Fox News can't move to Canada because Canada has a law against lying through the news

WUT

As America's middle class battles for its survival on the Wisconsin barricades -- against various Koch Oil surrogates and the corporate toadies at Fox News -- fans of enlightenment, democracy and justice can take comfort from a significant victory north of Wisconsin border. Fox News will not be moving into Canada after all! The reason: Canada regulators announced last week they would reject efforts by Canada's right wing Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to repeal a law that forbids lying on broadcast news.


Canada's Radio Act requires that "a licenser may not broadcast....any false or misleading news." The provision has kept Fox News and right wing talk radio out of Canada and helped make Canada a model for liberal democracy and freedom. As a result of that law, Canadians enjoy high quality news coverage including the kind of foreign affairs and investigative journalism that flourished in this country before Ronald Reagan abolished the "Fairness Doctrine" in 1987. Political dialogue in Canada is marked by civility, modesty, honesty, collegiality, and idealism that have pretty much disappeared on the U.S. airwaves. When Stephen Harper moved to abolish anti-lying provision of the Radio Act, Canadians rose up to oppose him fearing that their tradition of honest non partisan news would be replaced by the toxic, overtly partisan, biased and dishonest news coverage familiar to American citizens who listen to Fox News and talk radio. Harper's proposal was timed to facilitate the launch of a new right wing network, "Sun TV News" which Canadians call "Fox News North."



Harper, often referred to as "George W. Bush's Mini Me," is known for having mounted a Bush like war on government scientists, data collectors, transparency, and enlightenment in general. He is a wizard of all the familiar tools of demagoguery; false patriotism, bigotry, fear, selfishness and belligerent religiosity.

Harper's attempts to make lying legal on Canadian television is a stark admission that right wing political ideology can only ?

Where are the JCC Canadians at? Tell us!

 

I may not be from Canada, but I always watch Fox News when I want to laugh at the expense of someone else's lack of intelligence. What's Fox News response?

 

Canada.

 

People still go to news stations/networks for the truth? lol

I gave that up years ago.

True story.

 

Where are they supposed to go then?

 

While the CRTC might not want to allow dishonest reporting on the airwaves, biased media in Canada is hardly unheard of (most of the major papers are famous for which way they lean). Its a shame however that there is a movement away from honest media, apparently lead by the Conservatives.

 

Okay, I have to ask the obvious question: why is there a move against honest media?????

People actually want to be lied to, or to lie to other people?

What sort of country do you people live in?

 

This article hardly sounds unbiased.

 

Its a movement by a single party that presently holds parliamentary power to allow media that would help further their agenda. Please don't paint the rest of us with such broad strokes. As the article states Canadians protested the move.

 

So? Sounds like pointing out various truths in the media isn't the lost art in Canada that it is here.

 

It defeats the entire purpose of the word "media". Can I just say this? Downunder, TV Networks doing this thing is almost unheard of, and if it does happen people get jumped on rather quickly. While I will say some media has a bias towards certain points of view, actually using them like that is paramount to propaganda.

I don't say you all are like that, far from it as I've learned a lot talking to you guys. But the fact that things like that happen as a matter of course really makes me wonder about the craziness over there.

 

Yeah, but had this been posted by, say, Lassic, we would've gotten bolded passages by conservative commentators talking about how Canada is impinging free speech yadda yadda this is the worst thing since Hitler yadda yadda. I'll take this version, thanks.

 

You wonder why a political party would fudge the rules to allow media to better favour them?? Not that I am for it, but I would think their motivations are pretty evident.

 

Yeah, but Tassie craziness is more the far-left, hairy armpit, NIMBY sort that doesn't get taken seriously outside the state. It's hardly representative.

EDIT: Spider-Fan, I am so close to breaking Godwin's Law, you know...

 

This isn't exactly representative of Canada either, which tends to be pretty liberal.

 

Any place that stops the advance of th Murdoch empire is cool in my book.

The news is supposed to give accurate unbiased coverage of national & world events, if it doesn't do that then it should not be allowed to broadcast. The BBC oftens gets criticism if it is seen to support a certain point of view, its charter states is has to be neutral.

 

Good to hear.

Ritchie, I think the ABC charter says the same thing as well down here.

And I am well aware of the irony where Murdoch actually comes from, you guys can keep him as far as I am concerned.

 

But we don't want him!

 

It's not that Fox News is biased. It is that it claims to be unbiased when it is in fact an arm of the Republican Party.

 

There's a large difference between news and infotainment. I find it almost isn't worth getting upset about Fox News because it is so incredibly stupid. And for all their nonsense Fox News does have a point that every other news station is liberal. Honest reporting is out there for those who want to find it but I imagine the typical Fox News/MSNBC viewer would call it boring.

So I guess my point is that if a Fox News type thing wanted to get started in Canada it would have to play around with that thin line between entertainment and news.

 

All the more reason to keep it out.

The Canadian PM sounds like a real Tea Party type Right-Wing crazy.

 

More people want him there than here.