Saturday, January 12, 2008

I'm a big fan of the CBC. Maybe it's a patriotic part of my soul. Maybe it's wanting to be aware of the goings-on of the world. I listen to their radio stations, get excited at the prospects of their tv shows finding success and I read their news on the web. I generally enjoy their approach to news but I must admit I was somewhat disappointed in how they presented a recent story. With sections for news stories covering Canadian News, World News, Business News, Technology, Sports, etc., I was disappointed to see a story about French President Nicolas Sarkozy considering the concept of including happiness in measures of national well-being being shown in the "Diversions" section. This is the same section where they talk about a guy finding a pearl in his oyster meal at a restaurant.

I personally think that considering people's overall well-being and happiness rather than just their financial well-being should be a central effort of a government. Only when these stories are the mainstream stories will we really see governments change their approach.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Although I don't agree with all the measures he's taken so far and some he plans to take, I think this one should be put to his credit.
I'm curious to see how it will be set up and how our happiness and well-being will be measured.
This might make the governement's job more difficult though as it will imply a new variable, and a subjective one.
We'll see :)

Jim Provost said...

Hear hear! Did you hear Radio one's reporting of Butan's "Gross National Happiness?" They made it seem like some parlour game or grade-four project, and clearly did not give it the respect or necessary consideration.