News as a Big Business: CanWest Global’s Newspaper Ownership

Abstract

Canada’s newspaper industry has experienced increasingly concentrated ownership within the last few decades. News sources’ profit-orientation and need for advertisers to generate revenue has streamlined the political views embedded in journalism. Simultaneously, newspaper readers are embracing the medium as a trustworthy source. Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky offer an effective theoretical framework, the “Propaganda Model,” through which the state of Canadian newspapers can be examined. CanWest Global Communications’ current national newspaper ownership presents a case study which exemplifies Herman and Chomsky’s concerns. Viewing this company’s newspaper holdings through the perspective of the Propaganda Model should alert Canadians to the biases inherent in the news they consume. Efforts to limit or abolish monopolization of news producers in the country lie predominantly in the hands of independent lobbyists, as the views expressed by capitalist news owners often complement the interests of Canada’s dominant political leadership parties. Readers must take it upon themselves to become news savvy, critical and aware.