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.
This is exactly why Poilievre wants to defund CBC.
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.
The American entertainment industry's been on a steep decline these past few years so it's kind of a problem that solves itself.
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.
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.
I also read Reuters.
Also Canadian owned.
I feel the spirit of Luigi when I hear these stories.
Just a reminder to my Maritimes peeps.
The Chronically Horrible is also US owned. As if you needed more reason to avoid it.
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 @Nemean_lion@lemmy.ca 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.
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.
And everyone is eating it up, didn't know borscht was so popular
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.
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.
There's a really good post listing Canadian outlets:
Wow. I didn't know this. But I do get most of my news from the CBC.
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.
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
I've... Never interacted with any of these except maybe the Toronto sun.
Actually most of the news I've watched has been CBC.
Also, even though these are from the USA, they are vital in checking factuality and bias in any media globally:
Ground News is Canadian they're based in Kitchener Ontario.
They will radicalized your small population of idiotic racists with this media and grow them like a cancer.
They already have.
