Ever since Justin Trudeau defeated Stephen Harper, and sent him and his Cons packing, the mood in this country has improved beyond anything I have ever seen, or ever could have imagined.The totalitarian grimness of the Harper years has been replaced with a new mood of hope and optimism. But unfortunately that
Continue readingTag: Postmedia
Alberta Politics: Two polls, widely different results, and Postmedia only reports one – what gives?
PHOTOS: “It is indeed Christmas in July for Conservatives!” Maybe it’s July, but is this guy really Santa Claus? Below: Pollsters Quito Maggi and Lorne Bozinoff. A Forum Research Inc. interactive voice response poll conducted on Tuesday of this week indicates 34 per cent of decided voters plan to vote
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: RAFE: Blatant Media Bias -Vancouver Province Partners With Woodfibre LNG
Rafe Mair As you know, the Vancouver Province is an official partner of Resort Works, who are essentially the public relations arm of Woodfibre LNG. That means, of course, that the Vancouver Sun and Read more…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: While Canada’s Free Press Gets Beheaded…
When one corporation owns most of the English language newspapers in Canada, the free press is essentially dead, not that it’s been much of anything but comatose for a while. Switch to non-corporate media: Worried that the PostMedia buy out of Sun News means you won’t have any options for
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Postmedia-Quebecor deal: Welcome to newspaper hell, where the lowest common denominator will prevail
An unreconstituted Toronto Sun front page. Newspaper hell? Turns out it’s not quite as bad as we imagined it would be, except for the few unfortunates who still work in what’s left of the industry. Below: Tom Kent, who headed the 1981 Royal Commission on Newspapers, which was ignored when
Continue readingAlberta Diary: If you can’t trust Postmedia when it reports on oil and the environment, when can you trust it?
If you can’t trust your Postmedia website, who can you trust? I mean, other than Alberta Diary. Regardless, don’t blame these poor guys. They’re just trying to earn a living. Below: Economist Robyn Allen, Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey. Industry self-regulation doesn’t work and never will for a simple reason: He
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Hudson Mews v. Portland Hotel Society
The Code of Ethics published by the Society for Professional Journalists includes, among others: Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable. Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage. Is the pro-media of British Columbia guided by those or
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Enough petulant propaganda, please: the hammer of D-Day crushed Hitler on the anvil of Russia
D-Day on Juno Beach: Canadians trudge ashore under a strange colorized sky. Below: The distinguished Canadian military historian, the late Reginald H. Roy. It’s been 70 years today since our magnificent Canadian soldiers went ashore at Juno Beach in Normandy to play their part the grim and deadly task of
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Media Corruption Trifecta!
It’s a trifecta of moral corruption! Rex Murphy shills for Big Oil and Gas. Postmedia consigns its editorial control to the Oil and Gas Lobby[TM]. Postmedia, naturally, fires one of the best energy/environment reporters in the nation. Film at 11. Ok, it’s 11. Let’s drill down. Journalists should declare when
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: How to Spot a Good Journalist
It’s getting harder and harder, what with constant corporate media concentration, and corporatist convergence of messaging from right wing governments and their informal corporate media PR departments. But everyone once in a while we see evidence that there is a growing number of journalists who exist with integrity and can
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: What Does Post-Corporate Media Look Like?
I know you’re wondering. But it’s hard to imagine. Kind of like a fish imagining life without water. We’ve known corporate media for generations. Since the advent of psychology and marketing, the influence/manipulation of corporate media is ubiquitous. And not in a good way. But let’s take a few moments
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: The Real Reason We Need to Get Rid of Corporate Media
Goodbye. While I’m also sad that the Kamloops Daily News is closing, I think Warren Kinsella is over-simplifying a few things [see below] with respect to how the media climate will be affected by the closing of this for-profit business, earning shareholder value by producing mass media content, while sometimes
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: You Aren’t Sufficiently Critical of the #Media
You need to trust the media less. Almost a year ago, and before the last US presidential election, Gallup determined that there has been a stunning decline in citizens’ mistrust of the media [see below]. It crossed over from mostly trust to not so much trust around 2004-2005. If you
Continue readingNorthern Insight: Fracking fraud
In Fissures appear in scientists’ assurances about safety of fracking, Globe and Mail writer Mark Hume describes how industry used the work of Charles Groat, of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, to discount concerns about the safety of fracking. “Now a review panel appointed by the University of Texas
Continue readingeaves.ca: Why Banning Anonymous Comments is Bad for Postmedia and Bad for Society
Last night I discovered that my local newspaper – the Vancouver Sun – was going to require users log in with Facebook to comment. It turns out that this will be true of all Postmedia newspapers. I’m stunned that a newspaper ownership would make such a move. Even more so
Continue readingLeftist Jab: Calgary Herald’s Licia Corbella’s Courageous Position on the "Dismemberment Video" Teacher
It takes courage to go against the grain. When a conservative columnist feels the need to voice her unique insights regarding the Montreal teacher that showed the Luka Magnotta dismemberment video, you simply must take a step back from the right versus left divide and acknowledge the courage of her
Continue readingTrashy's World: I have but one question…
… will the self-righteous, egotistic, fact-distorting, religiosity-spewing, gay-hating, liberal-bashing, blowhard, CPC toady – aka David Warren – lose his job? If so, I will happily re-subscribe to the 6 day per week edition. Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Continue readingA. Picazo: On The Media, Journalism, And The Willingness To Support it
It has been a tough month for journalism. Reports of mass layoffs and (select) publication suspensions at Postmedia engulfed the twitterverse late Monday afternoon, the second such round of job cuts for Postmedia, who earlier this month opted to close their wire service, returning to the content produced by the
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Re: Huffington Post & the Quebec Spring (Again!)
I had previously been under the impression that the Huffington Post was a generally a left-liberal sort of enterprise. However, it appears that one does not win a Pulitzer these days without some token “dissent.” After all, we know how difficult it is for right-wing perspectives to be heard in
Continue readingNorthern Insight: A must-read piece
at The Gazetteer where one of RossK’s readers tells an interesting story about PostMedia. It includes this: “…[In the robocall-fest] I would argue that the heavy lifting was still done by the blogosphere, including you and many of those in your own circle. But I think there is still a
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