I note in mourning that the victoria times colonist site announced a few days ago that its site too is a pay one , starting next september...and it's been the most progressive...you can however get free he, as they "upgrade the colonist site with headlines formerly just available at the sun and province sites...I predict this tactic will backfire on them as people will greatly resent paying for what is so freely available elsewhere on line and people who might have read asper daily papers online turn to free sites such as the globe and mail and the toronto star, not to mention excellent online only papers like the tyee and straight goods

Interesting article, but I do think it obfuscates that factor that trumps race (at least in the context we're speaking), and that is $$$$, and along with that ideology. Alas I don't want to be accused of being a beret-wearing, poetry-writing, art-flick viewing, champagne sipping snob again, so I have to explain that remark, I guess.

Canwest is guilty as charged. But their manipulative tactics in shaping public opinion are what is most scary. They would hire an army of Fazil Mihlars.

I quit my subscription to CanWest a long time ago. I think it was after an editorial calling for the demise of CBC, and another one extolling the virtues of the American medical system. Funny thing though, they keep delivering to you, thick folders of ads and flyers. So if you think you might miss all that stuff when you cancel, well, don't worry.. Their online pay-for-service policy may increase their revenue in the short term, but it's a disconnection to potential customers. I agree with Lewis; it's bound to backfire. Hopefully, in a big way, and soon! I note they had some losses last year that were somewhat balanced by some amazing gains in Australia. I'm wondering, though, who their accountants are?

The Vancouver Sun assistant editor, Fazil Mihlar, has appeared on the CBC Panel with Chantel Hebert and Alan Gregg. I expect him to be an Uncle Tom, but his statements were fairly balanced. Along with Hebert and Gregg, he was just making statement about what was going wrong for the Paul Martin Liberals.

Canwest/Global News reporting often shows only one side of a story, for example, *not* reporting Jack Layton's tax cut plan, but reporting the NDP tax on inheritances over $1 Million and on those earning more than $250,000 per year.

Canwest/Global reporting is an embarassment to Canada. It is a conflict of interest for these same people to help the Conservatives in their attempt to eliminate the CBC. A vote for the Conservatives is a vote to close down the CBC.

effless; quit beating yourself up, trash the beret and try guzzling the bubbly. There's nothing like a big champagne burp to chase away the snob affect.

Read Palmer in today's Sun and then look at headline on the frontpage. It sure looks like The Vancouver Sun has answered Gordon Campbell's plea of support for the BC Liberal government. I have to praise Vaughn Palmer for his story. I wonder if he knew what would be on the frontpage before he wrote his piece. Pretty funny either way!

It's funny as hell to read Asper talking about the value of newspapers. They're certainly valuable to him I suppose.

Newspapers are an advertising medium and as such are valuable to the companies that advertise in them. As reliable sources of accurate information for citizens they become less valuable everytime there's another media merger or takeover.

The government doesn't look at the mergers or takeovers in any way other than how it may affect advertising rates and coverage. No attention whatever is paid to whether the increased concentration of ownership serves the public's right to be well informed or receive a range of viewpoints.

The asper newspapers seem bent on ignoring the fact that while unemployment went down everywhere else in canada, it actually went up in bc. If this is what happens to the bc economy during a "consumer driven boom" imagine what it will do in a time of national crisis. A paper willing to have two inch headlines screaming "HARPER SET TO SWEEP BC," when federal ndp support is at nearly the same level should be sueable under any just system for attemptimg to subvert our political system and political justice. And I have read disgusting articles by fazil mihlar defending sweat shop labor as giving "a chance," to children in third world countries...canwest media monopoly should be a federal election issue and the uncle tomism displayed by immigrants from countries packed with poor and desperate people who will never have a chance due to free trade and globalization policies is both disgusting and corrupt...

Aspergum and Asperworld. One is to anesthetize your throat and the other is anesthetize your mind.

There is no such thing, at this date of the world’s history, in America, as an independent press. You know it and I know it… The business of the Journalist is to destroy truth; To lie outright; To pervert; To vilify; To fawn at the feet of mammon, and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. You know it and I know it and what folly is this toasting an independent press? We are the tools and vassals for rich men behind the scenes. We are the jumping jacks, they pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and or lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes. – John Swinton, former Chief of Staff, The New York Times, circa 1880

"The only result in hiding the folly of men is fill the world with fools."; Herbert Spencer 1938. I don't really pay much attention to Can-West or their reporting. I get most of my news online from Europe. They are really miles ahead of us and I've noticed that many stories that are the topics of the day for Can-West have been cherry-picked from papers in Europe that have already broken the story last week. With Can-West, any comment of Canadiana is some rediculous comparison to the USA with the ongoing opinion that our country is lame. My message to Asper is this; wake up, your dreaming!

