Thread by @AlbertanPatriot

1-My Thread for the day:
Canadian Media Convergence and the dangers to democracy.

2- In the early 2000’s, some might remember, Canadian media landscape was a lot different. You could open a newspaper and get opinions from the left and the right. Same goes for TV news outlets. In 2018, the picture is a lot different and it’s bad for democracy.

3- One of the fallouts was to push the election of a leader that wasn’t based on competence, but rather because of his image. Leaders of most political parties are now following along the same line.

4-The number of hands that control information consumed by Canadians has shrunken considerably. Conservatives have noticed the most as they have no representation in the media.

5-Most left leaning individuals I know haven’t noticed, possibly because they have been walked into a narrative of the left which they are more likely to accept based on their predispositions.

6- So...
In 2000, there were an astounding number of media acquisitions:
BCE buys Canada’s largest private TV network, CTV
BCE then adds the Globe and Mail to form Bell Globe media.
Rogers goes after Videotron, but they get outbid by Quebecor.

7- We were warned of the consequences…
Pay attention at the 2:30 mark. “ Fewer journalists, less content. It challenges the whole notion of diversity upon which democracy is founded”
cbc.ca/archives/entry…

8- Robert Cribb of the Canadian Association of journalists hits the nail on the head. Glenn O’farell dismisses the claim and says they are without merit.

9- Quebecor buys TVA in Québec.
Pay attention at 1:13. Jean Pierre Blais, CRTC: “ You lose diversity in the system. People end up no matter what they are watching or what newspaper they are reading, basically having the same treatment.”
cbc.ca/archives/entry…

10-In other words, you will see the same opinion on every channel.
In Canada, the CRTC is the body regulating the industry and it was, at the time was trying to impose that newsrooms remain separate. Broadcasters wanted more efficiency.
crtc.gc.ca

11- In this segment, Leonard Asper from Canwest global buys out Hollinger from Conrad Black.
Or: The biggest Canadian TV group merge with the biggest Canadian Newspaper group. How can this go wrong?
cbc.ca/archives/entry…

12-
At 00:48 you could see a map of all the outlets and papers they now own. It’s massive.
At 2:45 Kevin O’Connor, Saskatchewan media guild:” Fewer and fewer voices reporting the news. If that’s so, I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”

13- Those people kept warining everyone, but no one listened!!!!

14- And now for the bombshell:
4:40
The competition bureau tells us they are reviewing the deal with a caveat: Only whether it lessens the number of outlets for ads NOT FOR OPINIONS.
cbc.ca/archives/entry…

15-Gaston Jorré, Federal Competition Bureau: “ Editorial content is not something we look at. It’s not an economic issue."
We got really screwed on that one, I mean, REALLY. This now makes a lot of sense to see how the media tries to convert us to liberalism on a daily basis.

16- But wait,there's more..
Most of the outlets also now dictate the editorial policy as seen in the next video.
The Aspers, Liberal supporters, decide the National office in Winnipeg will set the editorial line and local papers won't be able to diverge from it without auth.

17- They also purged the dissenting voices,
Canwest fires Russel Mills who published a piece criticizing the prime minister without approval. Can you believe this? cbc.ca/archives/entry…

18- Laurence Martin was let go in the same fashion and states: “ It’s not about freedom of the press but muzzling of the press.” Get it? The press isn’t free or hasn’t been for almost 20 years already…..It’s been in front of us this whole time and somehow we let it happen.

19- Can you imagine how massive this is. Imagine if the election is a close call. You can now use your editorial power to shift the narrative one way or the other. In our last election it happened along the following lines.

20-
-Conservatives are depicted as bad (this went for the entire campaign)
- NDP voters are jumping ship. Then they ignored the NDP, totally stopped talking about them.
- It’s a done deal, Justin is gaining momentum and everyone is rallying behind him.
- Justin wins...

21-
The media pushed every positives for Justin although he had no track record to prove his competence and the media pushed every negative they could against Harper. This was because of the editorial lines enforced by those outlets.
ctvnews.ca/politics/elect…

22- I hope you go through a few of those video to go more into depth. My intention here is only to bring some elements back to the forefront for all to see.
If you enjoued, I do not ask for any money, just a share will help me get the word out.
Cheers.
/END

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