Categories: Canada

Shaking up the news world

WELLS: With the PM’s former press czar at the top, will “Canada’s Fox News” be conservative? or Conservative?

by Paul Wells with Martin Patriquin and Philippe Gohier on Friday, June 18, 2010 9:00am - 285 Comments

“It’s become a recipe to prove that the social democratic system doesn’t work, that it must be overhauled, and that the private sector has to be involved in everything,” says Valérie Dufour, a locked-out Journal political reporter.

Whatever it is, it seems to be working. The Journal’s circulation hasn’t dipped despite the lockout. For Quebecor, the lockout has an upside: an estimated $83 million saved in labour costs over the past 18 months. Several observers say Pierre Karl Péladeau is prolonging the lockout in order to deplete the union’s strike fund and score an ideological win against the province’s powerful labour movement. (Quebecor officials declined to comment for this story.)

Quebecor’s television assets dominate the province. TVA’s supper hour news program has three times the viewership of the comparable Radio-Canada broadcast, while the 24-hour LCN network, launched in 1997, is decidedly more opinionated and more successful than its Rad-Can rival. LCN’s two main talking heads, Richard Martineau and Jean-Luc Mongrain, are the network’s popular sources of canned outrage, often decrying government excess and so-called “reasonable accommodations” for immigrants in Quebec.

On Tuesday, Teneycke said the new cable channel is requesting a “must offer,” not a “must carry” licence from the CRTC, suggesting there is a difference. In fact there isn’t, according to CRTC spokesperson Peggy Nebout. “Must carry and must offer are the same,” Nebout told Maclean’s. If Teneycke gets his licence amendment and you have cable TV, you’ll see Sun TV News when you channel surf.

And what will you be seeing? A mix of political viewpoints, Teneycke swears, and often what you see won’t be political at all. “My guess is that the opening of the first Victoria’s Secret stores in Canada is more important to a lot of Canadians than the latest happenings at an Ottawa committee.”

When Sun TV News does turn to politics, Teneycke hopes to slay herds of sacred cows. That includes his new colleagues at other news organizations. “There’s a very clubby mentality within the media where they don’t report on mistakes one another make. Somebody will get a story wrong and it just sort of disappears from the scene. I think when that happens we’ll talk about it.”

He insists he won’t carry water for Harper or crusade for any cause. But if conservatives like what they see on Sun TV News, so be it. “My objective is to have the debate be more real, more raw, and more reflective of the issues that people are actually talking about. Whether it’s the lack of debate around certain environmental issues—where by and large, one perspective is taken as the holy gospel—I think there’s other points of view. And I think they should be given equal voice.

“I don’t think that’s crusading or campaigning. It’s simply bringing debate to the fore that’s largely happening anyway.”

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  • Dot

    When Kory Teneycke was undertaking his pre-meditated attack on Frank Graves, he looked straight into the camera and said something to the effect that "I am a conservative commentator" , or words to that effect. He was berating Graves for having ulterior motives in the nature of his polling and analysis – he was a shill for thje Liberals, in other words.

    So, now we know that Tenyycke has been working behind the scenes for Quebecor for quite some time – approaching individuals such as Rick Mercer in the past.

    So, in the interest of full disclosure, Tenycke fell short of his own standard. He was, in effect, a mole or a plant for Quebecor, and testing out the new format on Power and Politics.

    Not surprising. I myself wondered about his motives at the time.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Memi_S Memi_S

      How true, Dot!

      Kory is on the payroll of the PMO and he looks less and less "objective" in his professed route to a new journalism career, for which he is supremely unqualified, and as you so wisely stated, he 'falls short of his own standard"! His motives are not as pure as he'd have us believe! I'm sure Harper and his gang of Christian nationalists (thank God for Marci McDonald's new book that awakens up the most lethargic Canadians among us..) have something evil up their sleeves and Kory is just the messenger of things to come.

