Wednesday, January 21, 2009

La Presse Anglo-Israélo-(Canadienne)




La radicalisation de la tendance pro-sioniste dans la presse et la politique canadiennes-anglaises

Yves Claudé
Lettre au Devoir
dimanche 18 janvier 2009

Le contenu de la couverture de presse canadienne-anglaise de l’opération militaire israélienne contre la population de Gaza reflète la propriété économique de ces médias (CanWest Global, une transnationale médiatique pro-Israël, entre autres…), mais aussi la radicalisation de la tendance pro-sioniste de la politique canadienne.

Cette radicalisation s’est opérée d’abord au sein du Parti libéral du Canada, alors qu’Izzy Asper (propriétaire de l’empire CanWest Global) ajoutait son poids médiatique à celui des milieux politiques et communautaristes pro-israéliens. À peu près seul dans le PLC à se démarquer de positions pro-sionistes obligées, le député québécois Yvon Charbonneau a été stigmatisé avec véhémence comme « antisémite » par des médias et des porte-parole communautaristes (ex : « a reported anti-Semite », Jewish Tribune, 21-10-2004), jusqu’à ce qu’il soit mis à l’écart du parti en 2004. Même le Nouveau Parti Démocratique, formation canadienne se revendiquant de la « gauche », pêchant délibérément en eau trouble…, a participé au lynchage politique d’Yvon Charbonneau.

Ces changements se sont précipités dans le contexte d’après septembre 2001, alors que la vague états-unienne de démonisation des Résistances nationales (palestinienne, afghane, irakienne, etc.) qualifiées de « terroristes » - en écho à celle de la Résistance française dans les années 1940 - a eu pour effet de stigmatiser toute parole s’écartant de l’Axe du Bien (Washington - Tel-Aviv) tel que défini par G.W. Bush.

Rappelons cependant qu’en 2003, le très fort mouvement québécois d’opposition à la guerre contre l’Irak (1), avait dissuadé le gouvernement libéral du Canada de participer à l’attaque états-unienne contre ce pays.

En janvier 2006, l’arrivée au pouvoir du Parti conservateur du Canada marque un tournant vers une politique canadienne encore plus ajustée à celle des USA et à celle des milieux pro-sionistes. Brian Mulroney, ancien premier ministre conservateur du Canada (1984-1993), avait discrètement préparé le terrain dans ces milieux (« I appointed Jews to my Cabinet and to the highest reaches of the public service and judiciary », discours du 9-2-2003).

À l’été 2006, lors de l’opération militaire israélienne au Liban, le National Post a pris la tête d’une croisade contre le mouvement québécois de solidarité avec la population libanaise (2), avec un acharnement particulier contre les partis politiques indépendantistes (le Parti québécois et le Bloc québécois) qui y participaient, et le quotidien de CanWest a même insinué qu’un « Quebecistan » indépendant « serait l’ami des terroristes »… (3) !

Alors que les frappes israéliennes causaient des centaines de victimes au Liban, y compris des citoyens canadiens, le gouvernement de Stephen Harper a apporté son soutien inconditionnel à Israël, comme il le fait actuellement (4), tandis que c’est la nation palestinienne qui pleure aussi ses morts par centaines. Le nouveau chef du Parti libéral du Canada, Michael Ignatieff, a émis récemment une position aussi radicalement pro-sioniste, en appuyant inconditionnellement l’intervention israélienne à Gaza.

La déferlante d’un néo-maccarthysme pro-sioniste et « anti-terroriste » a influencé la couverture médiatique des événements de Palestine au Canada anglais, et a – par ailleurs - probablement dissuadé nombre de personnalités politiques et culturelles québécoises de manifester ouvertement leur solidarité avec la population de Gaza, qui après avoir soutenu le « terrorisme » de l’OLP, a « mal voté » en optant pour celui du Hamas.

Le Québec serait-il à présent une nation doublement dominée ?

