CBC released a “trusted sources” list of media outlets (that take bailout bucks, of course)
CBC recently released a list of local news outlets across the country that it finds trustworthy. No surprise: Rebel News did not make the cut!
CBC doesn’t really do local news anymore. But if you hadn’t noticed, don’t fret! You are among the vast majority of Canadians who don’t pay much attention to what CBC is up to. Fewer than 330,000 thousand people in our country of nearly 38 million tune in to watch CBC’s dinner-time broadcasts.
I recently reported how back in March, CBC cancelled some local, English-language broadcasts, citing the coronavirus pandemic. This bizarre action actually breached the conditions of the network’s broadcast license.
To help Canadians fill the void left by local news broadcasts no one watched in the first place being cancelled, CBC has now published the “Local News Directory,” a list of outlets, searchable by city, that the CBC deems as reputable sources of information.
The list is heavily dominated by Postmedia, Glacier Media, and other recipients of the $650 million Trudeau media bailout. Independent, donor-driven media outlets like The Post Millennial, Western Standard, True North Centre, and Rebel News didn’t make the cut.
However, even though Rebel News didn’t make the list of approved friends of state media, CBC finds us reputable enough to steal our stories and claim them as exclusives a week after we report them. Our stories aren’t the only work done by others the CBC has claimed as their own. Their “Local News Directory” is poached from the same lobby group that successfully pushed for the Trudeau media bailout.
Blacklock’s Reporter broke the news:
The CBC yesterday listed Canadian news publishers it deemed trustworthy and deserving of public support. The list was borrowed from a lobby group that successfully sought a $595-million newspaper bailout.
“We believe a healthy democracy depends on a strong media ecosystem with a diversity of voices,” said Leon Mar, spokesperson for the CBC. Mar said the “Local News Directory” was “the only one of its kind in Canada to help Canadians find and support local media.”
A newspaper lobbyist confirmed the CBC merely republished its list of paid members. “We don’t have a Local News Directory,” said John Hinds, CEO of News Media Canada. “CBC has developed one which they launched today, and we provided them with our members.”
Anyone going to CBC for advice about which news outlets they should trust probably isn't looking for the other side of the story anyway.
Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.