Catherine Tait on the challenges facing PSM and the role of the Global Task Force 

Since its creation in 2019, the Global Task Force for public media has stood up to defend public service media values, independent media, and the threats facing journalists. With the presence of “Big Tech”, the growth of mis- and disinformation, and a more polarised society greatly impacting the media landscape in general, the mission of public service media has never been so important to keep people well informed.

At the Public Broadcasters International (PBI) conference, hosted by CBC/Radio-Canada in Ottawa in October 2024, PMA’s CEO Kristian Porter spoke with Catherine Tait, looking back at the work she has achieved both within the GTF and CBC/Radio-Canada. Tait will depart CBC/Radio-Canada at the end of 2024. Marie-Philippe Bouchard has been appointed as her successor. 

The Public Media Alliance is the secretariat of the GTF.  

Kristian Porter: Catherine, later this year you’ll step down as President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada and with it the Chair of the Global Task Force for public media, a group that you started to bring together in 2019, at PBI in Helsinki. What was your initial vision for the GTF? 

Catherine Tait: It’s very, very nice that you mentioned that because it was a wonderful PBI and it was my first. We felt that we needed a mechanism to move quickly and responsively as a group of public media companies to crises that we were facing at any given point in the calendar year, let’s say. So we all are members of big organisations, and we are constantly trying to respond. But we really felt that given what public media is facing, that a group as small as the Global Task Force – which would represent the leading public media companies – would be more deliberate in its reflections and its actions and allow for greater impact.  

Read more: Global Task Force for public media CEOs meet to discuss state of public broadcasting worldwide

KP: Has it lived up to that vision?  

CT: I think so. The first formal communication was actually in 2020 and it was around the pandemic. And we started by saying, “public media during a world health crisis like COVID-19, we have played a very specific role in informing the public, ensuring that there was true, credible, fact-based information in a sea of disinformation at the time around vaccines, around where the illness was coming from.” This was our first action and from there we took a number of steps. Standing up for independent media, freedom of the press, combating online harm to journalists. 

On a number of occasions, we have said as a group, that we, the Global Task Force for public media, have a statement to make because we’re concerned.  

KP: Do you think there’s anything else that you’ve achieved? The coming together of a group like this, are there other opportunities there as well? 

CT: In each of our distinct geographies, we are all experiencing challenges from, obviously, the global tech giants. Some of us are members of the EBU, some of us are members of PMA, some of us are members of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. But as a small group, we are able to process that information and then find ways of working together. Because at the end of the day, if we don’t collaborate, we are not going to be successful in supporting the values and the objectives of public media. Given the world that we live in now. 

KP: Are there any actions from the GTF that you’ve been particularly proud of?  

CT: I was personally very pleased that we were able to stand up for Czech Television at a time when there was a lot of pressure for state interference in that particular geography. And more recently when Twitter, or formerly Twitter, X, made a statement, basically a blanket statement calling all of us state-funded media, not making the very, very important distinction between publicly funded, independent media versus a state-controlled media. And that was a very, very important statement, which actually, I think, again, demonstrates collective action, not necessarily always against the global giants, but certainly standing up for what it is we all support, which is independent, free press.  

KP: And that support is needed more than ever, but it’s also increasingly difficult to rally support, isn’t it? Are there any particular challenges of chairing a group like this and trying to achieve these statements or coordination?  

CT: With amazing people that work for each organisation, we depend on those relationships and we’ve built relationships that weren’t there before. So when there’s disagreement or – I don’t want to say discord because we generally all share the same values – but not every country is facing the same challenges. So when we, in Canada, were facing the elimination of news on Meta on Facebook, this is a huge crisis for this country. 

It was also a crisis in Australia, but not necessarily shared among all members. There will be moments where we don’t necessarily agree on everything. But the very fact that we’re having the conversation is equally important because it sensitises our partners to the challenges that we’re facing in our own countries.  

“With polarisation being fed by disinformation, misinformation and the force of AI, all of those elements conspire to a very worrisome outcome for democracy, which is the fundamental principle that public service media exist to support.” – Catherine Tait, CEO and President of CBC/Radio-Canada and Chair of the Global Task Force for public media

KP: And it’s worth it. Ultimately, it’s worth it… chairing a group like this, you know, working together, being collaborative like this?

CT: It’s absolutely worth it. It’s in my mind, it has been for and you mentioned that I am soon ending my time at CBC/Radio-Canada. But being the chair of the Global Task Force has been really one of the most rewarding parts of the job. I feel that there’s legacy there, not for me personally, but for our organisation and for, quite frankly, the future of public media in the world. This is the moment to be defending these organisations. And all of us are under a lot of pressure and a lot of stresses.  

KP: What do you see as being the major challenges that a group like the GTF will have to face in the coming years? Is there one challenge in particular?

CT: It is really what is facing media globally, not just public media, but this incredible gravitational force to what I would call threat to independence and free press. Quite frankly, this is largely driven by the globalisation of the media sector and the tech giants. And really, as we go forward, in each of our countries, we are all facing the results of the influence of these tech giants in the polarisation that each of our societies is experiencing. And with polarisation being fed by disinformation, misinformation and the force of AI, all of those elements conspire to very worrisome outcome for democracy, which is the fundamental principle that public service media exist to support.  

And the challenges are great. And I hope very much that the Global Task Force will live on. I’m confident that my colleagues and all the countries that are part of it will lean in and continue to lean in on these very, very important issues. 

KP: Catherine Tate, it’s been a pleasure working with you over the last five years on this. And I continue to look forward to working with you in the future.