Sun News Network will debut Monday afternoon at 1630 and, as the host of one of the network's prime-time shows (The Daily Brief airing M-F 1800 ET) on that network, I'm surprised to read that, though we've not yet aired a single minute, we are going to disappoint Antonia Maioni, a professor at McGill University, who told my former colleague Kim Covert: “I don’t think it’s going to actually raise the level of civilized debate.”
Really?
How's this for civilized debate? This evening, I tweeted a promotional video of our daytime news anchor team which features some of the excellent journalists — many of them female — who you will see on the network. The promo video was titled: “Meet the Sun News hard news team.”
Here's the “civilized debate” coming from those who've never ever seen a single minute of our programming:
David Evans, who says he fixes “PCs, homes, and psyches” from London, Ont. tweeted:
“And looks has nothing to do with it. What dogs.”
Nice.
Here's Stuart Trew, the trade campaigner with the Council of Canadians:
Wow. The Council of Canadians. Maude Barlow's group. Even if I was mistaken that the Council of Canadians stood for advancing the cause of social justice in Canada and around the world, I'm certain that those who campaign on its behalf aren't supposed to be laughing at journalists — just because they are women.
Here's Jean Proulx, an aide to Liberal MP Marc Garneau:
@davidakin Well that looks about as appalling as I expected, Hope you're well compensated Mr. Aiken #elxn41 #FoxNewsNorth #lipgloss #garbage
I'll forgive the spelling mistake — I realize how taxing it can be to get all of four letters in a row correctly to spell A-K-I-N — but, really, are those small-l liberal ideals? I thought small-l liberals were about freedom of expression. That more voices were always better than fewer voices. The arrogance of Proulx and Maioni is precisely what animates many of those who thought it a good idea to start up this kind of network.
And I am further saddened to observe that I have watched with anger and disappointment over the years as my friends Krista Erickson (while she was at CBC), Susan Delacourt, Gloria Galloway, Jennifer Ditchburn and many other female journalists of the Parliamentary Press Gallery were singled out — precisely becuase they were female — for a unique kind of vicious insults from right-wing “haters” in the blogosphere, on Twitter and elsewhere — simply for their journalism. I suppose I was naive to believe that such mysogny and arrogance did not exist at the other end of the political spectrum.
Antonia: How am I doing now for civilized debate?
You make a fair point, but it lacks context. The stated purpose of the network is quite clear. It also carries the “Sun” name. Look at what the Toronto or Ottawa Sun newspapers have printed this week by way of pictures or editorials.
If you don't want to be associated and judged based on what your print media counter parts do, chance the bloody name of the tv network.
If you're wondering why people are so against Sun in general, a good place to look would probably be with one of your more recent front-pagers on the Ottawa Sun, starting with the excellent headline: “What the Mao?”
http://talkpos.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/ignatieff-maoist-like-me/
It's bad enough dealing with the CPC and Harper's attack ads during an election – we don't need a station dedicated to spewing that crap 24/7.
Good luck with the new show, David. I look forward to seeing it.
Those who call themselves 'liberal' both fear and despise honest debate that includes conservatives, which is what will be featured on Sun News. They like the status quo just fine, thank you very much. 'Anonymous' calls Sun News content “spewing crap” before he/she has even seen it.
Come on, anonymous, man up – I did
It looks like Antonia Maioni et al. are not the only ones who oppose Sun TV.
President of the Parliamentary Press Gallery Hélène Buzzetti this morning launched quite an attack on Brian Lilley for daring to question the validity of the CBC's Vote Compass, for raising the issue of Ignatieff's having voted in other countries, as well as for linking Ignatieff's “Let some flowers bloom here” remark to Mao.
