Categories: Need to know

Teneycke attacks Atwood over anti-Sun TV News petition

Head of right-wing news network attacks novelist for lack of “principles and patriotism”

by macleans.ca on Friday, September 3, 2010 3:46pm - 0 Comments

Kory Teneycke, the vice-president of development for Quebecor Media and the man in charge of Sun TV News, has lashed out at Margaret Atwood over the Canadian literary icon’s support of an anti-Sun TV News petition. The petition is being promoted by Avaaz, a left-wing group based in the U.S., which claims “‘Fox News North’ [will] mimic the kind of hate-filled propaganda with which Fox News has poisoned U.S. politics.” “This is not the first time Atwood has put her political agenda ahead of principles and patriotism,” Teneycke writes in an op-ed published by the Sun papers, citing Atwood’s musing about supporting the Bloc Québécois if she lived in Quebec. “Seriously? How about voting for someone who doesn’t advocate the breakup of the country?” Teneycke goes on to point out the obviously fake names contained on the petition, including “Dwight Shroot (from The Office), Boba Fett (of Star Wars), Snuffaluffagus (Sesame Street) and Homer Simpson,” which Teneycke later confirmed were added by his source on the matter.

Toronto Sun

CBC News

Tags: Feud

Skinny Dipper

Sign the petition to stop Faux News North.
http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_fox_news_canada/98.php

DPT

typical dipper, it's all about freedom of expression and sticking it to the man in whatever way you feel is apporpriate but when it's a conservative all of the sudden it's dangerous and must be stopped. Did you come up with this while you were breaking windows at the G20?

Skinny Dipper

I was nowhere near downtown Toronto. I would have been there to go shopping and eat at restaurants. However Dictator Harper's police were arresting anyone on site.

O'Neill

I don't think you know what a dictator is
DPT

i'm sure you were there in spirit

SunshineCoaster

Already signed it.
Ryan

I was going to sign it, but input my own my message in support of Fox News North… though I backed out at the thought of receiving liberal emails.. shudder..
Ryan

Ok nevermind, I went ahead and signed it with my own message in support of Fox News North. It was the least I could do.
sea_n_mountains

petitioning to block this thing, is a srsly misguided effort.

Jenn_

Thank you, Sea_n_mountains!

Ariadne

A petition for freer press? What a genius? What makes people think, that because they have written books, act in movies, and etc. – suddenly that makes them fountain of wisdom? So many pretentious people…
sursum

Has anybody actually read the "columnist" at the Toronto Sun? Good gawd, what a bunch of grotesque CONS. I note Ezra Levant is writing for them now and he even seems mild by comparison
citizen_CA

Avaaz is not exactly unbiased. They are anti-Israel and pro-Arab. Avaaz is actually a Persian word. So, no surprise that they don't want this station to come on the air.

Dale

Thats total bullsht. You have no idea what you are talking about
Jan

Oooooh – a Persian word. How scary.

Phil_King

Kory Teneycke is such a snot nosed little brat. It kills me that he gets so much coverage for what amounts to coldly calculated political tantrums.

Honestly, calling into question people's patriotism and right to democratic freedom just because someone wiser and more respected than him is calling him on his crap?

Doesn't he know that patriotism is the last refuge of the scroundrel?

Oh wait, I bet he does.

Down to your last refuge already eh Teneycke? LOL

DPT

Doesn't he know that patriotism is the last refuge of the scroundrel?

and using force to shut down a free press is the first tactic of a despot

Phil_King

Well then he should attack from that position shouldn't he? Instead he attacks her patriotism and the right of people to vote for their representatives of choice? Total fail on his part.

And BTW, a petition is just another form of voicing an opinion in a democratic manner, but one which can hardly be characterized as "force", since it has no real influence on the decision, but hey nice try.

DPT

either a fee press is inviolable or it isn't, a petition to influence a regulating party to stop the ability to express an opinion may not physical force but the end result is the same. We just want to pursuade you not to do it… eventually at the point of a gun.