      God Save Canada from the Americanization (Jerry Springer-time) of our Canadian news. I don't want to be forced to pay a darn penny of my wages for these Republican prayer sessions! I think Canadians are….."a cut above" the unthinking American propagandizing of the news….hope i' m not proven wrong with this Kory playboy backed by big money! And please don't think that I am a Liberal card-carrying member. I am not!

  • Bob

    I find it very perplexing that David Akin has been selected to be an anchor on what 'people' are saying will be a more right-wing, non PC channel.
    David Akin, from what I have gleaned of him via his submissions, spends every waking editorial moment attacking and smearing Prime Minister Harper in particular and the Conservative Party of Canada in general.

    David Akin is VERY odd choice for a new channel with a 'so-called' right of center perspective.

    It makes one wonder if it's maybe a bit of 'false advertising' and if a counter balance to the unending leftard diatribe spewing 24/7 from biased Trudeau-pian luddite contributors in the major media in Canada (CBC, the Star etc) will EVER be in the cards for Canadian voters and consumers.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/slgam slgam

    Felicity and the rest of the nay-sayers re the new network want (of course) the government (CRTC) to deny the must carry/must offer status of the new network, while seeing nothing wrong whatsoever in the tax-funded CBC (we are ALL forced to pay with our taxes for its social engineering drivel AND its cable status) or in offering the network of our battlefield combatants and terrorist apologists in Al Jazeerah. No surprise. They also have 57 reasons why it won't succeed.

    And that's the beauty of the free market. If they are correct, the network will die a slow death due to lack of advertising revenues. I'm betting a lot that it will succeed spectacularly, and in the process, cause the same angst and outrage on the left that those of us on the right are forced to endure every time we have to listen to, or watch, the CBC and other MSM spin world events to mould the future in their own image. My children, who are very motivated and high achievers, will have a very, very dim future in a world shaped in the image of CBC apologists. I want them to have a future based on choice, personal freedoms, personal reward for hard work and innovation, and freedom from the machinations of social engineers who will do everything possible to punish those very qualities.

    So bring it on, and we will all see who is correct. As Maggy Thatcher said, "The facts of life are conservative". I have seen nothing in my increasingly long life to refute that statement. It will be so refreshing to have a net work available (if you don't like it, don't watch) that reflects that reality. It's a shame we have to wait until January 1st to start watching.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Memi_S Memi_S

      For those who watched, the best exchange at the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission was between (Thatcherite) Greenspan and Ms Brooksley E. Born, the former CFTC commodities Regulator chief who tried to stop Greenspan/Rubin/Summers/Geithner gang from deregulating derivatives, but ultimately failed. Born lost the battle and eventually her job. (Now she's the winner of the JFK Profile in Public Courage Award!)

      Geenspan's financially myopic support for the lethal financial DERIVATIVES instruments which triggered the crisis was inexcusable and due to his Thatcherite/Reaganite inability to conceive the damage as result of his Failure to Regulate Derivatives in 1998 when Born started her (failed) campaign to educate the "ideologically wrong" (as he admitted to Congress himself!) Greenspan.
      Didn't Greenspan, being grilled at the Public Inquiry by the formidable and unlistened to Derivatives expert Brooksley Born.

      It is this Thatcherite refusal to accept or foresee the absolute necessity for the Markets to be regulated that brought us in the current world-wide financial mess. So, please, let's look to the facts and not praise unwisely, as Greenspan recently admitted at the Congressional hearings, a "Failed Ideology"….

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Memi_S Memi_S

      slgam

      While the "Markets are beautiful", as you say, their 'beauty' can turn ugly as a result of the lack of proper Regulatory mechanisms put in place by a responsible, prescient and unbiased Fed Reserve, Treasury and a government dedicated to protecting the taxpayers' investments!

      When Brooksley Born asked Greenspan in '98 to immediately "regulate the Derivatives Casino that was brewing toxic credit default swaps" and proliferating precariously so as to threaten the integrity of financial institutions in the U.S. and infecting the world, she also said "Fraud in the Market must be stopped".

