Thread by @jaycurrie

Headlines across legacy media proclaimed that Justin Trudeau was mobbed by fans in Calgary. Yeah, right. In fact it was a couple hundred selected Liberal supporters at a closed event which was not publically announced. Legacy media printed a press release. 1/

Legacy media seems Hell bent on destroying what little public trust it has left. In general it seems perfectly happy to act as a friendly press agent for gov'ts in power. When was the last time Trudeau was asked a hard question? 2/

Legacy media is perfectly happy to accept every word from PHO as "the Science" and therefore beyond question. It has bought into the "truckers as insurrection" story with gusto. 3/

There is minimal coverage of the Dutch farmers' protests and the collapse of Sri Lanka is a non-story. Hunter Biden's cell phone filth? Not a story. 4/

It is no wonder that readership and viewership of legacy media is dropping like a stone. And even less wonder that the Canadian federal government is handing out cash to the media giants to paper over the collapse. 5/

And the feds are not done yet. They have passed Bills in the HoC which would permit censorship of "mis-information" and now only permit "accredited" media to cover the PM and his Cabinet 6/

Legacy media, by playing nice with the Liberal establishment, has rendered itself pretty useless. But, more importantly, it has become vulnerable to "new media". 7/

When you look at Canada you see Rebel Media, True North, Blacklocks Reporter and a host of single person outlets like Andy Lee, Spencer Fernando and Keean Bexte as "new media". (And sorry if I left you out). 8/

And you have assorted "names" from legacy media setting up on their own on SubStack - Terry Glavin, Paul Wells, Matt Guerny, Jen Grersen- all have subscriber based newsletters. 9/

Legacy media carries along huge fixed costs. Studios, ancient cameras, management, HR departments none of which are needed to deliver news or opinion. A laptop, or in a pinch, a smart phone can deliver. Distribution? The internet is here for a reason. 10/

There is not much doubt that the Liberal regime controls legacy media but does legacy media control the mass audience it once commanded? Newspaper circulation is way down, television viewership is dropping, radio? Well, maybe if you commute. 11/

That decline in influence will only get worse as legacy media runs the same, wildly unlikely, story about Calgary's adoration of Trudeau across all its platforms. No one believes this sort of contrived rubbish. The more it is printed the less credible it is. 12/

Each time a newspaper or television outlet runs with obviously controlled and coinfected material it loses a little bit of credibility. As the Liberals become more desperate in the face of their waning popularity, I expect the legacy media will run more such "stories". 13/

Narratives die when people stop believing in them. It used to be that if a story appeared in the Globe and Mail one presumed that it was probably true. Now the presumption flows the other way. 14/

For the broadcasters, CBC, CTV and Global trust was never all that high. Was it news or entertainment? Hard to tell. Now the TV glosses are so one-sided that "news" is not really on the table. 15/

The subsidies to legacy media are now squarely in both the #PPC's and @PierrePoilievre's sights. "Defund the CBC" is no longer a fringe, right wing position. Rather it is a recognition that the MotherCorp is no longer needed in an internet age. 16/

Ending the subsidies to corporate legacy media also makes sense in a new internet driven world. Post Media, Rogers, Bell Canada, Torstar are private companies and have no inherent right to the public purse. 17/

Ending gov't subsidy will likely mean the end of many venerable old Canadian institutions. But they long since abandoned the values - like objective reporting - which made them venerable and worth keeping. 18/

The end of legacy media will clear space for new media to flourish. Telling the truth, asking awkward questions, separating objective reporting from opinion journalism and never being any politicians' handmaiden will bring audiences to new media. 19/

It is about time for a bit of Joseph Shumpeter's creative destruction to be visited upon the still twitching corpse of Canada's legacy media. Clear away the debris and start fresh. 20/20