Power and Betrayal in the Canadian Media

Richard Wilbur is the author of The Rise of French New Brunswick and the
co-author of Silver Harvest: The Fundy Weirmen’s Story.

David Taras of the University of Calgary has mined a mountain of
literature from both sides of the border to argue that citizens are
increasingly being deprived of the vital information they need to make
constructive decisions about their communities and their lives. In his
first four chapters, he skilfully blends these sources to describe how
the new media (dominated by Time Warner, Disney, Rupert Murdoch’s News
Corporation, Sony, Seagram, Microsoft, and Viacom) are eroding public
life. The next four chapters deal with the Canadian scene.

Of particular interest is Taras’s assessment of the CBC. Most would
agree with his conclusion that CBC Radio has fared better than CBC
English Television, especially after the corporation’s retreat in the
face of attacks on This Hour Has Seven Days and the semidocumentary The
Valor and the Horror. Both English and French services suffered during
the Quebec referendum debate. Afraid of doing or saying anything that
might be perceived as interfering in the campaign, CBC reporters
declined to ask tough questions or to refute questionable charges that
were being made by both sides in the debate.

In a chapter titled “Bringing You Hollywood,” Taras criticizes both
federal and provincial governments for devising strategies for the next
Quebec referendum while neglecting to establish communication policies
(especially those presenting innovative ways of financing Canadian
broadcasting) aimed at making Canadians part of a national community.
His next chapter, “The Winds of Right Wing Change,” reinforces his
pessimistic view that Canada lacks both the will and the means to
maintain a distinctive Canadian identity.

The recommendations Taras offers in his final chapter (including
tougher Canadian content requirements and a strictly nonpartisan CBC
board of directors) add little new to this tired debate. What his book
offers instead is a thoroughly documented and readable account of how a
once-independent and diverse Canadian media succumbed to the
profit-driven American giants.