You can listen to Ms. Buzzetti here (in French):
http://www.radio-canada.ca/Medianet/2011/CBF/SamediEtRienDautrePourquoiPasDimanche201104161008_1.asx
Among her choice remarks about Brian Lilley (in French):
• “Il fait honte à la profession depuis quelques semaines …”
• “Il est visiblement en mission commandée pour démolir Michael Ignatieff et le parti libéral …”
• “… et le grand patron de cette nouvelle chaîne de télévison est nul autre que l'ancien directeur des communications de Stephen Harper, le chef conservateur.”
• “Visiblement, ce media-là est utilisé à des fins politiques, à des fins propagandistes, ça me dérange.”
Ms. Buzzetti does not hesitate to call Lilley's work propaganda, sneering that SUN TV is headed by Stephen Harper's former director of communications.
I guess Ms. Buzzetti never watches CBC News or CTV's QP, nor has she heard some of the ridiculous “questions” put to Stephen Harper by those paragons of objectivity Terry Milewski, Roger Smith, and Bob Fife.
BTW, if some bloggers get verbally aggressive towards some female journalists — as you put it “a unique kind of vicious insults from right-wing “haters” in the blogosphere” — maybe it's because they're tired of being looked down upon as not worthy to walk in the same path or land as “progressives.”
If I find journalists' work inaccurate, I'll say so, regardless of their gender. But I'll admit to making the occasional catty remark about female journalists' hairdos — J. Ditchburn excepted. Are there no good hairdressers in Ottawa?
Hey Nony, the CBC spews crap 24/7 so you should be used to it by now. I speak of their news and current events, of course. The only thing worth watching on CBC is HNIC.
Good morning Mr. A-K-I-N,
I am writing this note with regards to our exchange via Twitter April 15th and your subsequent blog commentary. This is summarized below:
——————-
David Akin
Meet the Sun News hard news team http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-Xepl33jZs&feature=share
JeanAProulx
@davidakin Well that looks about as appalling as I expected, Hope you're well compensated Mr. Aiken #elxn41 #FoxNewsNorth #lipgloss #garbage
Jean Proulx
@davidakin Meet the new Sun TV hard news team: http://tiny.cc/lmi06 #elxn41 #cdnpoli
David Akin
On the Hill: Civilized debate and Sun News Network http://bit.ly/h01r8Q
JeanAProulx
@davidakin Sounds like I touched a nerve!
Jean Proulx
@davidakin BTW not challenging freedom of expression (nice strawman) simply saying I think SunTV looks like FOX garbage. Personal opinion.
——————
I think it was unfair of you to mention the name of my employer in your blog posting. It was not germane to the conversation. I use Twitter for fun and to express my personal opinions. My comments were made on my own time. I am not acting as a spokesperson for Mr. Garneau, the Liberal Party or anybody else (as I make explicitly clear in my profile on Twitter). Mr. Garneau is a much more discreet and classy person than I am and, again, I think it is unfair of you to drag his name into an issue you have with me. For your information I do not act as a media relations person for Mr. Garneau. I do research for him. I work 3 days a week for him while I am finishing off my Master's Degree in Public Policy. Like many political staffers in Ottawa I only earn a very modest salary. I work in politics because I am passionate about it, because I believe citizens should be engaged and should have honest, spirited debates with each other. One of the ways I express that passion on my own time is through Twitter. I think your reference to Mr.Garneau was intended only to try and embarrass my employer and damage my career. I think it was vindictive. You used the fact that I work him as an excuse to make all kinds of generalizations about all liberals (that we are against freedom of expression, etc.)
On another point, it is not clear in your blog commentary if you mean to suggest that I made a misogynistic comment since you lump my tweet in with those of two other people (one of whom, I agree, clearly made a misogynistic comment), but in case this was your intention I would like to respond. My reference to “lipgloss” (which is the only thing I can possibly imagine you might be referring to in my comments) was not misogynistic but instead intended as a poke at how superficial the promo clip was i.e. the claim is that SUN-TV will cover “hard news” but the clip is full of fluffy comments from your newsreaders such as “I’ve always been a little bit cheeky”, “we are, at the moment, the freest and best country in the world” and “I finally found a news organization that just lets me be me”. This kind of drivel does indeed remind me of the discourse of Fox News south of the border (although, in fairness, we see it in other places as well).