An interesting piece of news did make it into global papers: people in the european union are now taller on the average than americans and canadians....Why? Because the quality and standards of their food is better, their ecological and environmental laws are tougher, and they have in most countries much better social programs....their social programs in fact are, on the average much better than ours...let's hope THEY become the next super power, invent a positronic antimatter transmitter and arrest the occupants of the bush ranch, in crawford, texas before it's too late...

As I sifted through the Province my retired father refuses to cancel our subscription for because he is addicted to the word game thing on the last page of the entertainment section (I kid thee not - I bought him a puzzle book - but it couldn't take its place) - I realized that for every 2 pages - only less than 1/4 page of news was given with more than 3/4 of ads. Then came the bomber of a story (a whole 1/2 page of crap) which essentially was Can West's testimony that the public's main source of "reliable" information for things such as the upcoming elections is (surprise) their papers. That's like Bush saying that U.S. intelligence has no history of failure (pun intended). It went on to state that that Can West provides the best online web information - that is soon to be supported by Microsoft gimmicks (tablet compatibility) - one monopoly supports another.... It occurred to me how out of touch this "main source of information" this "empire" really is with the Canadian sentiment. Canadians are NOT right-wing conservatives - they care about the environment, tehy care about rights and social justice, the care about issues surrounding globalization, and they care about equal and affordable health and educational resources. Those are our priorities - not oil, missile defense packs with the US, not supporting Israel in extinguishing Palesinians, not abolisihing Kyoto and drilling toxins off our shores, and not spending billions like other idiot leaders on launching wars around the world for black oil - the wealthy nations' drug of choice. Who should break this news to Asper?

Asper knows. Asper doesn't care. Profits, ideology and a feeling of power (influence) is all that concerns a mogul like this.

lewis swift I, 6/5/2004 1:56:08 AM, writes: "I note in mourning that the victoria times colonist site announced a few days ago that its site too is a pay one , starting next september...and it's been the most progressive..." Tyee readers, did you know? CanWest Publications owns 11 English-language major metropolitan daily newspapers in Canada. The dailies include: National Post, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, Windsor Star, Regina Leader-Post, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province, and Lewis' beloved Victoria Times-Colonist.

And all 11 papers are mostly indistinguishable unless you look at the masthead, the difference at the times colonist rose out of canwest's dismally pathetic attempt to bust the unions there, not to mention EVEN more outrage at gordon campbell even than in the rest of the province, but otherwise canwest has suceeded in brilliantly applying the same uniform and unvarying standards of manufacture once applied only to trade goods, like rubber chickens, and ball bearings, to the newspaper...and we thought all the innovations of assembly line manufacture had been played out....

My complaint about Canwest storytellers is that they unwittingly suceeded brilliantly in aid of the election of Glen Clark in 96. By the way Lewis, as long as so many Tyee readers are in boycott mode, Canwest also owns Canada.com. and most likely owns "The Beat" where you can catch Tyee Editor Mr. Beers on Sunday at 7 pm. Tyee complainers should stop biting the hand that feeds them, or just unplug.

Jean, do us all a favour and follow your own advice please.

Most of us dislike the all bs diet, that hand is feeding us, however jean, you look like you're puttin' on a lot of weight....

Jean Bidet , it seems you have successfully removed your head, now if you can correct your thinking..............

Jean, you must be new to this blog. If you weren't, you'd NEVER have delivered that earlier lecture Canwest owns major market newspapers) to THIS crowd, of all crowds. And, that later one, the "they also own Canada.com", there's another dead give-away. Sorry, there's no one here who wouldn't have known that old hat.

When my dad phoned to cancel his subscription to the Sun, the person at the other end of the phone asked him why, and my father complained of the unbalanced views expressed in the paper regarding the middle east. The person called him an anti-Semite and hung up.

Clinical studies have shown that reading the Vancouver Sun will lower your I.Q. I just made that up, but somebody should look into that. The Vancouver Sun should come with warning same as cigarettes do “Reading this paper on a regular basis will kill your ability for independent thinking”.

