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Catherine Tait (born 1958) is a Canadian
business executive A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations g ...
who currently serves as the president and CEO of the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
. She succeeded
Hubert Lacroix Hubert T. Lacroix (born July 13, 1955) is a Canadian lawyer who last served as the President and CEO of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the national public radio and television broadcaster, from 2008 until 2018. Born in Montreal, Qu ...
for the position after being appointed on April 3, 2018, and beginning her mandate on July 3, 2018. Tait is also the
chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...
of the
Global Task Force for Public Media The Global Task Force for Public Media (French: ''Groupe de travail mondial pour les médias publics'') is a working group of leaders from eight national public broadcasters formed in September 2019. It is chaired by Catherine Tait, president and ...
, an initiative of the Public Media Alliance launched in September 2019.


Education

Catherine Tait holds a Bachelor of Arts in literature and philosophy from the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
, a Master of Science from
Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
, and a Diplôme d’Études Approfondies in communications theory from the
University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
.


Career


Media and culture industry

Prior to joining CBC/Radio-Canada, Catherine Tait had worked in film and television production in Canada and the U.S. for more than three decades. She served as a manager of Policy and Planning at
Telefilm Canada Telefilm Canada is a Crown corporation reporting to Canada's federal government through the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Headquartered in Montreal, Telefilm provides services to the Canadian audiovisual industry with four regional offices in V ...
in the 1980s, before going on to become Director and Cultural Attaché with the Canadian Cultural Centre in France from 1989 to 1991. In Canada, Tait was president and COO of
Salter Street Films Salter Street Films was a Canadian television and film production company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. History The company was founded by brothers Paul and Michael Donovan in 1983. Paul Donovan was trained as a director at the London Film Scho ...
from 1997 to 2001, producing such shows as the long-running CBC comedy ''
This Hour Has 22 Minutes ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes'' (commonly shortened to ''22 Minutes'' since 2009) is a weekly Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada's 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics wi ...
''. In 2002, she and film producer Liz Manne co-founded New York–based Duopoly Inc., an independent film, television and digital content company. Tait served as president until 2018. She also co-founded digital content provider iThentic in 2006 and the Canadian broadcaster Hollywood Suite in 2010.


President and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada


Strategic directions

Catherine Tait presented her vision for the public broadcaster in May 2019, with the unveiling of the Corporation’s new strategic plan, ''Your Stories, Taken to Heart''. The plan covers five priorities: global reach, digital, kids content, regions and diversity. In a speech to the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, Tait described how taking Canada to the world was the “spearhead” of CBC/Radio-Canada’s strategic plan, in order to counter the competitive threat of the digital giants. Since being appointed Chair of the Global Task Force for Public Media in September 2019, Tait has signed collaboration agreements (co-development and content sharing) between CBC/Radio-Canada and other public broadcasters around the world, such as the
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
, the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
,
France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (former ...
,
ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
and
RTBF The ''Radio-télévision belge de la Communauté française'' (RTBF, ''Belgian Radio-television of the French Community'', branded as rtbf.be) is a public service broadcaster delivering radio and television services to the French-speaking Commu ...
. As part of the public broadcaster’s ongoing digital transformation, in September 2018, Tait announced a new streaming service,
CBC Gem CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
, at Content Canada, an industry event in collaboration with the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
. The service launched in December 2018. Under her leadership, two new audio apps were developed – CBC Listen and Radio-Canada OHdio – providing a one-stop destination for all the public broadcaster’s audio content (music, podcasts and radio shows). Both apps were launched in fall 2019. At the international Kidscreen Summit in February 2019, Tait committed to expanding the public broadcaster’s kids content offering, especially on
CBC Gem CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
. During her tenure, the Corporation also launched two news services for kids 13 and under: CBC Kids News in 2018 and MAJ (''Mon actualité du jour'') in 2019. At the
Banff World Media Festival The Banff World Media Festival (formerly known as the Banff World Television Festival) is an international media event held in the Canadian Rockies at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta, Canada. The festival is dedicated to world t ...
in June 2019, Tait announced that she would ask the production companies with whom she does business to ensure that at least one key creative position – producer, director, writer, showrunner and lead performer – is held by members of visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and members of the LGBT community. In an interview with CBC/Radio-Canada reporters in Saskatchewan, Tait said she wanted to move more production to regional centres, particularly for radio and digital. This strategic priority has resulted in CBC stepping up its pop-up bureau approach at locations such as Stanley Mission, Saskatchewan; Winkler and Morden, Manitoba; northeast Calgary; and the Tsuut’ina First Nation in Alberta. CBC has also increased production outside Toronto, with the national radio show ''Cost of Living'' and the podcast ''West of Centre'' both being produced out of Calgary. The public broadcaster’s French-language network, Radio-Canada, has added new videojournalists in Yellowknife and Iqaluit to cover the North, as well as a more mobile workforce at its Abitibi-Témiscamingue station.


Comparison of Netflix to colonialism

Tait came under fire for the unparalleled comparison of Netflix to colonial imperialism in India and parts of Africa. She said "I was thinking about the British Empire and how, if you were there and you were the viceroy of India, you would feel that you were doing only good for the people of India. Or similar, if you were in French Africa, you would think, I’m educating them, I’m bringing their resources to the world, and I’m helping them. There was a time when cultural imperialism was absolutely accepted. Fast forward to what happens after imperialism and the damage that can do to local communities. So all I would say is, let us be mindful of how it is we as Canadians respond to global companies coming into our country." TV critic, John Doyle, who is known for critiquing Canadian TV wrote about Tait's statements saying "CBC's problem is complacency not imperialism." Tait's comments made American headlines with J.J. McCullough of The Washington Post writing a piece about the incident. McCullough pointed out an important fact about Canada's heavily government-regulated TV industry "Given the sensitivities of our time, one might assume the recent comments of Catherine Tait, president of the state-sponsored Canadian Broadcasting Corp., would provoke calls for her resignation. It is not every day, after all, that one spouts analogies as historically callous as hers." He continued saying, "The guardians of Canada’s domestic entertainment industry cannot handle this reality, however, which is why Tait’s use of an appallingly ignorant slur like “imperialism” to describe Canadians’ love of Disney, Netflix and HBO has caused barely a ripple. As the Globe and Mail report on the Tait comments noted, basically all of Canada's modern cultural-telecommunication regulatory regime “was built in part as a bulwark against American influence," and one presumably does not build bulwarks against the benign. Since bureaucrats like Tait cannot demagogue against the tastes of a public whose interests they imagine themselves to be serving, the phantom menace of an imperial America conspiring to conquer Canada must be created instead."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tait, Catherine Tait, Catherine Tait, Catherine Tait, Catherine Living people 1958 births