At this moment there is a war going on for the future of the media in Canada. It’s a very public war, but the heart of it is buried below the intense surface. This battle will determine whether or not Canada will have a free press in the future, or if we’ll have one single corporate conglomerate controlling all of it. The cover that is being presented to the public is that it is a war between Sun Media and the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). The real battle is between QMI (Quebecor Media Inc.) and the only large media left that they don’t own. This battle against one all consuming corporate media giant. One that cannot be questioned.
A few years ago there was a huge incident with Conrad Black, a man who once owned most of the media in Canada. Like all men with large quantities of wealth and power, he wanted more. So he set his eyes on becoming a Lord, as in an English Royalty title. Being a Lord gives you some of the best connections for business in the world, i.e. more power. To be a Lord one must give up their Canadian citizenship, something Black was happy to do. The problem is that all media companies in Canada must be a certain percentage owned by Canadian citizens. If Conrad Black is no longer a Canadian, that presents a huge problem. This now foreign ownership combined with a few too many shady deals led to his incarceration. He stole money from some very wealthy and powerful people. He must have thought being a Lord would protect him. It was QMI who led that media charge after him bringing it to the public’s attention. Once Black went to prison, it was QMI who acquired his media to become a nearly unchallenged media empire in Canada. The only other media left that really competes with them is the state owned CBC.
Now, the conflict that is covering this up, is over the CBC’s budget. Sun Media asked for a copy of their budget through the Access to Information Act. (Which is pretty much the same as the US Freedom of Information Act.) However parts of it were censored in accordance with the law. Sun Media demanded that it be made public but the CBC refused to do so. In retaliation Sun Media and its various journalists made a ton of insinuations of wrongdoing by the CBC, claiming that they are trying to cover it up. The CBC responded by claiming that the only reason Sun media wants it is because they are competitors, and for business reasons that must remain confidential. This prompted the President and C.E.O. of Sun Media Corp., Quebecor Inc. and Quebcor Media inc., Pierre Karl Peladeau, to write a statement in the October 28 edition of the Toronto Sun after his visit to the House of Commons standing committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics:
“..the committee allowed me to counter the absurd notion, advanced by the CBC and its supporters, that it was somehow inappropriate for a media group like Sun media to make access to information requests to the CBC because it perceives us as one of its competitors.”
– Pierre Karl Peladeau, President and CEO
Sun Media Corp., Quebecor Inc. and Quebcor Media inc.
Contrary to what Peladeau stated, they are in competition with each other. Sun Media has just launched a television channel that will be on Rogers Cable television service providing news 24 hours a day. The CBC owns several television stations, a few of which are 24 hour news channels. That’s not all, Paladeau in his public statement also inadvertently exposed another way in which they are competing.
“Today, the National Post [a competing newspaper] is in a commercial partnership with the CBC whereby CBC provides it with essential sports and video content…
Bell, the owner of CTV, [a competing television station to SunTV] has just launched a joint bid with the CBC for Olympic coverage. For its part, the Canadian Press, whose owners include the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, [both competing newspapers] can count on the CBC and Radio-Canada as its biggest customers. Not surprisingly, CBC repays CP’s owners with large advertising buys.”
– Pierre Karl Peladeau, President and CEO
Sun Media Corp., Quebecor Inc. and Quebcor Media inc.
Here Peladeau is claiming there is a conflict of interest. He claims that with all these business dealings the CBC can silence anyone who criticizes them. Peladeau thinks the CBC will punish dissent by withholding advertising revenue. However I feel there is another reason.
I think the real reason is the existence of the Canadian Press, which fulfils the same function as the Associated Press in the United States. they are the main news source that everyone quotes or gets stories from. QMI runs a competing agency, one that is primarily used by its own media. If the CBC is destroyed and purchased up by QMI (which is what I think the plan is), then QMI becomes a major holder of Canadian Press. QMI will then destroy the Canadian Press and have everyone use their news souring agency. Not only that, but their competitors the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star lose a ton of their ad revenue causing them to go out of business leaving QMI the only large newspaper. I believe that this is all a plot to destroy all media that competes with QMI.
The true goal here is for QMI to destroy the CBC under the pretext of “privatization”, build up falsely generated hate, essentially propaganda, against the CBC to try and get the public to support abolishing it. No doubt QMI will buy up its assets and put the Star and the Globe and Mail out of business.
But how can they be getting away with this you ask? Surely if I the Maoist Rebel can figure this out, the mainstream media must have already known about this 2 weeks ago. I believe they do, and journalists know what whistles they can blow and which ones they can’t. Since QMI owns damn near all media they can get black listed, and that’s if they don’t kill the CBC. I also asked myself why the CBC isn’t pointing any of this out. I think they may already know their days are numbered and that Prime Minister Steven Harper has already promised CBC assets to QMI.
Then the next logical question is “who has the connections to pull off something like this”? The answer can be found by looking at the corporate directors of Quebecor Media: Françoise Bertrand, who is a former head of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (the Canadian equivalent of the FCC). She wrote many of the regulations the CRTC now uses, what better person to help you get around them than the person who wrote them. The other major name is former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who practically couldn’t have any more connections in the government and big business.
I am confident that this is real fate of the state owned broadcaster. QMI has already put in a bid for Time-Warner which is one of two major owners of US media. They are also comping at the big for Rupert Murdoch to go down, and he will, enough powerful people want him down. That would mean QMI would own a good chunk of the media in China. I would not be surprised if QMI purchased his assets. We are very close to one global corporate owned media.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7oise_Bertrand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Mulroney
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebecor_Media
JASON UNRUHE 