I'd limit my news to Canada only except your conservatives are kinda on the same track as we are.
this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2025
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Some of that likely has to do with the post saying the Billionaires who own a chunk of their media is the same ones that own the U.S. media/gop
Yes, the first thing Canadians can do to protect Canada is not vote Conservative. Unfortunately, Ontario doesn't seem to have figured that out yet.
This is why we look so fondly on Quebec
Just a reminder to my Maritimes peeps.
The Chronically Horrible is also US owned. As if you needed more reason to avoid it.
The trollbots that used to howl to defund the CBC and fuck Trudeau have recently had their prompts changed, and now they are promoting Canada, because a Canada that is fighting back against the USA with the support of the world is exactly what Russia would want to happen.
I really like the CBC, and it's the news source I use most often.
But, even if the CBC isn't your preferred source of Canadian news, you should still support their continued funding. They're the only major news source that doesn't rely on advertising or subscriptions. That means their coverage doesn't have to be sensational, it doesn't have to avoid offending advertisers. Some people might worry that it does have to worry about offending the government, but it's been almost 80 years and they keep reporting the facts on the ground. That's not like the Bezos-owned Washington Post who are having to completely recalibrate how they report things to suit his preferences.
Even if you don't like the CBC, they keep every other media outfit in line by just being a facts-based alternative that people can switch over to. And sure, they have some institutional bias, they're conservative in the old sense of changing slowly and respecting norms and traditions. But, personally I blame a lot of the chaos in the US on there not being a CBC-equivalent.
The US doesn't have any calm, boring, state-funded national media outlet that everybody grudgingly agrees is more or less honest. Sure, they have NPR and PBS but those are not on the same scale per capita as CBC. And, while they're publicly funded, they're not proper news gathering and reporting organizations like CBC news.
It's not enough to have news sources that are not biased towards left or right. Just look at CNN. It's generally not seen as a GOP or Democratic news org. But, it's still extremely sensationalist. Rather than covering important political news, they'll show car chases or fires or whatever prevents people from changing the channel.
We lose CBC and we get the Fox-Newsification of Canada, misinformation and disinformation spreading so nobody knows what's true anymore. That kills the country.
Also, even though these are from the USA, they are vital in checking factuality and bias in any media globally:
mediabiasfactcheck.com and groundnews.com
Ground News is Canadian they're based in Kitchener Ontario.
I think we need to go even further and avoid American culture and practices. Tbh that is their biggest export, via the entertainment industry; a recipe for a way of life that guarantees their enrichment and your impoverishment.
Agree 100%. That's their soft power, trying to heavily influence people with their entertainment to see things through their values, or lack thereof. I know as a kid growing up, it was basically all US shows, but I was too young to make that distinction between US and Canadian content. I think there should be an investment to make and distribute more Canadian content, so we're not constantly being bombarded with US content.
The American entertainment industry's been on a steep decline these past few years so it's kind of a problem that solves itself.
Here are my Canadian media recommendations:
- CBC
- The Breach
- The Investigative Journalism Foundation
- The Narwhal
- Rachel Gilmore
- The Tyee
Keep in mind that CTV and CP24 are owned by Bell Media. The CEO Mirko Bibic is a long-time conservative donor who laid off hundreds of employees shortly affer receiving hundreds of millions in handouts from the federal government. That's to say, CTV/CP24 can have some wildly varying opinions and, like all journalism, must be read critically.
Under the CBC umbrella, my favorite "news" program is still "This Hour has 22 Minutes".
Having a good laugh while hearing about current events is very cathartic.
This Hour has 22 Minutes has been so funny lately! It was my gateway to CBC Gem.
Rick Mercer may have gotten all the Fame in the 90's, but Mark Critch is a very good comedian.
I also read Reuters.
I feel the spirit of Luigi when I hear these stories.
I’d add The Globe and Mail to this, not just CBC. CBC being free is a huge plus, but I feel like the Globe has more robust editing and reporting whereas I find some CBC articles to be poorly written, fairly misleading or sometimes downright trash.
Wow. I didn't know this. But I do get most of my news from the CBC.
I've... Never interacted with any of these except maybe the Toronto sun.
Actually most of the news I've watched has been CBC.
I didn’t realize national post was as well. Not that I read it a lot but that’s good to know.
Also ride or die for the cbc all day everyday
They will radicalized your small population of idiotic racists with this media and grow them like a cancer.
