Originally aired May 25, 2023, this episode is rebroadcast in memory of Elly Alboim: an uncommon mind and a rare presence. Elly was brilliant, incisive, and deeply generous as a mentor and with his counsel. For anyone lucky enough to work with him, Elly was the person who could see the whole board at once. He was the person you wanted to speak last in a meeting because his opinion simply mattered most. This episode captures that gift in full for our audience. Elly died at the age of 78.

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The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, Bruce Power, and AltaGas.

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ORIGINAL POD DESCRIPTION: We’re bringing together 2 people — “The Interns” — who mean a helluva lot to me in both a professional and personal sense. As mentors, colleagues, advisors and friends.

Elly Alboim and Bill Fox are here!

Both Elly and Bill are now 2-time Herle Burly guests. An honorific I’m assuming will go right to the top of their CVs. But listen up to their bona fides: Elly was a journalist for the CBC for almost a quarter century, before becoming Parliamentary Bureau Chief for TV news and National Political Editor. He was a senior advisor to Paul Martin as well as Kathleen Wynne. Today he’s an Associate Professor of Journalism at Carleton and a Principal at Earnscliffe Strategies. And he wrote a fantastic piece on today’s topic, called “Eliminating the CBC”, which you can check out at Air Quotes Media. Bill began as working journalist and became Ottawa and Washington bureau chief for The Toronto Star. He then turned his eye toward politics as Director of Communications for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Today, he’s got about 18 academic degrees from small shops like Harvard and Carleton, and he’s a leading analyst of media and communication. His latest book is “Trump, Trudeau, Tweets, Truth: A Conversation” which is a fantastic read.

We’re going dive into a topic that’s become quite the political battleground over the last little while: The role and importance of CBC news … How the news division is performing … the case for dismantling … other legitimate journalistic alternatives … but first, media coverage of China election interference.