After Canada's French-Language Leader's debate, right-wing mouthpieces dominated the press conference afterwards. They're not journalists. They are impostors.
As Tristan Hopper from the National Post just mentioned on Tara Henley’s podcast, the reason platforms like Rebel are popular is because there are many important subjects that Canadians are interested in that the mainstream media simply won’t touch. Following the ruckus after the English debate, I checked on X, to see how many followers Ezra Levant and Andrew Coyne each has. Andrew has 156k and Ezra has 512k. Hopper believes the CBC gave Rebel a lot of free advertising the other evening.
No Dougald, it’s not irrelevant. You drew - through rigorous research, thank you - a large number of connections highlighting the bias and motivations for dishonesty these fringe outlets have. But examining the reasons that Canadians have for being interested in their reporting is equally valid.
There are topics - important topics - that mainstream media won’t touch, but should. And the curative bias of CBC in avoiding certain topics of opinions is tantamount to deception. Further, in some cases, they do outright lie. This undermines their credibility and creates a vacuum that only these fringe groups unfortunately are willing to fill. Being dismissive of this as you are in your comment just increases the demand for news from outlets like these.
They are not news outlets. That's the whole point.
Ezra Levant and the Rebel are quite literally taking money in order to inflluence public opinion in an election. That alone is disqualifying.
Your response was to say, but they're popular, and they're filling some kind of market need, when the evidence is that they do virtually no actual reporting - it's 90% opinion.
You point me to an article that "Rebel News, Juno News, True North, the Western Standard, and others exist in the first place" is to tell the stories the other media won't tell, when that is a blatant lie.
These are propaganda outlets. They are impostors posing as journalists spreading information that is not true, or is deliberately misleading, and which is ofen dangerous or hateful, and based on lies.
These are media sites created by conservative activists to manipulate - not inform - readers and viewers. That is the reason they exist. They are a third-party wing of the Conservatives, and that is not independent media.
There are lots of topics the accountable media doesn't touch because they are being bankrupted by the internet and it's very hard for journalism to function, and it has been replaced by people like Levant who take money to say what the donors want, and who then go on to pollute the discourse by filling it with blatant lies - which we know are lies, because Levant has been sued for it.
This is a perfect example of the rank hypocrisy of people who want to cry censorship and freedom of expression, and claim their rights are being violated, when there is a responsibility that comes with exercising those rights - a responsibility not to lie, not to manipulate, and not to pretend to be something they are not.
So, I agree with you that these are propaganda outlets. That's not what I was arguing against. My main point is that in the case of CBC and other left-leaning media outlets, there is often a steep progressive bias in the way they curate their news, and in some cases, they outright lie. I recognize the asymmetry to which you're pointing, in that these propaganda outlets are not held to the same journalistic standards, but then claim "freedom of expression" or that their rights are being violated.
None of this, however, changes the fact that the CBC and other mainstream outlets lie about things (i.e. their use of so-called "experts" to dismiss the Cass Review - referenced in the one article I sent you, and their maintaining that there were discovered under the residential school in Kamloops, despite no evidence actually being found about this). Jonathan Kay at Quillette - which IS a legitimate outlet - has reported on this honestly while the CBC has not. When these outlets do this, they undermine their own integrity.
And although you are correct in pointing out that there's been an erosion of funding, that is yet another red herring, and you're not responding to my actual point. The reason that mainstream outlets have not reported on the topics I mentioned is because they are controversial and go against the critical social justice ideology that dominates the mainstream and the left. Mainstream outlets are scared to say anything that could get them accused of being "transphobic" or "racist." That is a bad thing, and it is cowardly of them to operate this way.
But because they do, they create a vacuum of honest reporting where propagandists step in to fill the void. If we are to eliminate the demand for propaganda outlets like this, then the CBC and other mainstream outlets need to speak the truth, even when it's unpopular or could get them called names.
You got it, this is it, that's on the top of my mind right now. Those people are threatening my way of life, the life our ancestors built, the Canadian way of life. They want to destroy our democracy, it's like a cancer. We have to do something about it. Douglas, you got yourself a new subscriber.
This is important research that I’m glad you have shared. Thank you.
We do like to think that we’re more moderate here in Canada. But I think those days are behind us. Sadly.
MR. Lamont your articles have quickly become my favourite substack. Thank you!
Thank you very much - please share!