Ha ha ha..Hey Lar!... Hee hee...What Will? ...I was reading the Province this morning.. ha ha.... That's great Will! Ha ha ha...It said that ha ha ha....

The hypocricy of CanWestÕs Leonard Asper attacking the Canadian governmentÕs access to information laws while acting as the gatekeeper of what Canadians should and should not know through his control of the CanWest empire is simply stunning. "ViewspapersÓ would be a more legitimate name for the narrowly filtered view of our country and the world his papers present. Or maybe corporate newsletters.

I am sorry to see all the chastising Jean has been subjected to. Jean is obviously new to Tyee exposure, and has only been a victim of a gross lack of objectivity from under the rule of Asper and company. Jean's mind is just getting the taste of freedom - the sweet whiff of sense which is common to all except those living in the land of Can West - a Global village far away from reason. Readers of the Tyee should realize Jean is only reflecting this imprisonment in his sentiments. Give him some time and he will realize that Can West also gobbles the hand that feeds its unsatiable vendetta - imagine living among peace-loving, liberal (in the original sense of the word) Canadians - and then advocating hate, Bushisms, and the wrath of terrorists and mother nature. For every tree that falls for Asper's paper production - Can West calls for another acre of our oxygen producers to sell to the States.

I very much liked your post above, and your sentiments shirin, but if I and others seem short with mr binette, it may be because they all had a similar experince to myself, and I guess I just find this so maddenly typical of the right in general, i.e. failing to cocede ever in any way a point that is lost, and when a point is lost always employ the tactic of immediately changing the subject, generally by mounting a point with absolutely no relevance to the first lost point, and so ad infinitum....after awhile you just feel you are both wasting your time as well as experincing unending condescension and insincereity....this at any rate was my experience through an entire thread, "reinventing the old folks home..." I keep wanting to engage the right in debate, but again and again I get either the pattern just outlined or else some stale bit of propaganda that's been discedited a dozen times over, I've always enjoyed the evenhandedness and fairmindedness and the ideas in your posts, shirin, I guess some of us are a little more hotheaded....

Sigh! Obviously the "closet capitalists" have had one too many strategic/thoughts.

Racists who write these articles about white this and black that only do so out of a smug sense of self-satisfaction - not to be taken seriously.

So Jean... just what are you trying to tell us? Maybe it is that Can-West actually provides a news service. That's a stretch. They still whine about Clark's ferry's yet Gordo gets a free ride in every issue. They publish phoney polls instead of digging up a story. The editors all say the same thing in many ways in every paper and once in a while they print a letter with a dissenting opinion just to prove to us that they have a "balanced opinion". Can-West reminds me of the 'National Enquirer', in that it's customers are people who actually 'buy lies'.

I think it's great all CanWest papers are now charging for internet acess to their paper. More hits for Tyee. Hurra!

The Sun's record on diversity is actually better than this article suggests. The main problem is that the paper has hired so few people, period, in the last few years. A few months ago, the paper hired its first full-time, five-days-a-week reporter in about three years. The ad for the position specifically mentioned that knowledge of Chinese would be an asset and the reporter hired is of Chinese descent. This article mentions two of this year's interns are from ethnic minorities. It doesn't mention that they are the *only* two all-summer interns the Sun has this year. (In other words, 100% of the Sun's full-summer interns are non-white.) The other problem is that many of the really great non-white reporters out there are just too much in demand. A few years ago, the Sun hired the fantastic reporter Ian Bailey (who is black), but he was hired away from us within a few weeks by the National Post. (He's now with the Province.) A few years ago, the paper tried to hire one of the top reporters at one of the local Chinese papers, and had even sent out an announcement that she was hired, but she was scooped away by a competitor before she even joined the paper. This article also fails to acknowledge what many non-white reporters themselves will tell you: that there aren't that many of them out there, because their immigrant parents have much higher ambitions for them (doctors, lawyers) than being a lowly journalist.

Since we are on the subject, check out www.canwestwatch.org

If you think that the Vancouver Scum represents a diversified source of information then I suggest that you go browse http://www.ipl.org/div/news/ and pick any newspaper from any other country and check out how other papers cover the news. The site lists about ten thousand online papers so with a little homework you can get a good look at how others see us.