Yves Claudé – sociologue




Ownership of Canadian Newspapers


How did this come to pass, with all the government commissions to investigate media concentration in Canada? The commissions came and went, but the media ownership got more and more concentrated.
The effect is a dumbing-down of the national media, with the American Zionist neoconservative rubrick of the War on Terror completely adopted by the media Canadians trusted to keep them informed.
This is from McGill University http://www.mcgill.ca/files/misc/NewsOwnership.pdf

Ownership of Canadian Newspapers

Version 1, August 2005
Ownership of Canadian Newspapers is an ongoing study tracing the changes in
ownership of Canadian newspapers. Data were collected in conjunction with the OMPP
Ottawa Press Gallery Study. Initial information on ownership was gathered mainly from
the report of the Royal Commission on Newspapers (Canada, 1981), from newspapers
articles reporting on the different mergers and acquisitions, from the official websites of
the different newspapers or from the newspapers’ own archives.
This list is far from being complete. We therefore welcome any additions to our ongoing
study. If you have further information on the ownership of these Canadian newspapers,
please send them to the OMPP at ompp@mcgill.ca.
Citation: Maialène Boutin-Wilkins. 2005. Ownership of Canadian Newspapers.
Observatory on Media and Public Policy, McGill University,
http://www.ompp.mcgill.ca.

National


Globe and Mail

1844-1880: George Brown (named The Globe)
1844-1853: weekly newspaper
1880-1888: syndicate whose members included Senator Robert Jaffray
1888-1936: Jaffray family
1936-1952: George McCullagh (renamed The Globe and Mail) (The Mail had been
established by Conservative backers in 1872, and had merged with another Conservative
paper, The Empire, in 1895.)
1952-1965: R. Howard Webster (Montreal financier)
1965-1980: FP Publications Ltd. of Toronto
1980-2001: Thomson Newspapers
2001- : Bell Globemedia

National Post
1998-2001: Hollinger
2001- : CanWest Global (CanWest had acquired 50% of the National Post in 2000, it
acquired the other half in 2001)

British Columbia

Vancouver Province
*Incomplete
1898: founded
1927-2000: Southam
1957: partnership with Vancouver Sun: Pacific Newspaper Groups Inc. (split production
costs between the two newspapers)
1992: Hollinger acquires 22.6% of Southam
1996: Hollinger owns 50% of Southam
1997: Hollinger owns 58% of Southam
1999: Hollinger owns Southam
2000-: CanWest Global buys the Hollinger/Southam newspapers

Vancouver Sun
*Incomplete
1912: founded
1915: Robert J. Cromie buys the newspaper. At his death in 1936, he leaves the
newspaper to his son.
1957: partnership with The Province: Pacific Newspaper Groups Inc. (split production
costs between the two newspapers)
1963: FP Publications buys the majority of the shares
1980: Thomson buys FP Publications
1980: Thomson sells Vancouver Sun to Southam
1980-2000: Southam/Hollinger
1992: Hollinger acquires 22.6% of Southam
1996: Hollinger owns 50% of Southam
1997: Hollinger owns 58% of Southam
1999: Hollinger owns Southam
2000-: CanWest Global buys the Hollinger/Southam newspapers

Victoria Times-Colonist (Victoria Times and Victoria Colonist merged in 1980)
*Incomplete
1858: Victoria Colonist founded (British Colonist)
1884: Victoria Times founded (Victoria Daily Times)
1953-1980: FP Publications
1980-1998:Thomson Newspapers
1998-2000: Hollinger
2000-: CanWest Global buys the Hollinger/Southam newspapers

Vancouver Times
No information
Vancouver News Herald
*Incomplete
1933: founded as a co-operative by several journalists
1951: bought by the Vancouver Sun
1952: bought by Thomson Newspapers
1957: closed by Thomson Newspapers

Alberta

Calgary Herald
1883-: Andrew Armour and Thomas Braden (started as a weekly; was named Calgary
Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate and General Advertiser)
1883-1908: ownership changed a few times
1908-2000: Southam/Hollinger
1992: Hollinger acquires 22.6% of Southam
1996: Hollinger owns 50% of Southam
1997: Hollinger owns 58% of Southam
1999: Hollinger owns Southam
2000-: CanWest Global buys the Hollinger/Southam newspapers

Calgary Albertan
*Incomplete
1943: George Melrose Bell, Max Bell’s father owns the newspaper
1943: At the death of his father, Max Bell gets a loan and acquires the newspaper
1943-1953: Max Bell
1953-1980: FP Publications
1980: bought by Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation who closed it and launched the
Calgary Sun
Calgary Sun
1980-1996: founded Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation
1994: Rogers Communication buys MacLean Hunter which owned Sun Publishing
1996- : Sun Media Corporation is formed
1999-: Sun Media Corporation is bought by Québécor

