The war on Fox. Does Canadian media tend to lean one way?

[mrj222]

Steven, if you think all corporations lean right you are sadly mistaken.
Jeffrey Immelt is about as far left as you can get. He is the CEO of GE which also controls the licensing for NBC and MSNBC. They are so in bed with Obama and administration it is embarassing. You seem to have some sort of bias that anyone who is successful in the arena of corporations has to be conservative.

In Canada, the CBC out of necessity is leans a little towards the ruling government, however, since the Liberals were in power for so long there were many liberals appointed to the CBC and even now they have a slight liberal tendency. Most of the other news sources are fairly balanced I would say.

Global/CTV are not balanced in any way shape or form.

[rookie314]

Canadian media leans to the left. Pretty obvious if you pay attention.

[steven lloyd]

Steven, if you think all corporations lean right you are sadly mistaken.

Ned, you are like a man standing directly on the north pole. No matter which direction you look, other than the spot you are standing on, you are looking south.

[Big ned]

Do you even watch US television Steven? I can't believe you think all media down there is right wing biased. I have posted proof before of how much favoritism the Obama campaign is getting from almost everyone except fox.

Perhaps you should read " A slobbering love affair" by Bernard Goldberg.

http://www.regnery.com/books/slobbering.html

Read it and get back to me with proof other than your poorly informed opinion on where I am wrong. Your little North Pole metaphor hardly qualifies.

[steven lloyd]

Perhaps you should read " A slobbering love affair" by Bernard Goldberg.

http://www.regnery.com/books/slobbering.html

Read it and get back to me with proof other than your poorly informed opinion on where I am wrong. Your little North Pole metaphor hardly qualifies.

You can't be serious ned. Are you really suggesting this piece of sensationalist opinion is a work of unbiased journalism? You are right about one thing. My metaphor is not nearly strong enough.

[johnp3]

In B.C. we have a right wing press,Vancouver Sun, and media, especially Global, During the elections they spout the party line continually, never ask a question or seem to be able to remember a right wing lie but never have forgotten about them ferries. They are in every news story to do with politics, My personal favorite was the `Highway of Death`No mater what happened anywhere else in the province, how many people died, if a rock fell on the `Highway of Death`it was front page news. They continually pedal the party line, `HATE LIES AND FEAR`. Both `GORDO`and HARPO``same trough.

[steven lloyd]

Other than the CBC which is publicly funded, and independent stations which are funded through donations from various sources as well as some advertising revenue, the major networks are funded by corporate conglomerates. Some will purposefully introduce left-wing material that can easily be discredited as this gives them the perception of being unbiased. Some might even go as far as to say "we take a left-wing view" while they continue to present programming and news that obviously favours a right-wing bias. What would you expect?

Do you think these multi-billionaires are sitting around in corporate boardrooms discussing Marxism and trying to figure out how to redistribute their wealth? Only those who consider ideology from the most extreme right end of the continuum could even entertain such a ridiculous notion.

[coffeeFreak]

Other than the CBC which is publicly funded, and independent stations which are funded through donations from various sources as well as some advertising revenue, the major networks are funded by corporate conglomerates. Some will purposefully introduce left-wing material that can easily be discredited as this gives them the perception of being unbiased. Some might even go as far as to say "we take a left-wing view" while they continue to present programming and news that obviously favours a right-wing bias. What would you expect?

Do you think these multi-billionaires are sitting around in corporate boardrooms discussing Marxism and trying to figure out how to redistribute their wealth? Only those who consider ideology from the most extreme right end of the continuum could even entertain such a ridiculous notion.

As a comment to the CBC portion of your post, according to the CBC website it "relies heavily" on government funding, thus explaining the sometimes obvious agenda setting -- likely a means to an end.

As for your other points:

Amen brother!! Speak it!

[Homeownertoo]

Other than the CBC which is publicly funded, and independent stations which are funded through donations from various sources as well as some advertising revenue, the major networks are funded by corporate conglomerates. Some will purposefully introduce left-wing material that can easily be discredited as this gives them the perception of being unbiased. Some might even go as far as to say "we take a left-wing view" while they continue to present programming and news that obviously favours a right-wing bias. What would you expect?

SL, so much for the man-in-the-street view. You really have no idea how the media in Canada operates, certainly not the print media in which I worked for a quarter of a century writing copy, editing copy and deciding what copy gets to print. Hint: it's nothing at all like you imagine it. If it's any consolation, your view is pretty common.

[coffeeFreak]

SL, so much for the man-in-the-street view. You really have no idea how the media in Canada operates, certainly not the print media in which I worked for a quarter of a century writing copy, editing copy and deciding what copy gets to print. Hint: it's nothing at all like you imagine it. If it's any consolation, your view is pretty common.

Is there any discussion you enter into where you don't take a derogatory tone towards those you do not agree with? So you worked in the industry for 25yrs, how long ago, which corporation, your role, your agenda, etc?

From what I see of your posts, I dare say, it was likely a very right-winged perspective being put forward; kind of remeniscent of the Alberta Report.

[Homeownertoo]

SL, so much for the man-in-the-street view. You really have no idea how the media in Canada operates, certainly not the print media in which I worked for a quarter of a century writing copy, editing copy and deciding what copy gets to print. Hint: it's nothing at all like you imagine it. If it's any consolation, your view is pretty common.

Is there any discussion you enter into where you don't take a derogatory tone towards those you do not agree with? So you worked in the industry for 25yrs, how long ago, which corporation, your role, your agenda, etc?