      Greenspan's response was "Fraud? What fraud? The free Markets can take care of fraud by themselves…no need to regulate"!!!

      Would you say that this irresponsible Reaganite/Thatcherite was right or wrong? And who is now paying for his lack of wisdom and, as he put it to Congress, "I was wrong…..yes, I espoused a failed Ideology"!!!!

      Sovereign nations are now attacked by the same "free markets" (Goldman Sachs and Hedge Funds speculative attacked euro's weakest link to prop up their failing U.S. dollar according to the Wall St. Journal's report of a secret meeting by GS and usual suspects hedge funds!!) that failed to protect U.S. citizens and now are threatening the financial stability of our world!

      Just a little "ideological fallacy" by Greenspan, Rubin, Summers and Geithner, eh? Give me Brooksley Born's "Canadian regulatory perspective" any day. And watch PBS's phenomenal doc. "The Warning"! And count your blessings as Canadian citizens….

  • Barry Stagg

    Fox News has a successful package in the U. S. through respect for the intelligence of its non-elite viewers. When high school dropouts were in the majority in both countries, most media ( newpapers,magazines, radio and television) had that kind of attitude. Now, the condescension of the under-educated elite is palpable and thoroughly engrained in the productions coming from the rivals of Fox News.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Memi_S Memi_S

      Barry Stagg

      I gave you a plus 'cause…you're RIGHT! (although I don't agree with your ideological perspective)…..

    • CLN

      When you don't think, you will always feel insulted when alternate views are presented. Let's just hate everything we don't like or further our interests.

  • kevin

    the most hilariuous thing i've ever seen was Jim Travers saying (and i paraphrase), "advocacy journalism is bad". Jim Travers said that.

    right. lol. what a tool.

    do lefties even hear themselves speak?

  • Barry Stagg

    Sad days for the reactionary thinkers worried about the end of the self-censoring Pravda universe.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Memi_S Memi_S

      Gosh, I only thought I'd register my objections to an importation of Bush-style "patriotic" fever news from our southern cousins. I just don't want MY taxpayers dollars spent on advancing the Rush Limbaugh/GlennBeck/Palin agenda of economic and social myopia that brought their land to the edge of bankruptcy!
      Now, if Chretien had gone along with Bush Jr. and spent $55 billion on the Iraq War he'd have joined, and if Tommy Douglas back in the 60s did not enlighten our P.M. Lester (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the middle east time bomb clicking at the time!) so Canada would be spending only half (10"%) of its GDP on Healthcare rather than the Yankee's current 18%…..and if ….

      if 64% of all Canadians filing for Bankruptcy did so as result of their "inability to pay their medical bills" (as the current situation stands in America)…..

      You're darn lucky me man you got a multi-partite system of Govenrment here in our Great True North Strong and Free, and not a shortsighted elitist pseudo-conservative CRAP (conservative/Reform/alliance/party) party that "erodes democratic institutions and has a ruthless tactician as its leader" (accoridng to that great socialist rag THE ECONOMIST in its Jan. 10 editorial!)….

      Praise Canada and where its leaders have taken us, together with foresight from Chief Dief (who shunned Yanks after they falsified CIA reports to convince Canada to scrap our great Avro Arrow!), great diplomat Lester Pearson, great preachy Tommy Douglas (whom you can thank for not attributing any Canadian bankrutpcy to "medical bills"), Trudeau who, thru his Multicultural Policy rushed Canada into the global sphere that we live in now….

      You got a lot to thank the Libs and the NDP and the Bloc (who have acted with more grace and civilized chutzpah than the whole partisan, screaming Baird-bunch of neoCon neanderthals on the Hill…History be your guide, friend.