The reason that most reporters are white is the same reason that most reporters are boomers: Demographics. They got in during the 1970s and stayed. Other younger talented writers have found in most cases that job openings as reporters at dailies are few and far between. As a result many are turning to the internet, eg Sean Holman's excellent news website www.publiceyeonline.com, while others put out subscriber newsletters. Many of these people who are shut out from jobs at the dailies are also white and male (as I suspect Charles Campbell is as well). Certainly there are an increasing number of female newspaper reporters and columnists but again apart from summer tans, they are all fairly pasty white. But I guess my overall reaction to the author's column is so what? Jody Patterson at the Times-Colonist has a grandafather who was Chinese, why should I or anyone else care about that let alone make it the primary criteria for judging Jody? Does her mixed ethnicity make Jody a better columnist than say Elizabeth Nickson over the National Post? No it doesn't. I think whether a reader prefers Elizabeth over Jody has everything to do with their political views and writing style and nothing whatsoever to do with their racial heritage. This pigeon holing of people based on the amount of melanin in their skin I find a disturbing trend amongst the left. The NDP certainly indulges in politically marketing candidates based on their ethnicity, gender and or sexual orientation. It is a form of soft racism I find both demeaning and distrurbing. But for people like me I'm more interested in political candidates and political columnists economic and political views. Because if a politician or a columnist espouses views that are brilliant or idiotic, their views remain just as briliant or idiotic regardless of their race, colour, creed or sexual orientation. So if you want the dailies to reflect the up to date ethnic makeup of cities like Vancouver and Victoria all we have to do is start killing off a lot of baby boomers. Fortunately time will do that for us, so patience Charles patience...

I'm not at all surprised by Mr. Asper's all white team. The make up of the election team reflects the make up of the man. He is a right wing radical supporting a right wing radical party. If you're looking for unbiased coverage you certainly won't find it in any of Asper's publications. Stick with the Tyee!!

While I appreciate the sentiment behind the article, Charles, I'm not sure that I think it's a bad thing that the Sun, etc. are so monochromatic (if one considers white a colour). I've contemplated sending a letter to the editor congratulating the Sun for its ongoing attempt to praise Gordo and his sycophantic crew while blaming all the ills of BC on the dreaded "NDP decade of mismanagement." Since the opinion polls are a spectacular evaluation of the degree of success Mr. Skulsky, Asper, et. al. have had, my only fear is that they will stop being so blatantly, sickeningly "uneven-handed" in their coverage. More diversity (of skin colour, political leanings, or whatever) might mute the awfulness of their "messaging". The ringing endorsement of the NPA in the last Vancouver civic election seems to have guaranteed a landslide (for COPE), and one can only hope that the CanWest magic will continue to work at a provincial (and perhaps federal) level..."As goes CanWest, so goes the electorate (in the opposite direction)"...Well, it beats "Seriously Messed Post"...er..."Seriously Crushed Toast"...um...whatever their ridiculous new slogan is...

Mike Geoghegan,are you suggesting that the liberals did not all of a sudden indulge in hand picking some ethnic candidates? I presume that you understand about commenting on gender or ethnic background. I agree that a candidate or reporter or any human being should be accepted by their merits and actions , not by race or creed.

Hey, guys, have uyou ever wondered why there are no left-wing daily newspapers? There have been in the past, adnd there are plenty of lefty journalists, unions looking for a friendly face, and so on. Media concentration isn't inevitable (although all sectors tend to monopoly in a capitalist economy) and an effort put toward providing what we want might be a good thing as well - say taking the Georgia Straight, Monday Magazine in Victoria, XTra West and get some financial backing (BCFed?) to launch a daily.

Very good discussion post by Mike Geoghegan, nevertheless is that not a typical right-wing point of view? To put it mildly, the reporting in Vancouver newspapers is excrable. What kind of merit-hiring having they been doing at the Vancouver Sun and Province when the result of their work is crap? They have the same point of view of Gordon Campbell and the Conservatives in that there is no such thing as "woman's issues" and no such thing as "minority issues" since we are all "equal".

Give me a break from your "disturbing trend" and "NDP's soft racism". Are you not a real racist to write about the "pigeon holing of people based on the amount of melanin in their skin"?

Visible minorities are discriminated against and this is very real. Unemployment rates are always higher for them. Is it because they are genetically stupid or inferior?

