The new tarted-up, glossy, all-colour Globe and Mail is many things, but it is not a real "news paper."
It has been "dumbed up" and robbed of much of its news content.
The result is a hybrid never before seen in North America. It is some of the old Globe of course. But is also part Maclean's magazine and The Economist. It is part National Geographic, Sporting News, Vanity Fair, and Women's Wear Daily.
Canada's for-profit mainstream media is in a state of crisis and failing to meet the country's needs, several concerned media critics told of a conference aimed at promoting alternative independent public media last week:
One of the champions of Canada's right-wing corporate elite is finally calling it quits.
Gwyn Morgan, 66, is stepping down in May as Board Chairman of SNC-Lavalin, the troubled, giant engineering and construction firm trying to survive a series of scandals, a lack of public confidence, and fluctuating share values.
Morgan, one of the country's most prolific advocates of extreme neoliberalsm, has been in the hot seat during the greatest series of scandals ever at a Canadian company.
"We remember what a force of personality he was, how driven he was, how motivated he was, how straightforward he was, and that we trusted him implicitly." – Alberta Premier Alison Redford
"While Ralph's beliefs about the role of government and fiscal responsibility were once considered radical, it is perhaps his greatest legacy that these ideas are now widely embraced across the political spectrum." - Stephen Harper
Condolences and praise poured in for former Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, who passed away on Friday at the age of 70.
I've been deeply involved in journalism for 40 years, and I've never experienced a time like this when mass media corporations are feeding us such distorted, one-sided news and opinion.
Corporate media is helping to facilitate a total change in the ideological fabric of the county into a nation of mean-spirited people who are starting to believe that extreme right-wing policies are the only solutions to our problems. Left behind are compassion, a sense of what’s in the public interest, and social justice.
If you want to see the Harper Conservatives defeated in 2015 – or at least reduced to a minority government -- it's time you started paying attention to what Joyce Murray is saying.
Murray is a Liberal leadership candidate from B.C., and the only candidate promising one-time co-operation with both the NDP and Greens to defeat Conservative candidates in a number of key ridings in the next election.
Editor's Note: This is now the last of five articles that address the need to develop independent media -- print, broadcast and Internet-based -- in Canada. The first three articles explored the reasons why traditional media no longer provide reliable news and information to the Canadian public, and can be viewed HERE, HERE and HERE. The fourth article discussed what independent media could be like and how it could benefit communities across Canada.
Editor's Note: This is the fourth of a series of five articles that address the need to develop independent media -- print, broadcast and Internet-based -- in Canada. All six articles will appear on rabble.ca. The first three articles explored the reasons why traditional media no longer provide reliable news and information to the Canadian public, and can be viewed HERE, HERE and HERE.
Note from the editor: This is another in the series of articles that address the need to develop independent media -- print, broadcast and Internet-based -- in Canada. All articles will appear on rabble.ca. The first article explored the reasons why traditional media no longer provide reliable news and information to the Canadian public. It can be viewed here. The second article, which explores how for-profit, corporate-owned media filter and censor the news, can be seen here.