The examples are legion. Lawrence Martin himself. The Globe and Mail. The entire CTVGlobeMedia empire. National Post. The Toronto Star. etc, etc.
Most disheartening was the there was also CBC falling in lock step on Harper's lies about tax leakage and all the other patent BS about income trusts, even when armed with irrefutable evidence to the contrary.
The only thing worse than Harper, is the gawd awful Canadian media.
Harper tightens his grip on media message control
National Report by Lawrence Martin
METRO CANADA
June 22, 2010 10:00 a.m.
Anyone who has worked with Stephen Harper will tell you his top priority is message control. Control the message and you control outcomes.
That’s why, upon becoming prime minister in 2006, he put in place the most all-encompassing vetting system Ottawa had ever seen. Nothing could go out, not even the most minor of communications, without approval from head office.
But to control the message, you have to have influence in the media. So how’s this for a coup? Harper now has one of his former directors of communications, Kory Teynecke, as de facto boss of Sun Media coverage. The same Teynecke is also leading the bid from the same organization to create a new conservative television network.
On the newspaper side, Teynecke has already overhauled Sun Media’s Ottawa bureau. Several good reporters have been moved out. The replacements are good reporters as well. But anyone who doesn’t think they will be under pressure to provide a lot of Conservative spin is deluding themselves. The changes were made for a purpose, and the purpose was hardly to have the new hires rushing out to hold the government’s feet to the fire.
On the TV side, the new network needs regulatory approval to get up and running. The CRTC will be under tremendous pressure to provide it. As has been demonstrated, Harper does not take kindly to tribunals or commissions that go against his wishes. Those who sit on them can be replaced or have their decisions overturned. Chances of the PM standly idly by and watching this network proposal get shelved are next to nil.
The new network won’t be as biased as Fox News in the United States, its promoters claim. But in attacking the work of the CBC’s Don Newman, they showed their true colours. If they had one-half the experience, the depth and the erudition of Newman, they should consider themselves lucky.
Having one of his former promoters running Sun Media is just one of two great media turns for the prime minister. The other was the recent auction of the Canwest newspapers. Just when it looked like the conservative flagship, The National Post, and the chain’s other big-city newspapers were about to be taken over by liberally inclined buyers, Canwest’s Paul Godfrey came to the rescue with an 11th-hour bid that will keep the papers in the conservative stable.
The prime minister stood on the verge of losing the media balance of power in the country. Not only has he maintained it, he has now increased it.
Lawrence Martin is a journalist and author of 10 books who writes about national affairs from Ottawa.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
News Flash: Canadian media was already Fox News North, spouting Harper's lies about income trusts
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There is hope for the gawdawful Canadian press: as their stories and shows become even more boring, Canadians turn them off and their MSM balance sheets will shrink to pure debt.
Which is what happened to CanWas. Those geniuses bot $3 billion of newspapers and sold $1.2 billion of newspapers.
Sadly French Canadian media is no better. Totally CON.
As an income trust investor I found this explanation interesting ...
La Presse, founded in 1884, is a large-circulation French-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is owned today by Groupe Gesca, a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada.
In 2005 , Stephen Harper said that income trust investors were the salt of the earth , mom & pop Canada just trying to get by , & these good hearted Canadians would be protected at all costs---the media loved us.
By Oct 31st 2006 , Harper & his media crew defined us as greedy old bastards that were trying to rob the country blind , stealing the very food out of the mouths of the poor , a blight on society that had to be stopped.
Harper made the media the message & the rest of Canada believed him.
I guess stealing from fellow Canadians is A-ok as long as the PM & his media shills say it is so.
Dr Mike Popovich
PS--don`t get me wrong , there are exceptions to every rule---thank you Diane.
Brent,
As a U.S. citizen, this is an all-too-familiar story.
This has been going on in the U.S. for the past 30 years, starting with the Reagan administration's shredding of the anti-trust and media monopoly laws that enabled right-wing groups to take over countless print and electronic media outlets, such as Capital Cities' takeover of ABC, Rupert Murdoch's being able to expand his media empire at will, and Clear Channel's steroid-like growth from a few outlets in Texas to control of over 1200 media outlets today.
Bob
It's know wonder that the Canadian media, newspapers in particular, are in such bad financial shape.
The poor reporting mostly base don opinion - not fact - has turn newspapers into not much more that an overweight blog. Journalism loses all credibility when its members accept government plum jobs – example Duffy and out current GG.
Railhound
Anonymous has a point. If newspapers won't tell the truth then what is the point of having them in the first place? I have stopped reading newspapers for that reason. BB
Travers: Changing Canada, one backward step at a time
By James Travers
National Affairs Columnist
Imagine a country where Parliament is padlocked twice in 13 months to frustrate the democratic will of the elected majority. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that slyly relaxes environmental regulations even as its neighbour reels from a catastrophic oil leak blamed on slack controls. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that boasts about prudent financial management while blowing through a $13-billion surplus on the way to a $47-billion deficit. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country where a political operative puts fork-tongued words in a top general’s mouth. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that refuses to fund the same safe abortions to poor women abroad as it provides at home. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country where the national police commissioner skews a federal election and is never forced to explain. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that writes a covert manual on sabotaging Commons committees. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country dragging its climate change feet as the true north melts. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that silences political debate on the sale of a publicly owned, crown jewel corporation. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that puts higher priority on building super-prisons than keeping people out of them. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country where parties that win the most federal seats are dismissed as “losers”. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that twists its foreign policy around the interests of another nation. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that argues that barricading its largest city promotes tourism. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that promises Senate reform only to continue stuffing it with political hacks. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that avoids answers about a controversial war by accusing questioners of supporting the enemy. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country where party apparatchiks decide who in a nominally free press is allowed to ask the Prime Minister questions. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country where donut shop wisdom is more prized than expert analysis. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that builds a fake lake for a tough-times summit. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that preaches law and order while killing a long-gun registry police chiefs insist makes citizens safer. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country where serving the Prime Minister as chief propagandist is job preparation for running a national news network. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country where charities mute constructive criticism of public policy for fear of losing federal funding. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that can spend $1.2 billion for summit security but can’t find the petty cash needed to invest in the status of women. That country is now this country.
Imagine a country that promises accountability only to impose secrecy. That country is now this country.
Every example is familiar, all are documented. Only the cumulative effect is surprising.
Conservatives came to power knowing reluctant Canadians could only be shifted to the political right incrementally. That movement is now advancing according to the plan Conservative thinker, strategist and Stephen Harper mentor Tom Flanagan infuriated the Prime Minister by making public.
Imagine that.
Woweeee , loved it Jim.
One to add to the list :
Imagine a country where 18 blacked-out pages are issued as proof of a concept that remains unexplainable & not understood by 9 out of 10 MPs , that dreaded tax leakage from income trusts , which resulted in the decimation of billions in seniors savings all to favor corporate Canada. Third world at best , but now that country is our country.
Without an effective opposition , the list will continue to grow & Canadians will be the poorer.
It`s no wonder no one votes anymore.
Dr Mike
I here there is a copy FOX channel coming to Canada via the Sun media route to help the Harper/Flaherty band of liers.
I have a perfect name for this FOX copy station:
" The COX Channel "
Hey, boy Corey at the COX channel
pull up your pants and go away
JC
FYI - the news in Canada is not going to get any better. Sad but check out this headline and story ...
July 5 - CP news service to privatize
Three biggest members would co-own 93-year-old media cooperative
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/news+service+privatize/3236465/story.html
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