The Hook

media cont

Investigative journalism seems to be dead in Canada. Canwest dominates in BC and is nothing but a bunch of pundits with right wing bias. All they ever report about is how great the BC Liberals are and the Olympics, they don't question anything.

CBC does some investigating and tries to remain neutral. I enjoy The Tyee and many other online sources of information.

The internet is my main source of information and I have a huge selection to choose from. In the past few decades the print media has become very one-sided. This may appeal to many people but the ones who are turned off will go elsewhere for their information.

Finally the reader has a choice and can abandon media which only reflects one viewpoint.

Those Who Pay the Piper Call the Shots

For decades, newspaper editorials generally supported solid visions of common sense. Although editors knew exactly where their “bread was buttered”, they were able to express their opinions with a higher degree of honesty and fairness than they show today.

Right leaning op-editorials published in CanWest newspapers by the Fraser Institute, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and other right-leaning associations have had greater input to both Canadian and world affairs than other organizations.

If you examine what is happening in the middle-east, any logical observer will see that the left does not exist, only the right, the far right and the extreme far right. Does ownership of Canadian media support this absurd bias?

Perhaps the fall of the Berlin Wall pushed both politics and the economy to the far right. Maybe this symbolic shift caused western politics and the economy to move from a mixed economy to the dog eat dog world we live in today.

I used to enjoy reading the local daily paper with a cup of coffee. Now there is very limited information in these publications about current local affairs. Both Vancouver dailies have the same information and the same perspective. Their papers are mostly car advertisements and Hollywood nonsense. Maybe if newspapers provided a broader perspective than their right leaning bias, they might have a chance to survive.

yeah nothing's good

as in no one source has good and comprehensive reporting.

my issue of prohibition is a prime example of how often we hear cops, social workers "business owners" and ex-gangsters blather on instead of having historians on to confirm the identical nature to alcohol prohibition and how fast crime went down upon repeal of prohibition. Everyday if need be.

It is part of the duty of being news media in a democracy to bring daily pressure on atrocities in which the state engages.

but no, just sock puppets blathering on in their masters voice regardless of how uninformed and shrill.

left right everywhere on that one folks.

It will be good to see

It will be good to see CanWest go bankrupt. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of reactionaries.

OWNERS OR ADVERTISERS?

For a better world
Perhaps the fall of the Berlin Wall pushed both politics and the economy to the far right.

To put it mildly, I find this very particular assertion hard to grasp.

Who do you think has more economic influence in the lives of media industry employees? Those who own the company, or the advertisers who are paying all the bills, including the wage bill?

The only thing I buy the

The only thing I buy the Vancouver mainstream newspapers anymore is for the crossword puzzles. I may just forget it altogether and buy crossword books instead.

Newspaper editorials(particularly those of our Vancouver major daily's) should be covered under the provincial Liberal's "gag" law, in my opinion. Talk about an unfair advantage for Campbell and friends.

Its even worse...

"I don't like the right wing bias.."

It's actually even a bit worse than just frank right-wing bias. It's also a kind of insidious nihilism. Often, there is an article, sometimes even the Editorial, which brings out the 'good' viewpoint, the one that will make people with a sense of justice and civility say 'yeeah, exactly!' But then, somewhere else in the samer paper, there is another article, ususally by some 'expert', who in an underhanded oblique fashion casts doubt on just maybe one or two minor aspects of that 'yeeah' viewpoint, as in 'there are other aspects to this issue, that YOU may not have understood, so beware...'

The outcome of the total reading experience, if you are not awake and aware is, that there is a subject there, which is just too murky and complex for most people, and certainly YOU, to form a qualified opinion of. In other words: Who really knows anything? Not YOU.

I read the Vancouver Sun most days as a regular subscriber and have followed this M.O. for quite some time. I wonder how many people other than me are aware of the manipulation. Oh, I know, this could be explained as an attempt at being unbiased, but the result is not constructive and serves to make people fearful of taking the wrong action, for see, how difficult it all is.... One recalls Marg Thatchers rule about 'not letting them think there is an alternative'. The alternative is 'Yes, we can'. Those are powerful words that should inspire us all. They are also true. We can if we will, and if we don't listen to the fudge-makers.

Re: Advertisers

Rod, you know the answer. Advertisers call the shots.

At one time subscription revenue was a significant income stream for newspapers. Today it barely supports the distribution costs. When subscribers paid more, they had a greater say in Canadian affairs. Even if advertisers pay the shots, the Fraser Institute, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and other right-leaning associations do not directly fund newspaper activities. They do; however, get preferential treatment for expressing their ideologies.

During the Cold War, the economic influence of the alleged communist/capitalistic divide was insane. It did; however, benefit Canada and allowed it and other mixed economies to flourish. The fall of Berlin Wall symbolically initiated the downfall of communism in Europe, but the other casualty was socialism. Socialism provided some equity to regular citizens in western societies, but the loss of that influence moved us to the greed model of unfettered capitalism.