      • Barry Stagg

        Lester Pearson picked up his Nobel Prize in 1957 for being a UN man-servant in a deal between the Americans and the British to save face over their awkward and ill-advised disagreements on Israel. Pearson's legacy was 'peacekeeping', a demoralizing emasculation of our storied Canadian military from which we continue to recover.

  • Mary in Calgary

    We also had Fox U.S., free with cable, for years, along with the flipside and also sometimes polarizing commentary of MSNBC of recent. Fox was shuffled to the pay channels a handful of years ago, so most are no longer subjec…er, I mean, watch it anymore. Funnily enough, Fox swung back to the middle a bit after B. O. was elected.

  • http://www.CannabisCulture.com Jodie Emery

    Kory Teneycke is aptly described as "smug" and "condescending". He used Twitter to suggest my husband, political activist Marc Emery, should enjoy being subjected to sexual humiliation in US prison.

    The first post, made on May 11th (the day after Justice Minister Rob Nicholson ordered Emery extradited to the US) reads: “Bon Voyage, Marc Emery. May your vacation at Club Fed be a lengthy one.”

    The next one, which was published in the June 14th Canadian Press article "Tory insiders and behind-scenes lobbying pave path to new 'Fox North' launch", was posted on May 14th and reads: “To the pot heads who keep sending me crazy, profane emails: I hope Marc Emery enjoys group showers as much as he enjoys pot. Three cheers for the DEA.”

    My husband has never hurt another human being, yet our Prime Minister’s ex-communications director openly hopes for Marc to be physically harmed while in US prison. It’s a common perception that prison rape happens in ‘group showers’, so this suggestion that Marc should enjoy being subjected to sexual abuse and humiliation is absolutely disgusting and offensive, and should be condemned by any decent, civilized person. Teneycke should apologize for this horrendously cruel comment.

    It's shocking that he's going to be responsible for a TV channel. Shame on Teneycke.

    • Tony

      Start a pot channel; it is a free country, honey. I can call your husband anything I want

      • Anthony

        Really, that's your response? First of all you're wrong, i can't call you anything i want, though i will call you a sad, small human being. She ain't your honey either, tony.
        Funny how you call it a free country. Where's the freedom to enjoy some pot? I know you mean free speech, but i couldn't miss the opportunity to point out a pretty pathetic piece of legislation.

        • Tony

          Sad, small, human being? – sure, so are you, no offense.

          I meant "honey" in a perfectly good way – (you don't like honey?). In terms of martyrdom, I would almost suggest that her husband wished to be such, but he isn't even close – he is just desperate or stupid.

    • CLN

      Kory T and his likes (eg. Stephen Harper) just hate people who do not share his views. That's his philosophy in life – either you are with us or against us.

    • Mike T.

      I agree that 10eeeks post was unprofessional and uncalled for. While your husband did break the law, he is hardly dangerous, and there are far worse criminals in Canada.

  • Tony

    What I hope for this media outlet is the same thing Maclean's (Coyne, Cosh, Potter, Wherry, and Wells(not a conservative but an excellent journalist) and the National Post (Selley, Kay (not Jonathan), Black, and Gunter) give to me in print – challenge, question, and evolve the notion of distinct Canadian Conservatism ( in its many forms) in Canada. Win on ideas.

    I hate Fox News

    • Tony

      All the names I mention are largely opinion (which says something), I would hope (maybe naively) more investigative, researched journalism from individuals of any ideological stripe as long as it is good work.

    • Mike T.

      But why not just try to find more Paul Wellsesess rather than trying to find people whose ideas will be more outlandish but not as nuanced or deep?

  • balabu

    I am glad that there will be an alternative to the left slanted journalism of CBC and CTV. To prevent my blood pressure from rising to dangerous levels I have to press often the off button when I hear the biased reporting of CBC knowing that these parasites using my Tax dollars push their leftist garbage on the public while claiming patriotically "CANADA LIVES HERE"

    • CLN

      Don't worry, you have a tax funded health care system to save you if your blood pressure becomes a health threat.

