Canadian Journalism is Dying

And our democracy could suffer alongside it.

A functional democracy relies on balanced news reporting. But in Canada, both are under threat.

Our only “liberal” daily newspaper — the Toronto Star — is in talks to merge with Postmedia, which is at the opposite end of the political spectrum. That would leave just two owners of major daily newspapers, and one owner of essentially all community newspapers.

Yeah, I get it. The newspaper industry is under pressure to stay afloat, as ad revenues dry up in favour of online campaigns. Citizen journalists are also taking center stage — just like Elon Musk wanted.

People have been so poisoned against the mainstream media that they trust a guy who bought a blue checkmark on Twitter more than a reporter with 20 years of experience. It’s sad, really.

Leftist media under fire

The CBC, Canada’s national broadcaster, reports that the proposed merger of the two media giants “would see The Toronto Star maintain editorial independence through the incorporation of a new company that would manage its editorial operations.”

However, I can’t help but fear that the only big newspaper willing to lean a little left (the Toronto Star) will be pulled hard to the right after this move. Even if the Star does retain independence in a merger, all it would take is for a Conservative-friendly publisher to pull the plug on a story that sheds light on corruption.

Speaking of the CBC, is it also under attack. The leader of Canada’s official opposition party has vowed to defund the national news source if he is elected Prime Minister. The CBC tells important stories including many from Canada’s indigenous population, and losing it would be a major blow to other groups without a voice.

The Conservative opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, has a good chance to win the next election. He is using an American brand of populism to stoke anger, which seems to work, especially among middle-aged white men.

You can be sure that CBC stories about Poilievre’s brand of populism will disappear if he’s in charge. The heat will probably also be taken off other hard-right Conservatives like Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford, who is ripping up public institutions (public schools and healthcare) as well as prime greenspace in favour of housing.

The Toronto Star is the paper that broke the story about Toronto’s former (late) mayor Rob Ford smoking crack. It also detailed how powerful developers bought land in Ontario’s Greenbelt lands, which coincidentally are being removed from the protected list by the Ontario government in order to accommodate housing.

Those are just two examples of stories we probably wouldn’t know about if a left-leaning newspaper company didn’t break them.

Before all you right-wingers scream, I will say that yes — of course liberals are involved in scandals and corruption too. But there are a number of media companies in this country that will happily report on this, including the Star. If we lose it and the CBC, the right will no doubt be able to get away with a lot more unreported.

Canada does have some other left-leaning publications, including Canadaland and The Walrus. However, one of these is online/podcast only, while the latter is a print magazine that publishes just eight times annually (along with its web content.) They both do good work, but Canada still needs a leftist newspaper that shows up on doorsteps daily.

New journalists are a dying breed

While all of this is going on, a college in Hamilton, Ontario has suspended its journalism program due to low enrolment. It’s not the only one.

Apparently, fewer young people want to wade into an industry where pay is low for the work involved. They probably also don’t want to be seen as the enemy, as populist leaders love to promote.

It’s no secret that populism and distrust of the media go hand-in-hand. We saw the vile attack on the media from Trump, who is now finally facing some heat about mishandling of classified documents thanks to reporting from CNN and other centrist-left news sources.

Of course, Fox News is alive and well, stoking the flames of hate from the right while pointing its finger at President Biden for “divisiveness.” I see the right-wing news here in Canada also painting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as some kind of communist dictator, which is absurd.

These conservative populists want to squash the left-leaning media in order to gain more control over the narrative. That sounds a lot like countries that have only state-sponsored media, like North Korea for example.

If conservative leaders have their way in both Canada and the U.S., we could see the same patterns of news suppression happening. That’s a lot closer to being communist than the far-right’s perception of it here in Canada — which is way off base. Canada is one of the freest countries in the developed world, despite what this Postmedia article citing a right-wing think tank would have you believe.

I can hear some of you snickering and rolling your eyes. However, Canada is essentially one election away from becoming a right-wing stronghold, where the lower classes are effectively buried by propaganda.

If no one is willing to report on government cuts to social programs, as an example, the government will gleefully do so while hoarding a financial surplus. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the government is supposed to serve its general population, not only rich shareholders.

Populism is toxic for everyone

Maybe I’m an idealistic socialist, but the staunch right winning is not actually good for anyone, including conservatives in precarious jobs.

The conservative government aren’t going to be the safety net their voters are relying on when they need it, because governments like the one we have in Ontario right now see the poor and differently-abled as a drain on society unless they get a job.

These conservatives spout off about protecting the little guy against the “elites”, but would abandon their own voters in a heartbeat if they ask for more support payments.

Having a media landscape that is friendly to government will only serve to stoke more anger towards those who have less, or face barriers. It means more sensational stories about how our “tax dollars” are being wasted on supporting people, all while job wages stagnate and housing becomes unaffordable.

Make no mistake, the powerful people that promise to “free” us all from liberal ideology are hell-bent on gaining more power. A dwindling newspaper market will only empower these leaders, who will tell us how great the economy is while we eat our instant noodles for lunch.

Anyways, better get back to my job search — because, as our provincial party claims, no one wants to work anymore.