I thought THIS is a left-wing daily, Sam. -In fact, the Tyee is so progressive - it doesn't kill trees to get its point across. Talking about points - I think the point is less about the colour of one's skin or ethnic background - (in all honesty - I have to say print is the one medium the colour factor would have the least visual impact). The point is more about diversity of thought (or some would argue - the complete lack of thought). Asper and company have not yet grasped the concept of bias. Certainly all info mediums would inherently be subjected to some admitted bias - but Asper came on CBC and clearly lacked the understanding of what biased news reporting is. When asked about his obviously "pro-Israel, pro-american warfare" stance - he first agreed that the Asper gang is guilty as charged on that count and that they would favour that opinion in their selective propoganda style reporting (my words - not his - but that was the wiff of the sentiment - no bias...). But, he argued - that despite being pro-Israeli - Can West is not biased (huh?),- and nor - to his knowledge - does his staff feel like they have to reflect the Asper agenda in their reporting (unless they treasure their jobs that is...). That was beyond oxymoronic to the point it is "regressive conservative" as opposed to the progressive kind. by the way, Swift Lewis, hot-headed or not - a kindred spirit you be - and I certainly am reactionary or else I would resist launching monologues

I don't like the fact that a company like Can - West, with a Zionist agenda, owns so many of Canada's daily papers. This is really a dangerous thing...it makes it much easier to push a kind of fascist dogmatism onto people who do not make much attempt to question the status quo.

Going down and mystyblueyes, remember the leaky condo crisis, remember the sun refusing to report on it because they feared a backlash from all their advertisers in the 5 pound sun "Real Estate," section every saturday...? thank jean chretien and the federal liberals for the asper monopoly, they refused to block it -the states has lots of leftwing magazines, excellent ones like harpers and mother jones, but it doesn't really matter all that much, because, as hard as it may be to believe 98% of their dailies are even more biased than the canwest pathetic pile of excuses foe newspapers...that's how scum like bush and harper can get elected and even reelected...and nothing will change until canadians have a creditable daily leftwing newspaper...and demand an end to the disgusting third-world like newspaper monopoly that is rapidly transforming canada into a third world country...and if you're in the middle or upper middle class, don't smirk because your turn to get downsized is coming...

Racism is the ability of a person or a group of persons, due to their weapons, power and money to imposed their views, wants and values on others. This is what Canada and canadians do to the owners of this land and to the majority of immigrants that comes here, until their children become part of the racist masses irregardless of their skin colour. Discrimination is what non whites that has no power, money or weapons do to whites and member of groups they disagree with or can take advantage off or think that they are inferior. Now CanWest is a racist company. They have the power, the money and they have the ear of Sharon and the Israeli intelligence (?) agencies. So they are racist. Fazil Mihlar is an extension of Canwest management. He never learned to think for himself.A journalist like him would never be hired in Germany by any serious outlet. He is a disgrace to non white journalists. I guess he wouldn't be able to work anywhere else, unless the media outlet needs a lapdog. Immigrants that are journalists in their country of origin and come here and cannot work because "theirs is not a canadian experience" even if they speak, write and read english well. rcranium says that" candidate or reporter or any human being should be accepted by their merits and actions , not by race or creed". However this is what has been practiced in the Americas for hundreds of years: WASP gets all the good jobs regardless. Last year the scientist had an article review of salaries on scientists and black scientists doing the same type of work got the least pay. So get off the crap you all. This is a racist siociety and more so now with two minorites that are very racist as well Hindu/Sihk and chinese. Both groups treat non members of their communities with derision, unless they want your business or they are communists. So because the white newspapers don't hire them, they have enough money and power to create their own press and they have no need to subscribe to the Canwest crap nor they have the need to work for the canwest crap either.

Question for Charles Campbell - Do you think Vaughn Palmer is a zionist racist?

I just wanna read or hear from some credible person that Canwest is a hurtin' business unit because some people have seen through the sham that they are....I wish Canwest and the Aspers nothing but, well, a sea change I guess. Or financial ruin, whichever comes first.

What they are doing with this election, at least out west here, should be creating civil unrest.

... is as bad as ever. Because someone had clogged up the Globe and Mail box coin slot with bingo tokens or something, I couldn't read a real daily... so I got stuck with, you guessed it, The Sun. Same old crap, too. More real estate hype by Wynn Chow in the business section ("Developers flock to suburbs"), more slanted Middle East coverage posing as "news", and a ton of non-local stuff taken right off the wire. This publication is god-awful! And I used to be a subscriber. Dare I say it... bring back Conrad Black. At least he would spend some money on that rag.