They already have.
Pierre Poilievre Is afraid of CBC because it keeps Canadians informed on a wide range of topics and informed people are harder to control.
So many people around me don't trust cbc. And that's ok, never completely trust a media outlet. But then they go regurgitate whatever fox News says like it's the fucking Bible.
That’s how it started in the US in 2015. It’s like our parents became different people overnight.
American here, if you stop listening to them then you loose track of how bat shit insane the lies they're spewing are. They'll drive a wedge between you and their audience and you won't even know why. It will be because they'll prime their audience against you at every turn. Corporate media and alternative media are always working their way into the minds of your family and friends. Trust me. You can't ignore them. That's how I lost family.
I agree with you and @[email protected] about the importance of keeping updated. Just remember you don't have to be the one watching it. There are really great pundits out there who are already doing the hard work of swallowing the crap and serving it up in a decent format. The good ones usually include the hypocrisy, rebuttals, reality of the situation, all sorts of knowledge to share with friends and loved ones (even better if you find a good segment to start them on new news media). (I can provide some creators, but there's a lot out there you can probably find)
I honestly don't know how effective any of this is though with the constant swallowing of propaganda. You can dispute one claim with facts, but then they watch an afternoon and get 5 more. I think steering them clear of the bullshit is the most important thing but it's not just news sources but algorithms on every platform that keeps them locked into that mindset. Laws need to be passed for news/media organizations to make them responsible for the things they report if we want to actually try and reach citizens instead of corpomedia.
edit: grammar
I agree too. its frustrating, because on one hand, it gets exhausting listening to all the false information they're putting out, or just outright lies, but on the other hand, it's important to keep informed and know what they're doing. I guess in the end, it's really just a tactic; tell as many lies as possible, because the other side won't have the time, energy and resources to dispute and rebut all of them. So the lies not being challenged will be believed to be true. And that side will keep piling on the lies, because they know the other side can't refute all of them.
I remember in one of the US debates, one side was telling lies and saying things that were objectively, factually false, and they weren't being called out by it by the moderator. Later on, one of the analysts on another network said that the problem was, if the moderator keeps fact checking the person who's always lying, it looks like they're picking on them and favouring the other side. When someone pointed out that was because the other side wasn't lying, or lying to the same degree, the analyst said it didn't matter; what mattered was the perception.
CBC is really the only source I follow and trust, but I'm not sure what other sources to go to. I want to be more informed, but don't know what other sources to go to.
lol I remember that about the debate fact checking and all the crap they kept throwing up on how a real debate is practically impossible (even though many smaller broadcasters and organizations don't seem to have any problem with it). They say debates are useless and I'm starting to agree with the general consensus. Now, they should be important. But they way they're covered in mainstream as more about "feelings", the lies and propaganda that are allowed to be spread at them, and the fact no politician is actually held accountable for campaign promises makes them moot as they exist today.
I would recommend Majority Report and Humanist Report (Canadian based) off the top off my head (they have links to all their uploads on all the platforms for whatever you use). There are a lot of more independent news organizations that are decent if you start looking for them.
Yeah, I read a take where they said it's more about inflaming people than actually informing them. And I can see it more and more, it's all about the 2-3 word slogans. It's gotten to the point where, if the slogan or message is too long to fit on a bumper sticker, people will just tune it out.
Thanks for the links, I'll check them out, especially the Humanist Report.
The more people ignore then, the less ads revenue they make. If they become fringe then sure some people will lose friends and family to them, but way less than if everyone keeps checking them "just in case".
Exactly. This is the reason why titles becoming more and more "clickbaity". Eyeballs and clicks are what they need to justify their ads/marketing budget. After that manufactured rage "engagement" equals to "internet fortune and fame".
Nah, bro. Never block or ignore enemy media. Because if you do, you don't know what the enemy is thinking. Keep your enemies close.
Yes, make sure they keep their ad revenues, that will teach them!
So you pass around the text or screenshots. They don’t get clicks or view metrics and you don’t become uninformed.
You still need people who went and checked it to pass out around.
Yeah. $0.16 in ad revenue to prevent the collection of hundreds or thousands more per article. Seems like a good trade.
Totally fair, but maybe we advocate for pirating it? I agree with you it's important to know what the enemy is thinking etc (also, in less apocalyptic terms, I agree with JSM "He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.") but I don't wouldn't advocate people pay and support those American companies.