fox news
How Fox North became Harper's priority
Remember the attack ad the Paul Martin Liberals used in the 2006 federal election campaign that backfired so badly it helped galvanize Canadians to turf them out instead?
Aimed at terrifying Canadians about the militaristic and undemocratic impulses of Stephen Harper's Conservatives, the Liberal ad intoned over a war drumbeat: "Soldiers with guns... In our cities... In Canada... We did not make this up."
Today the tables could be abruptly turned on the Conservatives with this far more sinister message: "The prime minister's office. In a first-world democracy. Controlling a major media network. We did not make this up."
Harper's Fox News luncheon
My guess is it's pretty easy to arrange lunch with the Prime Minister. No doubt Stephen Harper often lunches with labour leaders and advocates for the homeless.
So it should be considered no big deal that, among those the PM has lunched with, is U.S. media billionaire Rupert Murdoch, who has probably done more than any single individual in recent years to push American politics sharply to the right.
It's interesting to imagine, however, why our Prime Minister would want to meet with Murdoch, whose Fox News TV channel has poisoned U.S. political debate and nurtured America's extremist right-wing Tea Party movement.
Faux News is no news for Quebec
It now seems a certainty that we will soon have our very own "Fox News North" cable channel as Quebecor is poised to launch "SUN TV News," a 24-hour news channel aimed at "more conservative viewers." While Quebecor has recently tried to deflect accusations that it will adopt a conservative point of view, its main architects are a bastion of Canadian conservatism, with Quebecor CEO and Tory supporter Pierre Karl Peladeau bankrolling the project and Kory Teneycke -- a former chief spokesperson for Stephen Harper -- slated to run the channel. Rumours that right-wing media darling Ezra Levant is being courted to host one of the station's opinion shows further points to the channel's conservative credentials.
The Left: A lot of activity, but lacking definition
A spectre is haunting Canada, as Marx and Engels said in a different era (and not about Canada): the spectre of the Canadian left. But I think phantom would be a better term. As in phantom limb. Take two examples.
2.jpg "David Climenhaga, author of the Alberta Diary blog, is a journalist, author, journalism teacher, poet and trade union communicator who has worked in senior writing and editing positions with the Toronto Globe and Mail and the Calgary Herald. His 1995 book, A Poke in the Public Eye, explores the relationships among Canadian journalists, public relations people and politicians. He left journalism after the strike at the Calgary Herald in 1999 and 2000 to work as Communications Director of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which with more than 73,000 members is Alberta’s largest union and Canada’s 10th largest. Alberta Diary focuses on Alberta politics and social issues. Contact: albertadiary @ gmail.com")
There's no danger of Murdoch style press scandals in Canada! Really! Got that? Now go back to sleep
| August 1, 2011Canadian journalism and the mote in our own eye
Can we declare a moratorium on Canadian Schadenfreude over Rupert Murdoch and his British tabs? They deserve what they're getting and more. But it tends to conceal the mote in our own eye.
