Sun TV News is a most peculiar and mysterious place. I wanted to know which of their shows they consider to be their flagship so I could review it like I do other journalistic programs. I emailed and called half a dozen times but could only get as far as their news comment line (“We value your opinion, so please leave us a message.”). Nice to know they value my opinion, but I never heard back.
Occurs to me that if major news (The Rapture, World War lll, Justin Bieber weds) breaks outside my window, I’ll probably watch another network.
Now, I write this column by screening different flagship news programs in the evening and making notes, then re-screening on the Internet the next day to get the slightly different Internet feel and check names and quotes.
Episode: Sun TV News
Date: Friday March 9, 2012
Anchor: Various
Last night I watched some Sun coverage of the Manning Conference in Ottawa. I won’t bore you with details. It was much like any other network’s coverage of political gatherings — interesting for the participants no doubt, but consistently dull. Anyway, a conservative network covering a Conservative rally is closer to an evangelical assembly of the saved than journalism.
Today I hit the Sun News website looking for yesterday’s other shows. But I couldn’t find any. So I checked my horoscope in the Globe and Mail, studied the entrails of chickens and decided to review whatever random segments I could conjure up.
Best I could do was find previews of “stories we’re working on right now.” They’re introduced by a somewhat insipid young woman, unscripted, and nicely informal. Sometimes humorous, even witty. And they’re never without the Sun’s notoriously self-serving, male pit-bull point of view.
True Journalistic Objectivity — Michael Coren (The Arena):
“George Soros… a Yankee, imperialist leftist.”
And,
“I was described as a fascist by a professor… and he’s going to regret doing this because… enough of people who are conservative being slandered and libeled by these morons.”
CBC, Porn, and Sun TV Saves Canada — Brian Lilley (Byline):
“CBC has come to its senses and decided it’s going to stop airing free porn from France on the Internet. It’s a victory for Sun News, it’s a victory for you.”
CBC, Porn, and Sun TV Saves Canada — Ezra Levant (The Source):
“The CBC blinked today. They announced they’re getting out of the porn business, shutting down their porn website. I think it’s because they want their annual bailout this month but in the meantime, victory for us and the taxpayers.”
Save the Cops — Charles Adler (Prime Time):
“… this ridiculous idea that police are arresting citizens that are trying to help them. They’re arresting good citizens as opposed to criminals. It’s a very strange situation in a country where we desperately want to believe in some institutions like the police and don’t want to see their reputations devalued.”
Wrath About Grapes — Charles Adler (Prime Time):
“Is it possible the NHL is trying to push Don (Cherry) right off the proverbial cliff?
Verdict — I admit I’m no techno-geek. So maybe it’s my fault I couldn’t find screenable archives. But if someone from Sun would care to contact me, steer me towards anything it considers a flagship news show so I can review it, I would be pathetically grateful.
This article was originally published on the Huffington Post on March 11, 2012: The Sun Also Confuses
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