History
The Tea Makers is a web site about the CBC, started July 2005 by a blogger writing under the pseudonym “Ouimet.†The name of the blog was taken from the Clash song “Career Opportunities†and the pseudonym was taken from former CBC President, inventor, and father of TV in Canada, Alphonse Ouimet.
In August of 2005 most union employees were locked out in a bitter labour dispute. Many of the locked-out employees took to blogging as a way of disseminating information and passing the time. The Tea Makers achieved some notoriety as the lone blog being written by a CBC manager still inside the building.
When the dispute was settled, nearly all of the blogs were shuttered by their owners, including The Tea Makers. It was restarted soon after. This pattern of closing and shutting would prove to be a regular one.
The Tea Makers continued off and on over the years, mostly written by Ouimet but with a growing and lively set of contributors, most of them pseudonymous, some merely pretending to be so. In April 2008 Ouimet went on an indefinite (albeit patchy) hiatus. The site was later taken up by Fake Ouimet. Fake Ouimet went on hiatus some months later and the site was left to contributors, which Fake Ouimet later rejoined. Then he quit again and in a fit of rage deleted all his posts.
Contributing
The Tea Makers has an open policy for posting articles and links. You can contribute here. If you create a profile and log in, contributions will be posted under your byline. Otherwise they will be posted under the byline “Anonymous.”
You can contact Ouimet at alphonse.ouimet@gmail.com with story ideas or questions. Anything emailed to alphonse.ouimet@gmail.com will be held in the strictest of confidence. Nothing will be published to the web site without the author’s explicit permission.
The Tea Makers is still primarily about the CBC. It’s open to CBCers and civilians alike. It’s open to CBC management, union members, on-air talent, freelancers, retirees, people watching TV, people listening to radio, malcontents, Ooh La La staff, and the guy who runs the magazine shop in the Atrium.
Advertising
We advertise through the Google Adsense network, if you want to place ads on this site you can route your requests through Google Adwords.
We also offer free advertising for blogs, media companies, and aggregators, commercial or not. Send your ad (300px wide by 250px high) and the URL of your website to alphonse.ouimet@gmail.com for consideration.
Complaints
Any complaints or disputes about posts should be settled with the individual authors.
If something on this site bothers you, email ombudsman.teamakers@gmail.com..
Media enquiries
Media enquiries sent to Ouimet will be ignored. It’s nothing personal.
Individual contributors might be interested, and Ouimet can help you set up an interview: alphonse.ouimet@gmail.com.
Anyone from the Ryerson Review of Journalism shouldn’t bother.
Comments
Comments posted should be in compliance with the law of the county in which they are written.
If a comment posted here bothers you, email ombudsman.teamakers@gmail.com.
Your Privacy
You have the right to remain anonymous or psuedononymous here, and your privacy will be protected at all costs.