If anyone is interested, Adbusters has started a Media Mogul watch. Go to the following URL where you can read about our hero - Leonard Asper:

http://www.canwestwatch.org/

To paraphrase "I have a dream that ... one day [we will] live in a nation where [people] will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" or, rather the content and the quality of their writing.

I opened my daily newspaper the other day and the picture in the section where they have reader comments ....there was a picture of a gun pointed at the reader and above it something about union bargaining...the message they were trying to send was that unions like to push people around...I was really angered by this...then I looked at the paper more closely and saw it was owned by Can West, who are union -busters...go figure! It just really annoys me that this is the daily paper that people read in my community presenting an extremely biased view of the world...this little picture bashing union excercise was in response to health care workers going on strike. I used to be a Sun subscriber and would NEVER subscribe to that crap again. And I do think the federal government should break up these malicious monopolies once and for all, lewis swift. Lets stop them before they do more damage!!

Mystyblueeyes you're making my eyes misty, how about a class action lawsuit for trying to influence the outcome of an election with the two inch headlines "HARPER SET TO SWEEP BC," when voter support for the federal ndp is at least as strong in bc....doesn't this amount to an indirect form of third party advertising, which is supposed to be illegal, hmmm, potentially couldn't a class action lawsuit be monted againt the canadian whiner's and taxpayers federation, as well. In canwest papers this group of braindead rightwing stooges gets yearound third party free advertising....why limit the isue to election time only....binette, the argument that because the sun has ONE and ONE only halfway objective semi-daily columnist as a defense againt bias is a pathetic argument.....wouldn't you be more comfortable at the vancouver club, perhaps being waited on by a reliable person of color takin' part in your version of the canadian dream...(stephen hume's excellent columns once every two months and daphney whatever's very muted whines about the fate of disadvantaged groups don't constitute even a gram of balance against the TONNAGE of rightwing pimp colomnists so beloved by the aspers aned fairminded people like yourself, jean....)

Wellherewegoagain, you suggest we ''get off the crap you all ", sounds like you raised the Rebel flag again. I agree that the Americas have practised this distasteful theme (racism) for centuries. It has been pursed in most societies/ civilizations since the dawn of history, either through slavery, attack or humiliation. I have lived in and visited many countries in the world and every society has a degree of racism inbred into its fabric. But is that to say we should not try and better our society? I (hopefully) may have mis-interpreted your post , were you suggesting that we should just shut up and accept racism?

The way the Sun cowtows to Gordon Campbell's fascist agenda without even a peep of dissent is seriously gross ...the Sun is pushing a right-wing or Campbell objective...whatever party will further their corporate power-hungry quest for Zionism, union-busting, corportate greed...anything but balanced, representative news coverage that decent, critique-oriented, educated people are entitled to. The more I think about how biased their media coverage is...the more I would like to see their empire crumble!!

Does anyone know if the Asper's have a zionist racist dog in the family?

Why don't you look into that Jean...let us know....is Zionism like the flu? Can anyone catch it?

SO Jean Bidette (Yeah, pun intended), you're so subtle. Asking your same little crap-stirring rhetorical question on every comment section is not really that clever, pal.

All you are trying to do is hook posters into a one-on-one with you, a practice that is sometimes amusing, but always transparent. I've not once seen you make a decent point in ANY of the places you've posted. And your use of different "names" doesn't even work.

Mystyblueyes, I said earlier that I hoped I live long enough to see the CanWest Global empire crumble, but unless something is done, none of us have that much time.

Rob from Quebec, hey, thanks for that adbusters link!!! I sent it to a few people too. It's a must for anyone who seethes over the Aspergum (thanks rcranium, I think it was) forced down our throats. Man, you can choke on that stuff.

I heard someone say the other day that ownership of Canadian media as we now have it in Canada--that is, consolidated in the hands of a particular interest/owner--came about as the result of a legislative change (so it was against the law before) brought in by Mulroney. I don't know if this is true. Does anyone know offhand? Research time I guess.

Does anyone think it is odd that whenever a topic comes up with Vancouver city council the only voices that are heard in the media are those from the two NPA representatives? Those two idiots do nothing other than complain about how long the meetings are taking.