Edmonton Sun
1978-1996: founded by Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation
1994: Rogers Communication buys MacLean Hunter which owned Sun Publishing
1996- : Sun Media Corporation is formed
1999-: Sun Media Corporation is bought by Québécor
Edmonton Journal
1903: founded par John Macpherson, John W. Cunningham and Arthur Moore (was
named The Evening Journal)
1909-1912: J.H. Woods (J.P. McConnell, who had options on the paper, sells it to J.H.
Woods)
1912-2000: Southam/Hollinger
1992: Hollinger acquires 22.6% of Southam
1996: Hollinger owns 50% of Southam
1997: Hollinger owns 58% of Southam
1999: Hollinger owns Southam
2000-: CanWest Global buys the Hollinger/Southam newspapers

Lethbridge Herald
1905: founded by F.E. Simpson & A.S. Bennett
1905-1955: Asbury Buchanan
1955-1980: FP Publications
1980-2000: Thomson Newspapers
2000-: Horizons Operations B.C. Ltd.


Saskatchewan

Regina Leader Post
Incomplete
1883-: founded
1928-1953: Sifton family
1953-1995 : Clifford Sifton and eventually his son Michael
1996-2000: Hollinger
2000-: CanWest Global buys the Hollinger/Southam newspapers

Saskatoon Star Phoenix
1902: The Phoenix (weekly), founded by Wesley and Leonard Norman
1902-1907: changed ownership a few times
1907-1909: Daily Phoenix, published 3 times a week
1909-1910: became a daily in 1909; changed name in 1910: Saskatoon Capital
1910-1912: W. F. Herman and Talmage Lawson; changed name to Saskatoon Daily Star
1912-1928: changed ownership a few times
1928-1953: Sifton family: bought two dailies: Saskatoon Daily Star and The Daily
Phoenix and founded the Saskatoon Star Phoenix
1953-1995: Clifford Sifton and eventually his son Michael Sifton
1996-2000: Hollinger
2000-: CanWest Global buys the Hollinger/Southam newspapers

Manitoba

Winnipeg Free Press
1872: founded by W.F. Luxton (Manitoba Free Press; becomes the Winnipeg Free Press
in 1931)
1898: bought by Clifford Sifton and Clifford Jr.)
1953- : Victor Sifton
1953-1980: FP Publications (Victor Sifton, Max Bell and Richard S. Malone)
1980-2001: Thomson Newspapers
2001-: FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership

Winnipeg Tribune
*Incomplete
1886: founded by John J. Moncrieff (?)
1920: bought by Southam
1980: closed by Southam on August 27, 1980. The Ottawa Journal was closed on the
previous day by Thomson Newspapers.
Winnipeg Sun
1980: co-founded by Frank Goldberg and launched in November, shortly after the
Winnipeg Tribune was closed by Southam. Many Tribune employees went to work at the
Sun. It was originally published three times a week.
1983: Québécor acquires 60% of the Winnipeg Sun
1999-: part of Sun Media Corporation which is owned by Québécor

Ontario

Toronto Star
*Incomplete
1892: founded
1913: Joseph E. Atkinson: had the Toronto Star Weekly (founded in 1910; published on
Sundays; renamed Star Weekly in 1938; taken over by Canadian Magazine in 1968-
closed in 1973)
1948-1976: Atkinson Charitable Foundation, in 1958, sold to the trustees
1976- Torstar, holding is created
Toronto Telegram
1876-1948 (originally the Evening Telegram,) was launched in 1876 by John Ross
Robertson. Robertson dies at some point, owned by a trust he had established
1948-1952: George McCullagh
1952-1971: John Bassett
1971-: Bassett closed down the Telegram; some journalists start the Toronto Sun

Toronto Sun
1971: founded by Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation
1982: MacLean Hunter buys half of Sun
1994: Rogers Communication buys MacLean Hunter
1996: Rogers sells 62.5% share in Sun Publishing
1996: Sun Media Corporation is formed
1999-: Sun Media Corporation is bought by Québécor

Ottawa Journal
*Incomplete
1959-1980: FP Publications
1980: bought by Thomson Newspapers
1980: closed by Thomson Newspapers

Ottawa Sun
1988-1996: founded by Toronto Sun Publishing Corporation
1994: Rogers Communication buys MacLean Hunter which owned Sun Publishing
1996- : Sun Media Corporation is formed
1999-: Sun Media Corporation is bought by Québécor

