Posted on 06/12/2010 1:29:05 PM PDT by buccaneer81
Canada ready for conservative TV network - broadcaster Published Saturday June 12th, 2010 A10 By STEPHANIE LEVITZ The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - It's the right time for a right-of-centre television network in Canada, says one of the country's leading conservative broadcasters.
But if that's what Quebecor Media Inc. is doing with their proposed new channel, it can't be styled as a "Fox News North," said Dave Rutherford, whose Alberta-based political talk show has been a mainstay of Canadian conservatism for two decades.
"It's obviously got to be a stand-alone, Canadian-looking conservative channel," Rutherford said.
Quebecor filed an application late last week for an English-language TV news network. This week, they hired Kory Teneycke, the former communication's director for Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, as director of development.
The two steps sparked speculation that the company was looking to create a network in the style of Fox News, launched by a former communications adviser to Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr.
Quebecor has also since hired David Akin, a correspondent for Canwest News Service and Brian Lilley, former Ottawa bureau chief for Astral Media Radio, Canada's largest private radio broadcaster.
While some conservatives argues that the Canadian media demonstrates an overwhelming liberal bias, Rutherford said he believes the issue is actually a central-Canadian slant.
If the new network bases itself in Toronto or Ottawa, escaping that might be impossible no matter who is on the air, he said.
"If they are going to be an alternative to other mainstream media, they are going to have to watch that," he said.
"But I'm very excited about it and I think it's a great idea."
Rutherford said he hasn't been contacted by Teneycke to join the network but would consider it, providing he could stay in Alberta and continue with his show, which airs daily on CHQR and CHED.
Another name plucked from the airwaves as a possible part of the new network is Charles Adler, a nationally-syndicated broadcaster out of Winnipeg, who from time to time appears on Fox News.
He declined to comment on the channel or whether he'd been contacted by Teneycke.
But what works on radio might not work in television, suggested Vancouver-born Rachel Marsden, a conservative commentator who has worked in both Canada and the U.S.
"Style is as important as substance in TV. Any network that's loaded up with boring, nerdy sorts who have a face for radio will have problems," she said.
Some MPs have been quick to denounce the idea.
"You know, it's kind of frightening to me that the neo-conservatives are going to have their own dedicated network," said NDP MP Pat Martin.
"I think it'll drag down the journalistic integrity of the country. I think that style of news is more entertainment and shock effect than it is quality journalism."
But Marsden said there's no need to vilify the other side.
"What many write off as 'right-wing' is really just the inclusion of views other than those on the left or in the mushy-middle," she said in an email from her current home in Paris.
"Rupert Murdoch recognized that market void in the U.S.A., and filled it with Fox News - which proceeded to crush its competition."
Rutherford said there are thousands of Canadians just looking for a voice in Canada and a new network could definitely speak to them.
"When you get (conservative views) in the mainstream, you realize that's where people are.
"A lot of people really are thinking that way, they just don't have something to verify how they're thinking," Rutherford said.
"You know, it's kind of frightening to me that the neo-conservatives are going to have their own dedicated network," said NDP MP Pat Martin.
Libs are the same everywhere...no speech for thee.
Canada ping!
so is America
They need to make a statement by basing it out of Calgary.
Absolutely.
FoxNews can count on American conservatives taking similar views on foreign policy.
Canadian conservatives may be more divided on how closely they want to follow America's lead.
If it’s a private-sector channel, it could find itself in the same interesting problem as Fox News; no competition for the 50% (+ or -) of the market, while the liberal broadcasters fight over the remaining portion of the market like wild dogs fighting over scraps from a garbage can in the alley.
My guess is that not only the NDP will be ready to explode, but so will a lot of Quebecois. Most Canadian conservatives are not real big fans of Quebec or bilingualism.
If you think of it, the irony of all this is what a conservative Canadian channel’s programming would be. Think less “issue oriented”, then to all the other things that conservatives like.
Things like patriotism, marriage and family, freedom and liberty, common courtesy, self-improvement, law and order, respect for religion, respect for elders, respect for veterans and the military, good if limited government, plenitude and prosperity for all.
You can see why liberals would be so afraid of this. This is a litany of the things they hate, despise, demean and wish to destroy.
maybe they can get some pointers from Kelsey Grammer :)
Thanks for the ping buccaneer81.
Clive runs the Canada ping list now.
Canada ping, Clive.
Thanks for the pint, fanfan
The latest from the left is that the new entity would not be able to attract enough ad money to remain viable. What does that mean.....that Conservatives have no money? They also never seemed to have this concern about ad dollars or content when Al Jazeera was getting licensed.
You’re welcome, Clive
I hope it was a cold one. ;-)
bump
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