Phil_King

So what are you saying really? That free speech doesn't include the right to start a petition against the awarding of a special status news channel? Because that's what they're shooting for, despite years of btching about the CBC sucking tax dollars.

If they want to start a channel or paper of whatever, no one can stop them.
They have the right to do so in any case.

So I'm not sure what you're objecting to really.

My objection is merely that Teneycke's retort is incredibly lame, off target and somewhat anti-democratic.

That said, I don't lose sleep at night over concern for what Kory or his news channel might say. LOL
DPT

What I'm saying really, is that eventually those who don't recognize the right to a free press and try, through coercive means to suppress it are just one stop on the spectrum that leads to a lack of freedom. Of course they have the right to start a petition. It's when they implore government to use the power it has to do thier bidding that the problem arises. As far as I know, (I could very well be wrong), you need a licence of some kind to start a TV station. So what M.A. would love to see happen despite her problem with the "process" (which is another bit a fiction) is that if she had her wish the CRTC would shut down Sun Media's project. She has no problem whatesoever with that despite her transparent free speech credentials.
DPT

and..

TK is undoubtedly using her contradictions for publicity, so what? She walked right into it. furthermore for you to say that an attack on her prinicples and patriotism is unfounded is just ignoring the fact that :

a) she is in favour of limiting free speech she disagrees with (lack of prinicople) and b) would vote for an political entity whose ultimate goal is the break up of the country, lack of patriotism. This isn't the CHRC, truth is still a defense.
Allan Webster

She's wrong about the process? In her letter she states that they can have their station. She just doesn't think Canadians, through a forced subscription should have to pay for it.
http://rustyidols.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-dare-s…
DPT

she is wrong in her unsubstantiated allegation that the government is pulling strings to get that subscription and furthermore why doesn't she have a problem with the the CBC in that case?
Phil_King

The CBC has a mandate to provide news to everyone, ie as a national broadcaster. If they really were partisan as both sides seem to like to claim from time to time, then maybe I'd agree, but comparing the CBC to Sun TV is silly in that regard.

Sun TV is PROUD to be PARTISAN and have made that clear from the get go. Totally different story and no mandate from the people.

In any case, anyone can form a specialty channel, they just have to convince the cable providers to carry it, as in they need a compelling business case.

Since that's what conservatives are all about, expecially Kory and company, I'm surprised that they'd admit so readily that they can't by applying for a "must carry" station.
evenflow

What I find hilarious is you bring up the exact point Atwood has a problem with:

"It's when they implore governments to use the power it has to do their bidding that the problem arises" – is this not what Harper is trying to do for SunTV and is this not why Atwood signed the petition?

Patchouli

"coldly calculated political tantrums" is a wonderful line. And very apropos to this case too.

Conservatives seem to relish calling the patriotism of any and all dissenters into question.

So tell me, Phil, why DO you hate the troops?

Phil_King

They wear too much green. I can't abide people in green. LOL

Jan

Interesting he tried to say that if there would be outrage if the NRA were up here trying to influence the long gun registry debate. Rumour has it they are. I wonder what he knows about it.

Blurg

Kory Teneycke is a joke.

Arturolexo

Margaret Atwood is a joke.

Philanthropist

Margaret Atwood is a fascist.

Dave

No, just a crap canlit novelist.

Poker Face

Yup.
craigola

Still waiting for your efforts to show up on the bestseller list.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Ottawa_Centrist Ottawa_Centrist

If that is the case, then the word fascist has been overused to the point it longer has strong meaning.

Like that guy who cut me off on the highway is a total fascist.

MTB

First of all, let's not dignify it by calling it "Fox News North." Sun TV has no affiliation with Fox News and there's no reason to believe it will in any way come close to even the marginal quality Fox has to offer. Secondly, why waste time opposing Sun TV? They're probably lapping up the actions of folks like Atwood because it's the only advertising they can afford. Let the little cons have their TV station. We'll see how many people actually watch it.

