Wednesday, September 30, 2009

MediaWatch : The Vancouver Sun and the Fraser Institute

An article at The Tyee notes the "remarkable success" the Fraser Institute has had in blanketing the Vancouver Sun with its guff.
Not so remarkable when you consider The Sun's senior editor for the editorial pages is Fazil Mihlar, former director of regulatory studies at the Fraser Institute, and that the Sun is owned by the Aspers, former Fraser Institute board members.

Here is all you need to know about that :
From Peter C. Newman's book, Izzy: The Passionate Life and Turbulent Times of Izzy Asper, Canada’s Media Mogul, as quoted in the Georgia Straight :

Leonard Asper : “I don’t see that a journalist is any different than an employee at Wal-Mart."

David Asper, chair of the National Post : “We own the papers. We have the right to have the papers print whatever the hell we want them to say. And if people don’t like it, they can go to hell. They can leave, get another job."
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According to the CRTC, as of Sept 22 2009 Canwest holdings in Canada include :
Global TV - National Post - Calgary Herald - Regina Leader-Post - Vancouver Sun - Edmonton Journal - Saskatoon StarPhoenix - Victoria Times-Colonist - Montreal Gazette - Vancouver Courier - Windsor Star - Ottawa Citizen - Vancouver Province - Alberni Valley Times (BC) - Nanaimo Daily News (BC)
plus 21 weeklies and 7 shopping guides.
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So Canwest adherence - and subsequently much of the Canadian public - to rightwing Fraser Institute principles is not so remarkable after all.
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Where are you getting your news?
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5 comments:

West End Bob said...

And if people don’t like it, they can go to hell.

Or, they can cancel their subscription which I did over a year ago. I also refuse to use them as a source for anything remotely newsworthy.

It might not affect their bottom line at all, but it sure as hell makes me feel better . . . .

CanNurse said...

CanWest & the Aspers seem to save their own special brand of right-wing craziness especially for the National Post. Maybe it's their pet - hoping to unseat the Globe & Mail. Just read some of their "Full Comment" columns sometime, if you haven't done so. (Caution: Do not read on a full stomach!)

Anonymous said...

And here's why, CanNurse

Financial Post, January 14, 2009

"Executives from Canwest Global Communications Corp. said Wednesday that for the first time in its 10-year history the National Post newspaper turned an operating profit.

Leonard Asper, Canwest chief executive, described the profit recorded over the three months ended Nov. 30 as "modest."

Not a real paper.

Ian

croghan27 said...

Hummm ... Canwest .... the owner says: "....And if people don’t like it, they can go to hell. They can leave, get another job."

Is this the same Canwest that: "CTV, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Canwest Global Communications Corp. on Monday said they launched a national grassroots campaign, "Local TV Matters," to secure subscriber fees from cable and satellite TV operators.

The move comes after a pull-back in consumer spending led a steep dive in TV ad revenue, the lifeblood of Canadian broadcasters, and in turn asset writedowns and cost cutting."

GEEZE - what does he want - when they go to hell - he still complains.

Alison said...

Two new Holy Shit! media shake-downs :
CBC and National Post announce content sharing agreement
Effective immediately the Natty Post will run CBC's sports coverage and the CBC will run daily financial stories from the Financial Post.
So now the publicly funded CBC will move further right to run corpse news, and the Natty Post will be partly funded by tax dollars.

and

Buyout of CanWest papers
Natty Post CEO mounting a management take-over of the CanWest papers :
"CanWest's newspapers are expected to formally go up for sale in the coming weeks, as the Winnipeg-based company announces a restructuring that will see creditors who are owed $2.5-billion swap their debt for equity."

Who will own what we think now?

WV : xesserp
"Excess excerpt"

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