Ottawa Citizen
1845-1846: founded by William Harris (named Bytown Packet, renamed The Citizen in
1851)
1846-1849: John Bell and Henry Friel
1849-1877: John Bell
1877-1879: Charles Herbert MacIntosh
1879-2000: Southam/Hollinger
1992: Hollinger acquires 22.6% of Southam
1996: Hollinger owns 50% of Southam
1997: Hollinger owns 58% of Southam
1999: Hollinger owns Southam
2000-: CanWest Global buys the Hollinger/Southam newspapers

Ottawa Today
No information

London Free Press
1949: founded
1952-1997: Blackburn family
1997-1999: Sun Media Corporation
1999-: Sun Media Corporation is bought by Québécor

London News Chronicle
No information

London Daily Express
No information

Sudbury Star
1909-1910: founded by George J. Ashworth (named The Daily Northern Star)
1910-1948: W.E. Mason Equipment (run by Bill Mason)
1948-1950: W.E. Mason Estate (after Bill Mason’s death in 1948)
1950-1955: J.R. Meakes
1955-2001: Thomson Newspapers
2001-: bought by Osprey Media

Windsor Star
1918-1971: Herman family bought The Windsor Record (then renamed Border Cities
Star; renamed The Windsor Daily Star in 1935; renamed Windsor Star in 1959)
1971-2000: Southam/Hollinger
1992: Hollinger acquires 22.6% of Southam
1996: Hollinger owns 50% of Southam
1997: Hollinger owns 58% of Southam
1999: Hollinger owns Southam
2000-: CanWest Global buys the Hollinger/Southam newspapers

Kingston Whig Standard
1849: founded (British Whig)
1925: Rupert Davies bought the British Whig
1926: Davies merged the British Whig and the Kingston Standard merged: Kingston
Whig Standard
1939: Rupert Davies becomes the sole owner of the paper
1939-1990: Davies family (Senator Rupert Davies and sons, Robertson Davies and
Arthur Davies (editor 1951-1969); grandson Michael Davies (editor 1969-1990)
1990-2001: Southam/Hollinger (sold on Oct 26 1990)
1992: Hollinger acquires 22.6% of Southam
1996: Hollinger owns 50% of Southam
1997: Hollinger owns 58% of Southam
1999: Hollinger owns Southam
2001-: Osprey buys the newspaper from Hollinger

Hamilton Spectator
1846: founded by Robert Smiley and a partner, it was originally named The Hamilton
Spectator and Journal of Commerce
1877-1998: Southam
1998: Hollinger
1998: Sun Media Corporation
1999: Québécor acquires Sun Media Corporation
1999-: bought by Torstar Corporation

St. Catharines’ Standard
1891-1996: founded by the Burgoyne family
1996-2000: Southam/Hollinger
1996: Hollinger owns 50% of Southam
1997: Hollinger owns 58% of Southam
1999: Hollinger owns Southam
2000: CanWest Global buys the Hollinger/Southam newspapers
2003-: Osprey buys the newspaper from CanWest Global

Quebec

Le Droit
1913-1983 (March 27th 1913) Onésime Guibord, Pierre Esdras Terrien, Aurélien
Bélanger, Charles-Siméon-Omer Boudreault, Samuel Genest et Charles Charlebois :
Syndicat d’Oeuvres sociales (pères oblats)
1983-1987: Unimédia (groupe Unimédia in 1987)
1987-2000: Hollinger
2000-: Gesca (owned by Power Corporation)

Le Devoir
1910: founded by Henri Bourassa
independent

La Presse
1884: founded by William-Edmond Blumhart
1889-1904: Trefflé Berthiaume
1904-1906: David Russel
1906-1955: famille Berthiaume-Du Tremblay
1955-: bought by Paul Desmarais (Power Corporation)
Owned by Gesca (Power Corporation)

Le Journal de Montreal
1964: founded by Pierre Péladeau (Québécor)
1999-: part of Sun Media Corporation which is owned by Québécor
Le Soleil
*Incomplete
1896: (December, 28) founded L’Électeur
50s-60s-1973: Gilbert family
1973-1987: Groupe Unimédia
1987-2000: Hollinger
2000-: Gesca (Power Corporation)

Montreal Gazette
*Incomplete
1776: founded by Fleury Mesplet
1907-1968: The Gazette Printing Company
1968-2000: Southam/Hollinger
1992: Hollinger acquires 22.6% of Southam
1996: Hollinger owns 50% of Southam
1997: Hollinger owns 58% of Southam
1999: Hollinger owns Southam
2000-: CanWest Global buys Hollinger’s newspapers

Montréal Matin
*Incomplete
1978 : closed by its owner, Gesca (owned by Power Corporation). The last edition was
published on December 27.

