-Canada is so proud of.
ERRATUM: THE NEWSPAPER AND ADVERTISING
In my column of Tuesday, October 24, entitled “The indecency of the SRC Téléjournal,” I mentioned the name of Maisons Laprise among the companies that place advertisements in the Téléjournal. That’s not the case. My excuses.
