By Remi Watts
Resulting from our proximity and shared language, American culture unceasingly disseminates into Canada; the hyper-sensationalist orgiastic model of American media is no exception. The Sun News Network is the latest instantiation of the noisy, polarized news media that has taken foot in our nation, mimicking the monstrous Fox News Channel. Canadians from all walks of life should be outraged that such a visibly negative force such as the Sun News Network operates as easily as it does north of the 49th parallel. Due to their utter disregard for journalistic accuracy and integrity, gross sexism, blatant right-wing agenda and their affinity for fear mongering, the Sun News Network should be considered Canada’s current, crowning embarrassment.
Having been rightly denied a Category One license from the CRTC (which would have made the channel mandatory on cable and satellite across Canada as CTV News Channel and CBC News Network are), following a slew of controversy including allegations that Prime Minister Stephen Harper had attempted to intimidate CRTC management into fast-tracking the new channel’s licence, the Sun News Network was granted a Category Two specialty license in November. The channel, brandishing the slogan “We’re On Your Side,” was launched on April 18th, 2011 to the sound of “O Canada,” followed by an introduction by Krista Erickson and her breasts, which coincided with her appearance in the Calgary Sun’s depraved ‘sunshine girl’ section for that same day, and then a few hours featuring a loud buzzing sound emanating from a hot-air balloon that looked suspiciously like the hyper-right-wing pundit Ezra Levant.
Shortly following their launch, the Sun News Network promptly and thoroughly discredited themselves as being trustworthy sources of news by engaging in smear campaigns of politicians Jack Layton and Michael Ignatieff, occurring during the final critical week of the 2011 federal election. They fallaciously and maliciously accused Jack Layton of having been caught by police in a brothel in 1996. They fallaciously and maliciously accused Michael Ignatieff of having a role in the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, showing a photo of someone close in appearance to Ignatieff posing with American soldiers in Kuwait.
Following in the footsteps of their American foil Fox News Channel, the Sun News Network misrepresents Canadians with a primetime line-up of five of the most bitter and blinkered middle-aged white males that money can buy: David Akin, Brian Lilley, Charles Adler, Theo Caldwell and Ezra Levant. These five angry white men, who have all been long-time right-wing commentators or important members, or both, of the Conservative Party of Canada, are ‘balanced’ with the blonde miss Krista Erickson, who, according to her ‘sunshine girl’ write-up is, “rarin’ to go . . . unapologetically patriotic and not afraid to call it like it is.” While it could certainly be argued that Canada is in need of a few fresh faces — after all, Peter Mansbridge of the CBC and Lloyd Robertson of the CTV are both rather tiresome — the Sun News Network fails to provide anything close to this. Their hosts are, at best, washed-up noise-makers willing to spew “hard news and straight talk” for a quick buck.
The Sun News Network’s deliberate presentation of false or misleading information, their boys room prime-time line-up, their skewed understanding of the word ‘patriotism,’ their openly right-wing prejudices and their American-media-commentary style fear-mongering should deeply trouble the hearts of Canadians.