Montreal Star
*Incomplete
1979 : closed by its owner, FP Publications

Le Petit Journal
*Incomplete
Weekly paper, published from 1926 until 1978

La Patrie
*Incomplete
Daily, and later on a weekly paper published from 1879 until 1978

Le Canada
No information

Le Nouveau Journal
No information

L’Action Catholique
*Incomplete
1973 : closed
Montreal Daily News
1988: acquired by Québécor.
1989: closed


New Brunswick

New Brunswick Telegraph Journal
No information
L’Évangéline
No information

Daily Telegraph
No information

Saint John Times Globe
No information

Nova Scotia

Cape Breton Post (Sydney)
*Incomplete
1901-1971: independent publication
1971-1996: Thomson Newspapers
1996-2000: Southam/Hollinger
1996: Hollinger owns 50% of Southam
1997: Hollinger owns 58% of Southam
1999: Hollinger owns Southam
2000-2002: CanWest Global buys Hollinger’s newspapers
2002-: GTC Transcontinental

The Daily News (Halifax)
1974: David and Diana Bentley and Patrick and Joyce Simms founded The Great Eastern
News Company Ltd. to publish the weekly broadsheet The Bedford-Sackville News.
1979: began publishing as a daily and with the name Daily News
1985: Newfoundland Capital Corporation acquired a controlling interest
1987: Newfoundland Capital Corporation gains complete ownership
1997-2000 : Hollinger
2000-2002: CanWest Global buys the Southam/Hollinger newspapers
2002-: GTC Transcontinental buys the newspaper
Sydney Post Record
No information

Halifax Mail Star
No information

Halifax Herald
No information

Halifax Harold Chronicle
No information

The Chronicle Herald (Halifax)
1875: founded
1907-: owned by Dennis family

Newfoundland

Corner Brook Western Star
1900-1904: founded by Walter S. March, (April, 4)
1904-1924: Star Printing and Publishing Co.
1924-1926: A. L. Barrett
1954: became a daily
1926-1979: Western Printing and Publishing Co.
1979-1996: Thomson Newspapers
1996-2000: Southam/Hollinger
2000-2002: CanWest Global
2002-: GTC Transcontinental
St. John’s Evening Telegram
1879-1970: founded by William James Herder; owned by Herder family
1922: Herder dies; Board of Directors is established with two of his sons on it: W.H
Herder as president and H.A Herder as vice-president
1934-1955: W.H Herder and H.A. Herder die; Ralph B. Herder is named president of the
Board of Directors (died in 1955)
1970: Jim Herder dies (last of the Herder sons)
1970-1996: Thomson
1996-2000: Hollinger
2000-2002: CanWest Global buys Hollinger’s newspapers
2002-: GTC Transcontinental buys the newspaper

St. John’s Daily News
No information

Evening Times Globe
No information

Sunday Post
No information

Last Post
No information

Download this in PDF format(in case McGill removes their copy): CanadianNewsOwnership.pdf Brought to you with the help of Charles Bronfman, co-chair of the Mcgill Institute for the Study of Canada. They won’t tell you that most of the media in Canada is owned by the Zionists, but the facts are above in black and white. http://www.thecharlesbronfmanprize.com/charlesbronfman.php



Let ‘Isr-elWest’ Propaganda Network Burn


asper_canwest

No one wants to read Ziofascist propaganda, so the Ziofascist government may help out the propagandists

Canwest Global is Isr-eli Propaganda

CanWest is a deleterious influence on Canadian democracy. They should be registered as a Foreign Lobby group.
Seize these propagandists funds, and use them to set up real local media across Canada that actually serves the people, not supra-national interests.