  • John

    Rather than the media ad noseum the soap opera of a former MP and his MP wife as if it was Entertainment TV, perhaps some real stories would be debated, like Bill 232.

    There are 2 sports analogies that I think make sense to illustrate what is wrong with CTV & CBC..
    1. On the daily radio program Prime Time Sports, they make a point of not having athletes as guests, but focusing on the issues of the day. Would it not add value to stop having politicians interviewed? Most recite the same drivel no matter the question.
    2. Sports highlight shows like to focus on the obnoxious and put that on TV. Athletes learn that is how to get attention. CBC and CTV do the same with Question Period. Let's analyse the issues not the nonsense.

    In that way the current media are underservicing Canadians, leaving an opportunity for a new station.

  • Barry Stagg

    How pretentious some posters are when whining about how they find it difficult to avoid the leading American news channels on their cable television packages. Are they suffering due to the unwanted and evidently intolerable attacks on their sense of certitude?

    Perhaps they can get a bulk subscription to the stacks of weekly newspapers the Toronto Star publishes all over the country. Their thirst for parochialism can be slaked and Torstar can prosper as well.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Memi_S Memi_S

    To The "Thatcherite" commenter

    You say that the "markets are beautiful……"

    While the "Markets are beautiful", as you say, their 'beauty' can turn ugly as a result of the lack of proper Regulatory mechanisms put in place by a responsible, prescient and unbiased Fed Reserve, Treasury and a government dedicated to protecting the taxpayers' investments!

    When Brooksley Born asked Greenspan in '98 to immediately "regulate the Derivatives Casino that was brewing toxic credit default swaps" and proliferating precariously so as to threaten the integrity of financial institutions in the U.S. and infecting the world, she also said "Fraud in the Market must be stopped".

    Greenspan's response was "Fraud? What fraud? The free Markets can take care of fraud by themselves…no need to regulate"!!!

    Would you say that this irresponsible Reaganite/Thatcherite was right or wrong? And who is now paying for his lack of wisdom and, as he put it to Congress, "I was wrong…..yes, I espoused a failed Ideology"!!!!

    Sovereign nations are now attacked by the same "free markets" (Goldman Sachs and Hedge Funds speculative attacked euro's weakest link to prop up their failing U.S. dollar according to the Wall St. Journal's report of a secret meeting by GS and usual suspects hedge funds!!) that failed to protect U.S. citizens and now are threatening the financial stability of our world!

    Just a little "ideological fallacy" by Greenspan, Rubin, Summers and Geithner, eh? Give me Brooksley Born's "Canadian regulatory perspective" any day. One of the reasons we as Canadians enjoy financial stability and prosperity (!) which is applauded by the world's economic gurus is that we have had governments in power that respected regulatory imperatives. Thank god, our biggest bank in '98 was not allowed that huge merger and expansion in its markets, and our fiscal prudence is continuing…

    Please watch PBS's phenomenal doc. "The Warning"! It will really make you start counting your blessings as Canadian citizens….

    • Barry Stagg

      Using sneer quotes does not repudiate the free market system. Imperfection is inherent in any market system but regulation is no panacea. If it were so, Vladimir Putin would still be part of the ambitious KGB nomenklatura while the Kremlin pondered replacing a now centenarian Brezhnev.