Phil_King

Yeah well there's that point isn't there? Can't disagree with the fact that the petition essentially gives Faux North some free publicity, and serves no real purpose anyways, but people have a right to be idiots.

And both sides are replete with them.

Holly Stick

Hasn't done the Avaaz petition any harm either; it's over 61,000 signatures:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_fox_news_canada

Holly Stick

Now at 68,000 signatures

Allan Webster

If you associate with members of Fox News and the PM at a 'secret' luncheon in New York and the press finds out ( and some people like Margaret are readers of newspapers) what do you expect her to say?
http://rustyidols.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-dare-s…

O'Neill

If it so secret how come you know

Jan

We know because some enterprising reporter looked up Ari Fleischer's compulsory reporting of his consulting activities. Harper must have thought it would never get out.

Holly Stick

O'Neill wouldn't know because O'Neill only listens to dishonest rightwingers.

Phil_King

Oh no, people are voicing their opinions publically through a petition that has no real influence!

Quick, slander them!

AJR79

I believe in her right to sign, or write anything she wants.

It's my right, to think less of her for it.

Wayne

Margaret is a wanna be author who hasn't written anything of any remotely resembling relevance since ' A Handmaid's Tale ' – so who cares what she says or does -

Jerry Boyle

Kory Teneycke?
Patchouli

Sorry, don't try to stack up Kory's achievements next to Atwood's cuz your boy will lose badly.

And whatever you do, don't address the issue — just slander the dissenter!
Dave

"A Handmaid's Tale" resembled relevance?

Holly Stick

"Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaids Tale belongs to the genre of anti-utopian (dystopian) science fiction where we read about a woman's fictive autobiography of a nightmarish United States at the end of the twentieth century when democratic institutions have been violently overthrown and replaced by the new fundamentalist republic of Gilead. In the novel the majority of the population are suppressed by using a "Bible-based" religion as an excuse for the suppression…"
http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=15952
DPT

actually , it resembles a meandering crap in the woods.

http://onelinecritic.wordpress.com/ DirtyOldTown

I know, it's hard to keep track of such a prolific author. Here, let me help – there's a handy list at the bottom of this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood. You're welcome!

Holly Stick

Sorry, too many big words and ideas for the teeny rightwing minds to cope with.

Jan

Juvenile, Wayne. You're as bad as Kory.
Jenn_

How many of her books have you read since 'A Handmaid's Tale'?

I ask because I was fully and completely prepared to hate Margaret Atwood's writing. She is the personification of the 'elite Canadian literary establishment' I so dislike. But I read one, Alias Grace it was, and am disappointed to say that I very much enjoyed it. The thing I dislike about the 'elite Canadian literary establishment' is that books are fawned over when they meander over page after page, but there is no story. I can't imagine reading for the language alone; why can't we have both? Alias Grace really did give the best of both worlds.

Holly Stick

Yes, it's good. I like some of her books like The Robber Bride much better than others; The Year of the Flood felt much more down to earth than Oryx and Crake did, though the latter's fertility rites of the bioengineered people are just hilarious.

Gayle

Apparently you care.

Holly Stick

Turns out that at least one of Kory's statements may not bear a close relationship to the truth:
http://rustyidols.blogspot.com/2010/09/how-dare-s…
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/que…

Reverend_Blair

I was watching Kory on Power and Politics today and it occurred to me that he was leaving himself pretty open to a libel suit from both Atwood and Avaaz.

Holly Stick

Yes indeed; and I presume he would have to pay his lawyers out of his own pockets.

Reverend_Blair

I have a feeling that guys like him never pay for anything with their own money.
Guest

Poor Kory. Perhaps he should consider running for Toronto City Council. Even Sandra Bussin doesn't have to pay for her own lawsuits.

