With Much Of The Press Dependent On Government Funding, Independent Media Is Essential To Balanced Election Coverage

Those who Canadians have freely chosen to support – rather than being forced to subsidize through taxes – have far more credibility than those who depend on government money.

As they say, “everybody works for somebody.”

I work for you, and for all who freely choose to consume and support my writing.

CBC works for the government, who funds them through tax dollars forcibly taken from Canadians.

And, while much of the establishment media once worked for their viewers and readers, they increasingly also work for the government, due to the proliferation of taxpayer-funded media bailouts.

Even among those who already were subservient to the state like CBC, increased government funding and eroding private ad revenue have further solidified government domination.

As a result, even as CBC struggles to appeal to viewers, much of the establishment media is becoming more and more like CBC.

We have, in effect, a growing number of quasi-state run outlets, which may claim to be ‘private,’ yet are dependent on taxpayer funding for their survival, and thus dependent on politicians like Justin Trudeau to keep the money flowing.

With an election coming up, that is a huge problem.

As noted in my column on how ‘Secret Liberal Government Payments To Media Subvert Democracy,’ the prospect of going into an election with more and more of the media subsidized by the state is something that should disturb Canadians:

“This kind of secret media funding – on the eve of an election no less – is what you would expect to see in an authoritarian dictatorship, in a one-party-state.

To see it in Canada is another example of how far our country is straying from what our values are supposed to be.”

And, with everything else the Liberals – with the support of the NDP – are doing, this is a clear agenda of making all media subservient to the state:

“The combination of a compliant, state-funded media, restrictions on independent content creators, and new ‘hate speech’ laws that are a thinly-veiled proxy for ratcheting down the range of ‘legal & acceptable’ opinion in this country, and you have a nation that is moving closer and closer to a China-style information environment, where only state-approved outlets can share information, and where anyone who tries to share views and opinions that the government opposes will be targeted and punished.”

Overt & Cover Media Manipulation

Much of the media manipulation by the Liberals has been overt, clear and obvious.

It’s obvious because the Liberal strategy has been to make the media financially dependent on the government, and as we noted above, this means that more and more of the media basically works for the government.

It’s basic human nature: If you’re dependent on the government for financial survival, you’ll boost the fortunes of those politicians who are most likely to keep giving you more and more money. When that dependence is combined with the fact that much of the media is already full of individuals with a left-wing bias, it becomes clear that the Liberals have effectively built an incentive-structure for the media to keep them in power.

That incentive-structure is of course the opposite of what the media is supposed to be.

The media is supposed to have a somewhat adversarial relationship with the government:

The government puts out biased propaganda, and the media pushes back to bring attention to the truth, call out government lies, point out hypocrisy, and ensure the public has a broad range of perspectives – not just the state narrative.

Now, much of the establishment is simply another conduit for the transmission of the state narrative.

And, we can add ‘covert’ manipulation, as the Liberals are giving out media bailouts – using OUR tax dollars – without even telling the public who is getting the money.

Yet, despite the subversion of the establishment press, the traditional role of media is still alive in a different form.

Independent Media Defending Democracy

Canada still has media willing to be adversarial with the government, and who bring balance to what is otherwise a biased, left-wing, pro-government landscape.

Independent Media, comprised of outlets like True North, The Post Millennial, The Western Standard, The Rebel, The National Telegraph, and of course Yours Truly, push back against the state-narrative, and are free of government influence, because we are free of reliance on government funding.

We survive or fall based on whether Canadians freely choose to consume our content and contribute to us.

And, since many Canadians want to have media that fulfills their true purpose of pushing back against government propaganda, and since many Canadians abhor the far-left bias of much of the press, Independent media has been growing in support.

As just one example, in August of 2019, I had just over 28,000 followers on Twitter, and I now have over 54,000.

Clearly, there is a large and growing audience for Independent Media, as other Independent outlets have seen similar growth.

Basically, much of the establishment press has sold out, and abandoned their role as defenders of democracy, and that role is now being filled by Independent Canadian media.

This is why, in the upcoming election – which it appears Trudeau will kick off this Sunday – Independent media will be essential to providing balanced and unbiased coverage.

It means Independent media will be doing what the establishment media fails to do:

Holding EVERYONE accountable.

It’s not about shading coverage to be beneficial to the Conservatives, but it also means refusing to go along with the horrendous and obvious anti-Conservative bias much of the media shows.

Whenever the Conservatives are caught in a lie, it gets endless coverage, while Trudeau – by far the most dishonest politician Canada has seen in decades – gets away with his endless barrage of deception and hypocrisy.

That’s what Independent media will push back against.

And, when Jagmeet Singh – who gets handled so softly by the establishment press – makes another foolish, naïve, divisive, or flat-out wrong statement, Independent media will hold him accountable, rather than holding him to some sort of lower standard like the establishment does.

The establishment has chosen to abandon their role in favour of government money and the promotion of left-wing bias, but I will NEVER do that.

Democracy can only survive when the public has access to a full range of views and perspectives, and that’s what Independent outlets like SpencerFernando.com will provide as our nation enters into the Election.

Spencer Fernando

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CBC and much of the establishment media are dependent on government funding, and subservient to the Liberals. Only independent media can push back and fight for the truth. If you value my perspective, you can make a contribution through PayPal, or directly through Stripe below. Thank you.


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