[dropcap]A[/dropcap] “think” tank called Public Policy Forum, wherein the word “think” apparently means “socialism,” has pooped-out a large “public policy” turd, which will appeal to all progressives — liberals, socialists, communists, the Canadian news media alike: it is to give taxpayer money to the Canadian media “to deal with the financial crunch in the media industry and the ensuing perils to Canada’s democratic institutions.”
Huh. Sounds lofty. Also stupid.
By the way, they got federal funding to come up with this gem. Seriously.
Canada’s media industry needs major federal cash injection: report
A major report on the crisis in Canada’s media industry is recommending changes to Canada’s tax system and to the CBC’s revenue model to boost funding for private and non-profit news operations, in addition to calling for a $100-million federal investment in the creation of a new Journalism & Democracy Fund.
The Fund would also receive annual funding derived from tax changes to digital advertising, giving the new body annual funding of $300- to $400-million a year to distribute among Canadian media organizations.
But at least they recommend killing the left-wing state-owned and state-funded CBC, right? Ha. No, don’t be so silly. They do not suggest dismantling the state-owned and massively taxpayer-funded CBC, or stopping its taxpayer funding in order to quash the “financial crunch” which that behemoth has obviously caused the media advertising and subscriber market in Canada. It seems the thinkers in the tank (so to speak) didn’t even study that possibility for some reason. Apparently they take as a given that state-owned, taxpayer-funded media is a good thing, and the free market (or what’s left of it in Canada) should just essentially join them in being state-funded, if only to a lesser degree.
The Canadian news media generally seems to be for all this. If they weren’t, they be in high dudgeon and smearing it with at least 86 “news” stories and editorials, just as they do daily to relieve their hate-on for President Trump. They also join the thinkers in supporting the CBC, notwithstanding their own ruination caused in large part by the CBC. I see practically no editorial stand taken by the private Canadian media against the CBC as a general matter. Which is just weird, unless they really do appreciate socialism.
As if suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, none of the news media covering this story includes this bit of the thinky report, which I found on page 25 (after waking myself up several times):
Among traditional news and advertising vehicles, only radio, with its hyper-local orientation (crime news, traffic, weather, hometown sports) and no revenue competition from CBC, has managed to hold its revenue position. And then there’s the CBC itself, the main alternative to daily newspapers as a producer of civic-function news across the country. Despite the budget cuts it experienced (a hole plugged in Budget 2016 by the Liberal government), in relative terms, the CBC has fared well over the past decade. In the first six months of the current fiscal year, CBC’s revenue is up 14.5 percent over last year, including a $45-million (40 percent) leap in ad revenue.
As I was reading the Globe & Mail’s utterly uncritical story, which might well have been published in Soviet-era Pravda, I was listening to liberalvision CTV “News” Channel and the state-owned CBC News fiasco network in the background. Between them they presented me with at least 6 vehemently anti-Trump “news” stories — in a row.  Seriously. It went on for nearly an hour. Perhaps a “think” tank should have studied that phenomenon and its effect on the market, and profitability.
Maybe (and I know I’ve said this at least once before), the liberal-left Canadian media could switch it up a bit, and try a new thing — start an experiment where they try to tolerate conservatives and conservative thoughts and ideas, and don’t just mock conservatives and Republicans all day long, every day. Their taxpayer-funded 100-page “major” “report” doesn’t even suggest trying anything like that, notwithstanding the immense success Fox News Channel found in the U.S. in market share (they are number one by far), and their profits, and thus their sustainability.
Page one of my (free) report is this headline: Sell and Stop Funding the CBC. Enough said right there. So actually it would end at that headline on page one. Nobody would fall asleep, lose any more tax dollars, and Canadians would actually save huge amounts of tax dollars and get better media too.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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