As Tristan Hopper from the National Post just mentioned on Tara Henley’s podcast, the reason platforms like Rebel are popular is because there are many important subjects that Canadians are interested in that the mainstream media simply won’t touch. Following the ruckus after the English debate, I checked on X, to see how many followers Ezra Levant and Andrew Coyne each has. Andrew has 156k and Ezra has 512k. Hopper believes the CBC gave Rebel a lot of free advertising the other evening.
That is all totally and completely irrelevant to all of the facts and evidence that I presented.
Those are pathetic excuses, not reasons.
No Dougald, it’s not irrelevant. You drew - through rigorous research, thank you - a large number of connections highlighting the bias and motivations for dishonesty these fringe outlets have. But examining the reasons that Canadians have for being interested in their reporting is equally valid.
There are topics - important topics - that mainstream media won’t touch, but should. And the curative bias of CBC in avoiding certain topics of opinions is tantamount to deception. Further, in some cases, they do outright lie. This undermines their credibility and creates a vacuum that only these fringe groups unfortunately are willing to fill. Being dismissive of this as you are in your comment just increases the demand for news from outlets like these.
Examples of CBC lies:
https://open.substack.com/pub/colinwright/p/fact-checking-critics-of-the-cass?r=jyjfn&utm_medium=ios
https://open.substack.com/pub/melaniebennet/p/cbc-lied-to-canadians-about-independent?r=jyjfn&utm_medium=ios
They are not news outlets. That's the whole point.
Ezra Levant and the Rebel are quite literally taking money in order to inflluence public opinion in an election. That alone is disqualifying.
Your response was to say, but they're popular, and they're filling some kind of market need, when the evidence is that they do virtually no actual reporting - it's 90% opinion.
You point me to an article that "Rebel News, Juno News, True North, the Western Standard, and others exist in the first place" is to tell the stories the other media won't tell, when that is a blatant lie.
These are propaganda outlets. They are impostors posing as journalists spreading information that is not true, or is deliberately misleading, and which is ofen dangerous or hateful, and based on lies.
These are media sites created by conservative activists to manipulate - not inform - readers and viewers. That is the reason they exist. They are a third-party wing of the Conservatives, and that is not independent media.
There are lots of topics the accountable media doesn't touch because they are being bankrupted by the internet and it's very hard for journalism to function, and it has been replaced by people like Levant who take money to say what the donors want, and who then go on to pollute the discourse by filling it with blatant lies - which we know are lies, because Levant has been sued for it.
This is a perfect example of the rank hypocrisy of people who want to cry censorship and freedom of expression, and claim their rights are being violated, when there is a responsibility that comes with exercising those rights - a responsibility not to lie, not to manipulate, and not to pretend to be something they are not.
So, I agree with you that these are propaganda outlets. That's not what I was arguing against. My main point is that in the case of CBC and other left-leaning media outlets, there is often a steep progressive bias in the way they curate their news, and in some cases, they outright lie. I recognize the asymmetry to which you're pointing, in that these propaganda outlets are not held to the same journalistic standards, but then claim "freedom of expression" or that their rights are being violated.
None of this, however, changes the fact that the CBC and other mainstream outlets lie about things (i.e. their use of so-called "experts" to dismiss the Cass Review - referenced in the one article I sent you, and their maintaining that there were discovered under the residential school in Kamloops, despite no evidence actually being found about this). Jonathan Kay at Quillette - which IS a legitimate outlet - has reported on this honestly while the CBC has not. When these outlets do this, they undermine their own integrity.
And although you are correct in pointing out that there's been an erosion of funding, that is yet another red herring, and you're not responding to my actual point. The reason that mainstream outlets have not reported on the topics I mentioned is because they are controversial and go against the critical social justice ideology that dominates the mainstream and the left. Mainstream outlets are scared to say anything that could get them accused of being "transphobic" or "racist." That is a bad thing, and it is cowardly of them to operate this way.
But because they do, they create a vacuum of honest reporting where propagandists step in to fill the void. If we are to eliminate the demand for propaganda outlets like this, then the CBC and other mainstream outlets need to speak the truth, even when it's unpopular or could get them called names.
I agree, CBC and Radio Canada are serving us insipide news but I wouldn't go as far as saying they are lying.
X followers? You just explained why. Echo chamber morons.
You got it, this is it, that's on the top of my mind right now. Those people are threatening my way of life, the life our ancestors built, the Canadian way of life. They want to destroy our democracy, it's like a cancer. We have to do something about it. Douglas, you got yourself a new subscriber.