Nothing I said indicated I was against freedom of speech. I did not question SUN-TV's right to broadcast. I simply expressed an opinion about the quality of the promo clip and skepticism about the likely quality of the content SUN-TV will produce. Your argument seems to be that unless people are open-minded about SUN-TV they are against freedom of expression. Sorry, but judging from SUN's print publications and what we know about SUN-TV so far (all of Kory Teneycke's machinations last year), I feel perfectly justified in being skeptical.
Sorry if your feelings were hurt when I made fun of SUN-TV. I think my comments may have been sharp and pointed but I do not think they were offside. I do not imagine you want your readers to just passively accept whatever you write, do you? I would imagine a journalist of all people who appreciate a skeptical mind and some push-back.
I do have personal respect for you as a journalist, and I am sure you want to believe the news organization you work for has integrity, but I have already seen too much from Sun/QMI to believe it will be anything much more than slanted and barely-veiled propaganda. Again, I am expressing MY personal opinion. Perhaps SUN-TV will prove me wrong.
Best regards,
Jean Proulx
I guess the right wing blogsphere doesn't have the market cornered on misogynistic comments.
If the ratings are as high as the hem-lines, Sun News has a chance,” tweeted Globe and Mail sports columnist Jeff Blair.
Chimed in comedian Rick Mercer: “Just yesterday SUN TV's studios was full of dry wall, today it is full of silicone.”
Added Dave Dutton of the Ottawa Citizen: “26 babe shots in intro; still awaiting actual news.”
Pretty tame, but no less revealing I guess.
Just wondering who touched what nerve 🙂
Good luck with your Masters, I am sure your thesis runs along the lines of why Liberals are right and Conservatives are wrong, and Sun TV will spoil the media landscape in Canada.
Also, BTW, working for a politician makes you a target, just ask thousands of CPC staffers who's muck is raked in the MSM everyday. You're luck this was on an obscure geek weblog and not in the Globe and Mail (oh, I forgot, you're a Liberal staffer, make that the Toronto Sun)
I for one do not look forward to watching anything Sun TV has to offer (sorry David) – I look to how polarized things are in the US and see where this will lead us – Cons will watch Con news and believe Con Pundits, Libs will watch Lib news and believe Lib Pundits – there will be no discourse between the two, just hatred and fear. Ezra Levant will be a Canadian rock star Glenn Beck by the end of next week, and we all know his favourite thing is inciting outrage.
As opposed to what it was like when Cons watched Liberal TV and yelled at it while Libs watched Liberal TV and enjoyed it. Yes, good times, good times.
Now there will be at least one differing point of view from the CBC and CTV. I can't see why all you “progressives” are afraid of a little progress.
I think it's very sad that virtually all Comments sections, on essentially all news, media or even general interest websites are filled with juvenile insults, name calling and a lack of intelligent thoughtful arguments. The prevailing view is that there can only two sides to any issue (and yours is wrong –you must be an idiot if you don't agree that you are an idiot.)
Both “sides” are guilty, although one side appears more active and diligent in making their comments.
BTW, who is this Dwayne guy?
I'd like to think one side is “more active and diligent in making their comment” but it's debatable. Comments are partially to blame for the polarization, but it's really the media who drive it. David Akin had an opportunity to make a fair point – give Sun TV a chance. But, lamely, he chose a stupid comment from some random guy in the Tweet-o-sphere, and then used it to smear people he could name and tie to the political left. Profit bias is what drives most media… and it is very well served by shouting about political bias.
Who is John Galt?
Do you have a problem with my comments? Say something to refute my statements, or disagree with me, whatever… does it matter who I am, in the end?