From what I see of your posts, I dare say, it was likely a very right-winged perspective being put forward; kind of remeniscent of the Alberta Report.

I was not taking a derogatory view toward SL, just to his opinion ("Some [networks] will purposefully introduce left-wing material that can easily be discredited as this gives them the perception of being unbiased"), which I find completely at odds with the reality I worked in within the print media -- at the Edmonton Journal (an editor), Hongkong Standard (editing/reporter) and South China Morning Post (reporter) and couple of smaller papers, retiring two years ago. You want position titles? I thought what I did mattered more than what I was called. And only in Canada would my perspective be seen as "very right-winged". Elsewhere it's called conservative. My so-called agenda is irrelevant.

Instead of berating me for offering a corrective to SL's opinion, if it's not an industry you're familiar with, why not try asking him where he gets the idea that's how it works?

[coffeeFreak]

Homeowner, point taken and upon reading my post from this morning, I see that I came across too agressively and I apologize...

[Homeownertoo]

Homeowner, point taken and upon reading my post from this morning, I see that I came across too agressively and I apologize...

no problem

[steven lloyd]

Other than the CBC which is publicly funded, and independent stations which are funded through donations from various sources as well as some advertising revenue, the major networks are funded by corporate conglomerates. Some will purposefully introduce left-wing material that can easily be discredited as this gives them the perception of being unbiased. Some might even go as far as to say "we take a left-wing view" while they continue to present programming and news that obviously favours a right-wing bias. What would you expect?

SL, so much for the man-in-the-street view. You really have no idea how the media in Canada operates, certainly not the print media in which I worked for a quarter of a century writing copy, editing copy and deciding what copy gets to print. Hint: it's nothing at all like you imagine it. If it's any consolation, your view is pretty common.

A better consolation would be hearing (reading) your idea about how the media in Canada operates instead of just telling me my idea is wrong

[Homeownertoo]

Other than the CBC which is publicly funded, and independent stations which are funded through donations from various sources as well as some advertising revenue, the major networks are funded by corporate conglomerates. Some will purposefully introduce left-wing material that can easily be discredited as this gives them the perception of being unbiased. Some might even go as far as to say "we take a left-wing view" while they continue to present programming and news that obviously favours a right-wing bias. What would you expect?

SL, so much for the man-in-the-street view. You really have no idea how the media in Canada operates, certainly not the print media in which I worked for a quarter of a century writing copy, editing copy and deciding what copy gets to print. Hint: it's nothing at all like you imagine it. If it's any consolation, your view is pretty common.

A better consolation would be hearing (reading) your idea about how the media in Canada operates instead of just telling me my idea is wrong

Fair enough.

I was responding to your commonly held view on the left (yes, I know you say you are not left-wing) that news is determined by some mythical corporate agenda, the reasoning being something like this: corporations are part of the right-wing capitalist system, the people who run them were hired to serve the right-wing capitalist system, and this corporate agenda will only allow news that broadly supports this corporate/capitalist agenda.

The reality is far different. In all newspapers I've worked on (and having been around newspaper people for so long, I've no reason to believe it is different on other Canadian papers), reporters have great leeway in choosing how they cover their beats and the stories they write. If the reporter has at least a basic writing competency, her stories are only lightly edited before they run.

The other source of stories in any paper are the wire services. These stories are usually well written and only lightly edited, though they are frequently combined with stories from other wire services. The selection and handling of these stories is largely left up to the various section editors and copy editors (business, national, int'l, etc.).

There are usually a couple of story meetings during the day so that top editors will know what section editors are planning to run and so editors can share story ideas. The managing editor(s) are familiar with what's available and will sometimes suggest one story over another, though generally they trust their section editors. They are not in daily or hourly contact with corporate bosses and directors to ensure only the corporate agenda is well represented. (I wonder where the Left, home of the politburo and commissars, would get this idea)

At most papers, the news 'slant' reflects the slant of the people involved. Reporters and editors in Canada tend to be left-liberal, and their story selection, choice of sources and writing bias reflect that ideology. That's why Canada's media generally has a left-liberal slant. Claims that Canada's media is right wing or extreme right wing are, frankly, laughable. As a conservative myself, I seldom see compatible views represented in the national or provincial media.

Some papers (Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, National Post) have obvious political slants, from left to right in the examples given. This slant or bias is most clear in their editorials and columnists, though it also drifts over into reporting, most egregiously at the Toronto Star, where reporting is at times dreadfully biased toward the loony left. Contrary to left-wing dogma, reporting (as apart from editing) at the NP is fairly centrist. They even frequently use the appallingly biased stories by AGW apologist Mike DeSouza, a Canwest reporter.

Control of the agenda at Canadian newspapers is so firmly ensconced in the hands of the newsroom (not the board office) that when David Asper tried his hand at writing editorials and requiring Canwest papers to print them (ie. when the corporation tried to enforce a corporate agenda), he met such resistance from journalists and publishers of "his" newspapers that he had to back down. Within living memory, only Conrad Black, a legitimate and accomplished writer/journalist, has had any success, for just a short time, in adding a conservative voice to some of Canada's major media and shifting it a little toward the centre, and then only because he was putting his money into that endeavor.

One other point -- we live in a liberal society where capitalism and the wealth it generates is a natural expression of our liberal values of freedom, individualism and property rights. We shouldn't be surprised that our media would see some merit in it and reflect its values rather than the values of some other socioeconomic arrangement, and not resort to conspiracy theories about corporate agendas being rammed down our throats. Rather, the surprise to me is how hostile the media often is toward that capitalist ethos of our society and how supportive it is of socialist and other ideas that undermine it.