Holly Stick

"…Teneycke goes on to point out the obviously fake names contained on the petition, including “Dwight Shroot (from The Office), Boba Fett (of Star Wars), Snuffaluffagus (Sesame Street) and Homer Simpson,” which Teneycke later confirmed were added by his source on the matter…"

According to Kady, Teneycke's source shares an IP with the rotter who signed real journalists' names to the petition without their knowledge.:
http://twitter.com/kady/status/22917001945

Just remember "freeping" was invented by lying rightwingers.

TJCook

Nixon called people like that his "Dirty Tricksters."

Generations of a-holes (with Karl Rove) at the summit learned from Nixon's tactics.

Jan

Roger Ailes, now head of Fox News, who Harper and Kory had lunch with, was one of Nixon's 'dirty tricksters. Small world isn't it?

Dave

Has anyone ever seen Kory the Tory smile?

Anyone? Ever?

Why so cranky all the time, Mr. Cranky?

Arturolexo

Don't know, but why is the clown ignotief always scowling?

Patchouli

Clever retort.
Dave

I have seen photographic and videographic evidence that the Igster is capable of smiling.

I cannot say the same about Sourpuss.

Mark R

SunTV is not even on the air yet but man are they really getting under the skin of people. Media don't like change me thinks.

Holly Stick

They don't like being dragged into the gutter.

bennji

I have been trying to get an answer to this all day.

How is Kory even able to "lobby" CRTC for special status.

Isn't he supposed to be "cooling off" under the Federal Accountability Act?

Dave

I bet there has not been, and will not be, a single breach of ethics or lobbying rules as Kory TV pursues its broadcast license appli- pphhhhhhrt ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, can someone else finish that sentence for me?
Jan

The Accountability Act has a few loopholes in it, it would seem. It seems to be designed to work around business as usual.

Holly Stick

Here's a scoop:
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/09…

Holly Stick

If Teneycke or someone close to him was in fact responsible for signing journalists' names to a petition without their knowledge, then I have to shudder at the mind-numbing STUPIDITY of pulling such a moronic trick. Way to get your rivals on your side, Kory! Who is going to trust you about anything ever?

Holly Stick

He sure looks guilty here:
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Politics/ID=158212…

Holly Stick

About 11 minutes into the interview is the realblow to his credibility.
Gayle

Hmmm.

I was not intending to sign the petition but after watching Kory I am convinced I should.

I have to wonder about these free speech activists who are so afraid of what others have to say that they simply try to drown them out. If he were so confident in his position I doubt he would have had to interrupt so often.

Jan

The year is 2010 and they still don't realize IP's are traceable. Such is their genius.

Arturolexo

Nice headline. Should have been: Atwood attacks free speech in her own country.

Holly Stick

Well, that would be a lie. Atwood is against politicians like Harper trying to control the media for their own sleazy purposes..

SunshineCoaster

There is no doubt in my mind that Kory Teneycke and his band of bigots at Sun Media will stoop to the same low level of journalism with Fox News North as we see at Fox News South. There is also no doubt in my mind that Harper, Teneycke, Giorno and others created the plan for Fox News North in the PMO and are now pressuring civil servants and regulators to authorize a license for FNN in a category where your and my cable fees pay for it. The CRTV has reserved this category for networks that have a long history of providing broad coverage of news and other programming. FNN meets none of these criteria. This is the "process" or lack of one, that Atwood and others object to. This is not a free speech issue.

I also think Teneycke is serving a very valuable public service by speaking out so forcefully. This way all the world can see how much he resembles Fox News South and the other bigots there.
Kevin

There was a time when liberals supported civil rights for those they disagreed with. With campus speech codes, hate crime legislation, hate speech legislation and attacks on media outlets they don't like, the left are starting to look less liberal all the time. Dictators from Hitler to Stalin also believed that their suppression of free speech was in the public interest.

Craig O.