I have made this comment before on another thread , but I will ask again. Does anyone think it is strange that despite falling sales and fewer and fewer readers that the Sun and the Province just keep on keepn' on? The right wing media in this country and that is most of the media , have desperately falling readership numbers. The National Post loses tens of millions every year, yet somehow they still keep pumping out this right wing vitriolic spew that Canadians by and large simply don't relate to. A reporter from the Ottawa Citizen (?) a few years back wrote a column on the disconnect between the news media and the public and stated that the reason for falling sales is that the right wing slant of the papers just does not resonate with Canadian readers - one would have thought he had suggested something unspeakably evil judging by the backlash against the article. This kind of clinging to ideology while your sales and product goes down the toilet seems to me to be exactly the kind of behaviour that the right accuses socialistic societies of . Financially unsustainable policies that continually lose money would seem to be an anathema to the Aspers and the Skulsky's of the world , unless of course the whole purpose is not so much to make a profit but to buy yourself a government.

Effle, I'm not sure but you may be referring to the fact that Canada "is virtually alone in the industrialized world in having no legislation to prevent the concentration of newspaper ownership or cross media concentration" as The Mulroney government had who else - "the Business Council on National Issues" draft the Competition Act. The BCNI is referred to as the mother of all special interest groups, lobbying for Canadian corporations, which includes some american transnationals. It's from a 1997 article, last part of it deals with BCNI. Key in "horse's mouth" "maude barlow and james winter"

faith - this is my (admittedly) crackpot theory: The Sun/Province run a yearly cycle where they gear up at a period of the year where they get highschool and college students to go door to door to make the to-good-to-be-true offer of a month free subscription. If you say yes, you get the paper for free and at the end of the month, you either continue and pay, or you cancel. Easy as pie. If you say no, the student makes you feel guilty by saying how you are denying her money(there's some deal going on with how many they 'give' away and how much money they get towards their tuition) so you end up saying yes. You get the paper for a month. You cancel at the end. Cost to you: $0. But this always seems to happen at the same time every year. Circulation numbers swell into some important critical number as a result. Ciruculation numbers are tabulated and computed by a third party. These numbers are used to calculate advertising costs. Bingo. Here is where they make their money. The more papers they give away, the more they can charge their advertisers. Ideology, content, bias - forgetaboutit - it has nothing to do with the equation.

Bonnie... I just tell those people that I am not interested in right-wing trash and that I have no desire to place the crap in the recycling bin. The big losers with Can-West are the advertisers who are only reaching a shrinking audience.

Thanks Lynn, yes indeed that's what I was referring to. It boggles the mind. Intersting theory Bonnie. And Faith, you say it well--it's all about buying yourself a government. Although I did hear a certain radio person whose-name-will-not-come-outa-my-mouth-again (for a week at least) say this morning that that "theory"--the one about money buying political favour--was malarky.

The BCNI is now called The Canadian Council of Executives (must be nirvana for the men in grey}. Just read that in McQuaig's article on Harper listed in Other Opinions in Tyee.

I can't believe someone is so dense they could suggest that the money and influence conspiracy is malarky. Why would the affluent donate a dime if that were not the case? It has been said that some intellectuals are dangerous, but if I might add, only when fools listen.

So.... what?? All "white" people have the same agenda?? Give me a break...

Great discussion about ASPergum:) I have boycotted ALL corporate-sucking media (incl. Maclean's)since His Lardship Black and wife first got a hold of them, before the ASPers bought 'em and continued the propaganda. But ads work, and advertorials and slanted news DO shape public opinion -- hence the NDP loss in the last election in BC, and the Mulroney and "free" trade win way back when. I do without newspapers just fine, for more info is online. Go and seek and enjoy:) There's TheTyee.ca, StraightGoods.com, haveyouhadenoughyet.com (humour),adbusters, ccpa, rabble.ca, GreenLeft, LaborStart, etc., etc., etc..... Want printed stuff? The People's Voice, The Record (Gold River), The Lower Island News, The Columbia, The Brairpatch[excellent], Our Times[great, too], Canadian Dimension [OK] , THIS Magazine, Canadian Forum(although the latter two have become nihilistic in the last few years and less relevant to any positive action to change things for the better, IMHO. There are a few good union newsletters, too -- The Leaflet (PPWC), TradeTalk (BC and Yukon Building Trades), and various CUPE and CEP missives. Naturally, The Council of Canadians'Canadian Perspective has good data and makes for interesting and disturbing reading. Sometimes the historic publication The Beaver has something worthwhile -- as long as it's not written by Michael Bliss, who could refit history to match Leonard's ASPerations, IMHO. One man's truth is another man's fiction, eh? Where's spellcheck here, by the way?