Some broadcasters are more equal than others

http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/03/20/some-broadcasters-are-more-equal-than-others/
Heritage Minister is reportedly considering lending a hand to Canwest after turning a deaf ear to the CBC
Good things come to those who wait. At least that’s Canwest Global Communications’ perspective on Ottawa’s new-found willingness to consider assistance for Canada’s beleaguered private television networks.
On Wednesday, Heritage Minister James Moore confirmed that the Harper government is looking at loosening broadcast regulations and changing tax rules to help the media giant stave off bankruptcy. But the spin from the company’s Winnipeg HQ is that this is less a bailout than a righting of historic wrongs.
“It’s a sign that the government is hearing the growing chorus of voices—consumer groups, organized labour, the Opposition, special interest groups—who are all saying that the way consumer dollars are collected for viewing cable are not being adequately and fairly sent around to everybody,” says John Douglas, Canwest’s vice-president public affairs. “Our position on this is the same as it has been since 1971.”
Canwest, along with CTV and Quebecor, owners of the private French TVA network, have long been asking the CRTC to treat their conventional channels more like specialty networks, which receive a share of cable subscribers’ monthly bills known as carriage fees. Cable providers like Rogers, which owns Maclean’s, are opposed to the idea, claiming the system could inflate customers’ bills by as much as $10 a month. The conventional broadcasters say the estimated $300 million a year fee-for-carriage would generate is essential to their survival. The CRTC categorically rejected that argument last fall, saying the networks failed to prove they really needed the higher revenues. But as the global economic meltdown has taken its toll on advertising, broadcasters are finding that Ottawa is a lot more receptive to being—rather than crying—poor. “We have the CRTC admitting now that the model is broken,” says Douglas. “And anything that would be contemplated by the federal government, I’m assuming, would be in recognition that the state of the industry is what we said it was two years ago.”
But deep cuts to local news coverage by all the private networks, moves by Canwest to sell its five E! channels and threats by both CTV and CanWest to walk away from unprofitable smaller markets, are also clearly forcing government’s hand. And the message that immediate help is needed has been taken directly to 24 Sussex Drive. Both CanWest CEO Leonard Asper and Quebecor’s Pierre-Karl Péladeau, have personally met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on behalf of their companies in recent weeks. The federal lobbyist database also shows meetings with Minister Moore, senior CRTC executives, and former industry minister Jim Prentice. Douglas would not comment on specific meetings, or reports that Canwest has engaged the lobbying services of Ken Boessenkool, a former senior Harper adviser, but said the company has always kept Ottawa in the loop about its concerns: “The amount of dialogue we’ve had is no different that what we’ve had over the previous years.”
If the government’s aim in saving Canwest is to preserve local programming, easing content restrictions is a curious way to go about it, argues Canada’s largest media union. In a statement released Thursday, the Communnications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada says the federal government should be wary of bailing out from under the weight of its “bad business decisions.” In fact, if the CRTC does eventually allow the broadcasters’ to collect carriage fees, the government agency should use the opportunity to tie the extra funds to “new, original news and information programming,” says Peter Murdoch, the union’s vice-president, media. “Local programming is not the cause of Canwest’s debt problems, nor should it be made its victim.”
The prospect of doling out government aid to Canwest also raises the question of just what the government should be doing to help other types of media struggling in these uncertain economic times. Canwest, for example, also owns 39 daily and community newspapers in Canada. And while they don’t appear to be lobbying Ottawa for assistance on that front (the lobbying database lists “broadcasting” as the subject of all recent meetings), given the industry’s current difficulties south of the border, it is not inconceivable that Canada’s papers will also soon find themselves at a crossroads.
David Black, president and CEO of Black Press, which operates more than 150 community and daily papers in Canada and the U.S., declined to comment on any possible assistance for his competitor (“You don’t want to go there”) but said there is a case to be made for Ottawa helping print too. “I don’t believe that government will work very well without daily newspapers,” he says. “If the opposition raises its voice in the House and no one is there to report it, what good does that do?” Given the current crisis, journalistic ethics may have to take a back seat to economic realities, says Black. “You want to be able to run editorially without fear or favour, but on the other hand we’ve got a problem.”
The one place where the Harper government is emphatically drawing the line, however, is public broadcasting. Moore has already said Ottawa will not provide more money to the CBC after the network disclosed that it is facing an estimated $100 million hole in its budget due to shrinking ad revenue. Ditto to requests for an advance on next year’s funding or a bridge loan. “The only way we’ll get the financial flexibility we had asked for,” says CBC spokesperson Marco Dubé, “is to sell some of our assets.” For his part, the Heritage minister suggested earlier this week that the CBC would have to cut between 600 and 1,200 jobs to balance its books.
Whether the public and private broadcasters—long bitter enemies—will find common cause in these troubled times, remains to be seen. One of the issues that Leonard Asper is registered to lobby on is the future mandate of the CBC. But at this point, CanWest has no position of whether its rival deserves some assistance too. “That’s not for us to comment on,” says Douglas. “We’re in a position to comment on our situation and the realities of our network.”
March 25th, 2009



Izzy Asper

Carto explique la ploutocratie médiatique

Canadian politicians get more free trips to Israel than anywhere else