This petition has nothing to do with freedom of speech.

I see this a lot, so it's worth going over – freedom of speech means the right to say what you'd like, without punishment for saying that, or active resistance against getting that speech out to those who may want to hear it.

What freedom of speech does not entail is the obligation for others to make your voice more accessible than standing on a street corner yelling. If a paper decides not to print something you write to them, it's not denying your freedom of speech because it's THEIR paper, not your's. If a university decides not to give you access to their auditorium to speak, that's their right because it's THEIR auditorium (*cough* Ann Coulter *cough*). And if the CRTC decides not to classify a news channel as Category 1 (which would force providers to include it in their basic package) because it's not unique that's THEIR right because it's their function, just as it's the providers' right not to carry the channel in their basic package because it's THEIR service. And that last decision is what the discussed petition is in support of. There's no denial of freedom of speech there, whatsoever.

Lastly, one other thing that freedom of speech does not entail is the right to be free from criticism. Sun TV News has every right to say what it wants to say (if carriers agree to provide it), but that in no way means I can't call the channel conservative propaganda that's so divorced from reality it should have signed a pre-nup beforehand so it didn't lose half its stuff – because that's part of MY freedom of speech.

DianeG

Why should Sun TV have special status. That's really what they are asking for and I cannot see that it is necessary.
Ariadne

Genius everyone! What an advertisement, and free at that! Remember U of O?

Toi

Let's not cheapen the word "genius" shall we?

YYZ

I think this new Sun TV thing will be a disgrace and a disaster.

Should we ban it for that? No. The right of free speech trumps my personal disdain for arrogant pricks like Kory Teneycke.

Holly Stick

It's "freedom of expression" in Canada. But we are also free to sign a petition telling Harper to stop all pressure on the CRTC to give SunTV a special deal which the taxpayers would be forced to pay for.

Kaplan

Exactly. I still believe, despite growing evidence to the contrary, that Conservative Party supporters are not inherently or naturally stupid or ignorant. They're just willfully so. It's why they're willing to examine and consider only one side of an argument, be it the long form census or the Sun TV special deal.

Holly Stick

And then they try to outshout anyone who has a different opinion.

TJCook

I have yet to see anyone calling for a "ban" on SunTV.

Rob

Canada's media needs greater balance. Too many lefties and not enough righties.
It's obvious that the liberal elite is concerned about the effectiveness that a right-wing station would have among the voters. Otherwise, they wouldn't be consolidating to attack it.

Craig O.

If the right-wingers were concerned about the effectiveness of a right-wing station, they wouldn't be trying to get special treatment to have it be mandatory to be provided by carriers. Time to face the free market – if people want the channel, they'll demand it and the carriers will provide it to make money.

But, like the National Post which lost money pretty much every year, and like Sun TV, which is losing money, Sun TV News probably will probably be a money-loser without a guaranteed revenue stream independent of actual demand for their product. In fact, Teneycke has pretty much said that it wouldn't be profitable for 7 years without such a guarantee.

citizen_CA

How does the CBC hold up to your free market comment? It is funded by taxes (and has a totally Liberal agenda).

Twisted_Mentat

Or, if Kady O'Mally's journalism is accurate ( http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/09… ) then Teneycke knew what was going on in a petition that wasn't available to be in time to write up his op-ed pieces… and those fictional characters were added by Teneycke's very source!

So, Teneckye's position on reporting who was behind defacing and degrading a petition was, "Everyone knows you don't reveal your sources."

*facepalm*

Baha

Baha, KOry writes about fakes names being added while they are actually happening….no coincidence there..

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Contards, so stoooooopid.
Jack

Kory is in the fight of his life because he knows that if he doesn't get this license, he is fired.

Pierre Péladeau brought him on board because he thought he could deliver the license.

He obviously didn't expect him to bring any other value to the organization. The guy is a snot nosed political hack being used by the Peladeau's.