NPR has been getting a lot of exposure lately. Yes, we’ve learned that the leadership is woke and the listeners very white, liberal white that is. In fact, the audience is so white that NPR is going out of its way to get nonwhites to tune in.
The Media
Our news industry is lobbying for the death of its own freedom
The big fuss concerning the Online News Act may be over, but its most serious repercussions are likely still to come.
Before the year is out, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) aims to develop a code of conduct to which news organizations must adhere when negotiating their share of the loot the government extracted from Google in order to keep shareholders happy at approved news organizations.
h/t Mauser
WSJ SCOOP: New York Times Bosses ‘Seek to Quash Rebellion in the Newsroom’
Wall Street Journal news-industry reporter Alexandra Bruell broke a story on Friday about managers at The New York Times struggling with the intolerance of new employees who are “applying ideological purity tests” to stories on “sensitive topics like the transgender community and social justice.” Those kids coming out of college don’t bow to the wisdom of their elders who may still want to portray themselves as neutral and independent of ideological camps.
Canadian News Will Die if Private Networks Disappear, Bell CEO Warns
Bell Canada’s top boss is raising the alarm that Canadian news could disappear if the country’s private networks fail.
CEO Mirko Bibic told the House of Commons Heritage Committee during April 11 testimony his company has lost more than $100 million in television advertising revenues as more people switch to digital formats.
NPR editors ‘strongly disagree’ with network veteran’s take on quality of journalism
Top editors at NPR are defending the outlet’s journalism after a scathing op-ed from a former employee who argues the public broadcaster has lost its way.
Uri Berliner, who worked at NPR for more than 20 years, wrote in a piece published this week for The Free Press that “those who listen to NPR or read its coverage online” are getting “the distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population.”
NPR is the CBC is government propaganda.
I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.
You know the stereotype of the NPR listener: an EV-driving, Wordle-playing, tote bag–carrying coastal elite. It doesn’t precisely describe me, but it’s not far off. I’m Sarah Lawrence–educated, was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother, I drive a Subaru, and Spotify says my listening habits are most similar to people in Berkeley.
I fit the NPR mold. I’ll cop to that.
So when I got a job here 25 years ago, I never looked back. As a senior editor on the business desk where news is always breaking, we’ve covered upheavals in the workplace, supermarket prices, social media, and AI.
The Corporate Media Mocks ‘Double Haters’
During the past several months the corporate media have devoted a lot of coverage to a species of voter they describe as “double haters.” This pejorative label notwithstanding, such voters are neither unique to the current election cycle nor particularly hateful. It’s probably more accurate to call them double dissenters. They disapprove of the presumptive presidential nominees offered by the two major political parties and decline to choose the “lesser of two evils.” Some may sit out 2024 and others may vote for an independent like Jill Stein, Cornel West or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This has earned them the derision of a pundit class that fears most third-party votes will be cast at the expense of President Joe Biden.
A Financial Crisis May Jeopardize Local News in Most of Atlantic Canada
Local news outlets have, of course, been in trouble in Canada and around the world for years. But now a lender has asked a Halifax court to dissolve the two companies that jointly own most of the newspapers in Atlantic Canada outside New Brunswick. And that has opened up the possibility that the region may end up without any legacy news outlets aside from broadcasters.
SaltWire’s money woes a sign of bigger problems in the newspaper business: experts
HALIFAX – The recent decision by SaltWire Network Inc., Atlantic Canada’s largest newspaper company, to seek protection from its creditors is another sign of the decline of the business and the growing threat to local journalism, experts said Tuesday.
“We’re seeing a resurgence in a steady spate of closings and scaling back of local news operations,” said April Lindgren, a professor with Toronto Metropolitan University’s journalism program. “If anything, it’s at an accelerated pace.”
I can’t recall the last time I held a newspaper in my hands.
SaltWire Network files for creditor protection, has $94M in debt
A company that owns nearly two dozen newspapers in Atlantic Canada has debts of almost $100 million and is filing for creditor protection.
SaltWire Network made the application in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, according to court documents filed on Monday.
The court documents said SaltWire has more than $94 million in debt, with roughly a third of that owed to its lender, Fiera Private Debt.
CNN Appears on the Verge of an Epic Collapse
CNN has been desperately treading water for years now. The former king of cable news has been bleeding ratings for years, with Fox News typically topping all the networks night after night. CNN still fancies itself the “most trusted name in news,” yet, even former CEO Chris Licht admitted last year that that trust — assuming at one point they actually had it — is long gone and they need to restore it. He didn’t last long.
I was a broadcast journalist. Now, TV is the last place I go for news
I’m a former anchor of the CBC News program The National and I have an uncomfortable confession to make: I don’t watch the news.
This is really hard to say but I don’t watch The National any more. I can’t tell you the last time I watched W5. I don’t get news from people who do what I used to do for a living. It’s sad, but it’s much more than that.
Think Again – Government cannot save the media
It was a “garbage decision.” That’s how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described Bell Media’s recent announcement that it was laying off nine per cent of its workforce, selling nearly half of its regional radio stations, and eliminating many of its newscasts.
I didn’t like the announcement either. Giant corporations such as Bell have made a mess of journalism. There’s no question that their decisions over the years to systematically cut back on local newsrooms has led to a decline in the quality of news coverage, which of course leads to people cancelling their subscriptions and to companies pulling their ads. And the downward spiral continues.
As local news outlets shutter, some journalists take ownership into their own hands
On a warm Ottawa day last June, reporter Jessica Wallace cozied up to Governor-General Mary Simon in Rideau Hall for a celebratory photo.
She smiled and held up a plaque recognizing her employer, Kamloops This Week, as a finalist for the Michener Award, Canada’s top journalism honour.
Today, when Ms. Wallace thinks of that photo, the smiles are gone. “What did it mean?” she says. “Did anyone care? They still closed us down.”
Bell Media cuts are a sign of the times as Canada’s broadcasting model collapses
Only three days after BCE Inc. announced its deepest job cuts in 30 years, including the elimination of hundreds of posts at Bell Media, Sunday’s Super Bowl provided the company with a good news story to tell – for a change.
The National Football League championship game, which went into overtime and attracted hordes of Swifties eager to catch a glimpse of their pop-music idol and her Kansas City Chiefs (maybe) boyfriend, produced bonanza ratings for Bell Media, which holds the Canadian rights to the Super Bowl under a multiyear contract with the NFL.