      • Memi S

        I never have advocated AGAINST our free market system and never will! But that "imperfection is inherent" in the system is exactly when Mr. Greenspan said in response to Brooksley Born's legitimately expressed concern with credit default obligations and OVT derivates that had been climbing uncontrollably. The head of the CFTC knew fully well that regulation and oversight were absolutely necessary if the market were not to collapse as result of such lack of regulation. She was proven right, and Greenspan wrong. That's why the Americans are conducting the Financial Crisis Inquiry. Fraud will go on in the markets and Goldman Sachs will still be sued criminally and civilly. No one can stop fraud in the markets. They are not perfect. But surely regulatory oversight will act so as to protect the taxpayers' investments–not to mention sovereign countries attacked by speculators' need to prop up the U.S. dollar and make sure it remains the reserve currency.
        I often think of lack of regulatory oversight in the markets is similar to having kids with whose "rights" you hesitate to mess around! I believe in being a disciplinarian. A little discipline at home will go a long way. And in the markets it may save us from disaster. I refuse to see, and as Greenspan belatedly agrees, "inherent imperfections" in our markets with an excuse to let them get away with fraud and destroying our financial foundation. Like children, they do need SOME discipline, or they'll get away with 'murder' …. as they've already proven it!

  • Barry Stagg

    Sun News will restore some elevated status to the entrepreneur classes in Canada. The debate now going on hourly on Canadian television news shows is between competing sets of corporate and government consultants. Business and industry are looked upon as if they are uneradicated pathogens.

    Using sneer quotes does not repudiate the free market system. Imperfection is inherent in any market system but regulation is no panacea. If it were so, Vladimir Putin would still be part of the ambitious KGB nomenklatura while the Kremlin pondered replacing a now centenarian Brezhnev.

  • Memi S

    Thank God for the Empire Loyalist refugees…..We live, up to the time of this posting, in one of the most peaceful, progressive and pre-G20 fiscally responsible (thanks to decades of good management) countries in the world. We must never forget that our more privileged (?) cousins south of the border who have spent a $Trillion Dollars for the combined wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are filing for personal bankruptcies at an alarming rate.
    Let's not forget that 64% (U.S. stats) of these bankruptcies arise as the result of….inability of Americans to pay their Medical Bills"!
    Oh Canada! You are worth fighting for….

  • http://twitter.com/RamaraMan @RamaraMan

    Must carry? Not if I cancel my CDN sat service for a US based one! I say no to #KoryTV!!

  • CLN

    This new station is going to sow seeds of division in this country. It's sole goal to fuel hatred for anything that is not conservatives. Hate the all other political parties. Hate progressives. Hate social programs. Hate any programs that are not market-oriented. I don't want to have to pay to support for this TV station. The CRTC should grant a category 1 license only to a network that has stations in every province of the country.
    If you want to help this yet to start TV station spend money, just click on its sponsored ad 1000 times a day when you google SUN TV.

  • Chris

    If your not interested in Fox News North, there is one simple solution: don't watch.

  • Non-American

    The biggest problem with any of this is the fact that "Fox News" is considered news at all! It is opinionated reporting, and should not be masqueraded as anything more. I live out of Canada and consume a lot of American media. If we ever get a Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck or Bill O'Reilly in Canada I think I'm moving to Denmark.

    For me, preservation of Canadian culture is important, as is the CBC. While I support a new channel of "conservative news" I think it would quickly become a xenophobic orgy of Americanism as opposed to providing valid and insightful criticism of leftist thinking. A leftist channel to do the same would be wonderful as well. The CBC's role should be unbiased, non-sensationalist NEWS.

    I don't want to look for the part where it says that 'more privatization' is good, but I will point out that doing ANYTHING the same way as the US is just asking for trouble. Canada has the best banks in the world, I would not follow in the US's economic footsteps regardless of my political alignment.

  • http://TheJeffFariasShow.com BlueBerry Pick'n

    Kiss Canadian sovereignty GOOD BYE:

    the **foxes** have taken over the chicken coop.

    Watch as the Conservative Party, their off-shore lobbyists & corporate thugs turn Canada into Saipan or Honduras

    Don't say that Canadians weren't warned: we saw what Ailes & Murdoch enabled the Republicans to do in the USA.

    if we're that stupid, we deserve the toxic cesspool environment, ruined social & economic justice, vassal statehood & crumbling infrastructure that their 'privatization & deregulation' TeaParty nutjobs brought on to the USA…

    [youtube w39FnpuMRfo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w39FnpuMRfo youtube]

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