Remote View

4d ago

List of Canadian Alternatives to American owned media pretending to be Canadian, infiltrating Canadian culture and politics

The Walrus on Bluesky.

When local news disappears, misinformation thrives.

I'm just a single person managing this post, so there will be many mistakes. Please comment on any major other fact-based news, and I'll edit the post to add them! :::spoiler Inclusion Criteria

They must have high standards for journalistic integrity.
Or if they receive funding from the Canadian Local Journalism Initiative.
Or are a qualified donee as a registered journalism organization. :::

Avoid list 🚫

Postmedia Network

Canada.com
National Post
Financial Post
Calgary Herald
Edmonton Journal
Telegraph-Journal
The London Free Press
The Gazette
Ottawa Citizen
Sudbury Star
Windsor Star
Vancouver Sun
Sun Media
- Calgary Sun, Edmonton Sun, Ottawa Sun, Toronto Sun, Winnipeg Sun
Saltwire Network
The Chronical Herald, Cape Breton Post, The Telegram, The Guardian (Charlottetown)

Canadian alternatives 🇨🇦

Français ⚜️

les médias	propriété	type de propriété	contribution
Radio Canada	Patrimoine canadien (Gouvernement du Canada)	Gouvernement	TOU.TV L'EXTRA
TFO	Office des télécommunications éducatives de langue française de l'Ontario TFO (Gouvernement du Ontario)	Gouvernement	Don
Télé-Québec	Société de télédiffusion du Québec (Gouvernement du Québec)	Gouvernement	-
La Presse	La Presse Inc.	à but non lucratif, organisations journalistiques enregistrées	Don
Le Devoir	Le Devoir Inc.	organisations journalistiques enregistrées	Don
L'Acadie Nouvelle	Acadie Nouvelle ltée.	à but non lucratif	abonnement

English🦄

Media	Ownership	Ownership type	Donate
CBC News	Canadian Heritage (Government of Canada)	Government	CBC Gem Premium, CBC Shop
TVO	The Ontario Education Communications Authority (Government of Ontario)	Government	Donate
Investigative Journalism Foundation	Investigative Journalism Foundation	Non-profit	Subscribe, IJF Shop
PressProgress	Broadbent Institute	Non-profit	Membership
The Walrus	The Walrus Foundation	Non-profit, registered charity	Donate
The Narwhal	The Narwhal News Society	Non-profit, Registered journalism organization	Donate
The Tyee, BC based	appears to be self-owned	Non-profit, Registered Journalism Organization (pending)	Donate
The Breach	Breach Media Canada	Non-profit	Donate
The Grind, Toronto specific	Arts and Labour Media Inc.	Non-profit	Membership
Briarpatch, SK based	Briarpatch Inc.	Non-profit	Donate
Unrigged News	collaboration between non-profit outlets	Non-profit	-
	Overstory Media Group	Non-profit?	-
Canada's National Observer	Observer Media Group	For profit	Donate, Subscribe
The Canadian Press News	The Globe and Mail, Torstar	For profit	-
The Globe and Mail	The Woodbridge Company	For profit	Subscribe
Toronto Star	Torstar	For profit	Subscribe
Reuters	Thompson family	For profit	Subscribe
Global News	Corus Entertainment	For profit	-
Winnipeg Free Press	FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership	For profit	Donate
Canadaland	appears to be self owned	appears to be for profit	Patreon, Canadaland store

Political commentary

The Rational National

News Aggregator

Ground News, Subscribe

And while you're here, come join us over at !fairvote@lemmy.ca. We are trying to restore control of government back to the people!

46 comments

No Reuters?
One of the best wire agency/news networks in the entire world is Canadian, kind of shocking to see it not mentioned here.
- My apologies, it's just a single person (me) doing all of this, to reduce corporate/American influence. Thanks for letting me know, I'll add it shortly!
  
  I'm sorry for the aggressive tone as well, your tables and lists made it look professional so my standards may have been too high lol
  More gracefully, Global might be worth adding too given they are owned buy CHORUS

Ground news is also Canadian, from Kitchener, ON. While not a news network, it is a good news aggregator that shows political bias.
- I've added Ground news into another section. There isn't much information I could find on their ownership type, but they are Canadian!

