 | |
| Author | Richard Stursberg |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | CBC Television |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Publisher | Douglas & McIntyre |
Publication date | April 2012 |
| Publication place | Canada |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) and ebook |
| Pages | 288 |
| ISBN | 9781926812731 |
| OCLC | 816417502 |
The Tower of Babble: Sins, Secrets and Successes inside the CBC is a Canadian non-fiction book written by Richard Stursberg. The book is a memoir detailing Stursberg's experience as the vice-president in charge of English services at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) between October 2004 and August 2010. Stursberg was recruited by CBC president Robert Rabinovitch who understood and supported Stursberg's intention to move the CBC's focus more towards producing popular content with success and failure defined by the number of people who watch, rather than awards or critical praise. The book covers a range of topics relating to CBC, including acquiring popular shows, like Little Mosque on the Prairie and Heartland, for CBC Television, modernizing news coverage at CBC News, adjustments to CBC Radio, and CBC Sports losing broadcasting rights to its competitors.
This tell-all memoir was called entertaining but was met with mixed reviews. While it was valued as an insider account of a well-known institution, the author used the book to aggressively defend his views without relating to opposing views, and elaborate on what he views to be the CBC's deficiencies.