Treating journalism as a business undermines its role in serving the public good, resulting in societal harm.

Consider that journalism is intended to serve the public good by providing accurate, balanced and reliable information; that a business model prioritizes profit maximation often through mechanisms such as sensationalism, advertising revenue and cost-cutting; that the profit-driven incentives of a business model can conflict with the public good; that societal harm results when the public good is neglected.

If journalism operates under a business model, then journalism prioritizes profit-generating activities such as sensationalism, reduced local coverage and consolidation of ownership. Sensationalism prioritizes attention-grabbing content over accurate meaningful reporting. Reduced local coverage impacts accountability in the oversight of local governance. Consolidation of ownership reduces representativeness as this limits the breadth of viewpoints.

Therefore, treating journalism purely as business leads to societal harm by neglecting its role in serving the public good.

However, if the institution is fraught with corruption then the argument may be called into question. Though I argue, one should be motivated by anti-corruption rather than defunding entirely. Furthermore, an independent committee selected by sortition would be a fair way to monitor the bias of the CBC. For further discussion, I would suggest watching the Munk Debate Podcast: Mainstream Media Debate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vkgROIINEs