In an apparent attempt at some of that classic Canadian-made humour, the state-run CRTC, which regulates what Canadians are allowed to watch on television by licensing only those channels they choose to license and banning others such as Fox News Channel, chose today to announce that they have granted a license to Al-Jazeera, the pro-Arab 24-hour news channel that regularly broadcasts beheadings of Americans, anti-Israel and anti-American discussions, and speeches by Osama bin Laden in which he preaches that all Americans must be killed by any means possible. When Osama is hiding for prolonged periods, they simply second others to drum-up support.
The CRTC is the same state-run mind-controller that censors Fox News Channel, so that Canadians cannot watch it, at the risk of a $10,000 fine and six months in jail if caught fidgeting with a satellite box or cable box in order to somehow summon it up on the Canadian TV screen against the wishes of the big Liberal government who control “Their Canada”, as their election ads call it, on behalf of us “barbarians” as the Mayor of Vancouver called conservatives during the campaign.
By the way, one of the reasons cited by the CRTC for approving Al-Jazeera was that quite a few people — likely some of the half-million-plus Arab-speaking Canadians — were stealing it anyway through “gray market” satellite dishes. The CRTC, suddenly, has become an enabler!
Watch for the new Canadian series, fully funded by taxpayers, shot in Quebec, in which a poor Arab-Canadian goes through all manner of silly maneuvers atop his crazy snow-ridden Canadian roof in mid-winter, fiddling bizarrely with his newfangled illegal American satellite dish, only to be surprised by the CRTC Chairman (played by Michael Moore) who lands upon the roof, dressed in a pink cape, and announces he has heroically unbanned the Al-Jazeera network for him and his Arab colleagues. (Unfortunately the series will be broadcast on the state-run CBC, so nobody will ever watch it, but at least it will cost $10 million so that’s OK.)
I have long advocated that the CRTC has no business regulating what Canadians — a nation of people that some still believe are free because it says so in O Canada! — can or cannot watch on television. I assumed people knew that I meant that the channel should be legal, not immoral, and not a threat to national security.
Al-Jazeera is now part of the limited line-up of channels available to Canadians. (Just why I have to use the word “limited” in a sentence about how Canadians get their information, what they watch on TV or hear on the radio, is beyond my grasp, but I do, and now I’m even more confused). And note that I may change my welcoming tone slightly if I hear someone on Al-Jazeera advocate the death of any of my family who lives in America, or any of my Jewish friends who live here, which I fully expect them to do.
The even scarier (to liberals) Fox News Channel has a reputation as being a “right-wing” news channel. Crimminies! The contention that it is “right-wing” is laughable, given that if you spend any time watching the news portion of the Fox News Channel (while visiting one of the many places outside of Canada that get Fox News Channel like parts of China, Australia, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mexico, the Mideast, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Panama, Philippines, Scandinavia, Spain, United Kingdom, Venezuela, and apparently even Tibet), or visiting their web site, anyone with an open mind will attest to the fact that it is reasonably balanced in its news reporting. It is also the most popular news channel in the United States — yes, more popular than CNN. The Fox News Channel can also claim that same statistic in many of the other countries in which they broadcast. How on earth do people survive without the Liberal Party of Canada leading the cultural identities of the world?
(By the way, if more people watch Fox News Channel than, say, CNN, does that mean more people are conservative? No? You won’t concede that? Oh I see. Well maybe it’s just that they’re presenting a good balance in their news reporting, even amongst the commentary programs, and that’s why they also watch Bill O’Reilly’s show more than they watch Larry King’s.)
It is a fact that Fox News Channel hires employees and editorialists who are conservative-oriented people. That in itself doesn’t make the channel “conservative”, it makes it more fair. The other news channels and networks are, on purpose or not, dominated by liberals, and don’t necessarily employ any conservatives at all. It was on that basis that the Fox News Channel established the slogan “Fair and Balanced” — they simply took a measured risk and hired some conservatives to see if people would like the mix and whadoyaknow, it worked. It is this frustrating fact that liberals in North American love to deride and obfuscate. The fact of the matter is, Fox News Channel’s news isn’t so “conservative”, it’s simply not blatantly “liberal”.
It’s always interesting to hear the answers when I ask for examples — liberals always cite Bill O’Reilly and his “O’Reilly Factor” show as the prime example of the Fox News conservative bias. But Bill O’Reilly has said that he is a John Kerry supporter. He’s voting for Kerry. Anyone who has ever watched his show knows that he takes on right-wingers and left-wingers with equal zeal. I really enjoy my Ann Coulter every Friday on ConservativeGroundswell.com. But Bill O’Reilly: not so much a fan of Ann’s. And no guest of his gets to promulgate “spin” in his “no spin zone”.
The other show cited by the liberals is the Hannity & Combs show. The whole point of the Hannity & Colmes Show is that Hannity is a conservative, and Colmes is a liberal. They duke it out. This is what the liberals call unfair. Those liberals are so funny when they’re not calling people “stupid”.
Canada’s CRTC is a state-run organization, which is run under the auspices of past Liberal Party appointments. It reports to Parliament through the (Liberal) Minister of Canadian Heritage, and the CRTC is subject to orders from the (Liberal) Cabinet. Under the Broadcasting Act, the Cabinet may appoint up to 13 full-time and 6 part-time commissioners for renewable terms of up to 5 years. Full-time positions include that of the chairperson, the vice-chairperson of broadcasting, and the vice-chairperson of telecommunications, and of course the commissioners.
Aside from the many valid arguments against having a state-regulator decide what Canadians can watch in the first place, it raises the question of whether or not there is a political influence at play in the granting of licenses. Are the CRTC liberals afraid of “conservative” viewpoints leaking out into the minds of Canadians? Or news that isn’t strictly “liberal” in its presentation?
Trying to respond to the surge of stupefied Canadians asking question of the CRTC about this Al-Jazeera decision today, CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen agrees that the network had made remarks that held Jews up to hatred and contempt. He acknowledged in an interview with Associated Press that Al-Jazeera has broadcast objectionable material in the past. Some of the remarks cited at commission hearings clearly held Jews up to “hatred and contempt on the basis of religion,” said Dalfen.
On the other hand, he said to AP, Al-Jazeera met the test of being a credible news service, and the commission had a legal duty not to unduly infringe freedom of expres
sion. The conclusion was that “we couldn’t absolutely ban it,” said Dalfen. He told Reuters that the CRTC decided to approve it “In light of not wanting to ban it because it is, after all, a bona fide service … “
And yet Fox News Channel had its last application, in 2003, denied. Another one is pending right now. Go to this post to find a sample email you should send to the CRTC since they’re asking for comments.
By Joel Johannesen
This editorial is posted at ProudToBeCanadian.ca. Here is the exact link to the editorial:
http://www.proudtobecanadian.ca/threads/showflat.php?Number=845
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