Is it surprising that the American owned media tend to be highly in favour of corporations?
The most promising counters to dark money:
Democracy Watch
The Investigative Journalism Foundation
Council of Canadians
Protecting Canada
Canadians for Tax Fairness
PressProgress
Fair Vote Canada
Bluesky Starter Pack: Ontario journalists that cover work & wage issues.
Obligatory, come join us over at !fairvote@lemmy.ca . We are trying to restore control of government back to the people!
- "Wes' Brot ich ess' des' Lied ich sing"
  I'll sing the song of whoever gives me bread.

In case anyone is wondering about who owns POSTMEDIA NETWORK
Top Shareholders:
Postmedia Network Canada Corp.
63% - Chatham Asset Management LLC (a multinational American company)
17% - Allianz Global Investors GmbH (a multinational German company)
13% - Leon Cooperman (a billionaire Jewish investor from New York)
less than 1% is Canadian companies
rest of the percentage is listed as 'unknown'
https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/POSTMEDIA-NETWORK-CANADA--42378696/company-shareholders/
- Why do you feel the need to mention the investor is Jewish? I'm all-in on boycotting the US, but I'm not a goddamn anti-semite FFS.
  
  I'm 100% for calling out the people who control the narrative in Canada, especially since the people pulling the strings all the way at the top have strong, long time, ties with the GOP.
  I could maybe see saying that Leon has a hand in making the narrative say that anti-zion is anti-Semitism. Preferably backed with evidence.
  But the way the person you replied to worded it comes off as:
  Leon....the JEEEEEWWWWWWWWW!!!!
  Like the man is personally responsible for SpAcE LaSeRs™.
  It's disgusting, and is counterproductive. It's a distraction from reality. Reality being, that regardless of what Leon believes, he's part of the parasite class. He and the rest of the 0.1% do not contribute to society, they only continue to exist by leeching off of the rest of us.
  In 2022 Postmedia received $9.9 million, their "operating income" that year was $13 million.
  That's our taxes. $9.9 million of Canadian's hard earned money, being syphoned off to the States.
  Then there's Canfor, who control the majority of Canadian lumber production. They're dismantling mills, and shipping them to the Southern US.
  Our country is being picked clean...

Huh, the Gazette is part of Postmedia?
That explains a LOT!
- Yes! That's why it's such a big problem that American owned media infiltrates Canadian culture and politics!!

Canadaland - mostly a collection of podcasts, listener-funded.
- Thanks! Canadaland has been added!

Thank you for your effort and time!
- Glad to be supported by the broader community!
  And while you're here, come join us over at !fairvote@lemmy.ca. We are trying to restore control of government back to the people!

Who owns The Beaverton?? LOL
- As far as I can tell, The Beaverton are self owned (but still Canadian). However, I am reluctant to include them because they are satire, and I don't want to cause confusion.
  
  Oh, I wasn't saying to include them. Just bring a smartass.
- Millions of beavers who generate income from damming rivers in northern Canada to generate water power and create irrigation for southern farmers. Don't make fun of them .... they have sleeper cells all over North America that will down a tree on your house or car or public building.

Overstory Media Group is probably Canadian
- probably Canadian
  Yes, that's what I have found to be the case as well. I wasn't able to find ownership or other details...
  I'll add them nonetheless, hoping someone can provide sources.

I hate to post another comment, but another great tool for media reading in general is RSS feed aggregators. Yes they can be janky, but it is the easiest way to explicitly choose what media you receive, rather than relying on algorithms in news apps / social media to dictate all that you read.
NetNewsWire is a great option for Apple devices Feedbro integrates into your web browser And Feeder is the one I use on my Android phone.
Here is a general comparison list on Wikipedia of different feed aggregators.
If you are a bit more technically inclined, I highly recommend hosting your own feed aggregator online (allowing you to sync your saved articles / read articles between devices, and better battery life on mobile devices). The two apps I usually see recommended for this are tt-rss "Tiny Tiny RSS" as well as FreshRSS.

Fantastic list.
Without the Narwhal, most of us would have no fucking clue what DoFo and Co were up to with the Greenbelt since 2018. Just as a for instance.
Someone posted a story yesterday from a new print paper called The Grind, and it's really decent. Looks on the level so far. idk if it makes your cut for the list, but anyone looking for a free local paper in Toronto you can read irl like it's 2010, they've got some drop locations in the city (Gateway news stands in the TTC, some record and book shops).
https://briarpatchmagazine.com out of Regina is another classic. Been around since the 70s and it's unionized afaik.

https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/
The Canadian Press is Canada’s national news agency.
- Added!

The Globe and Mail is owned by a private holding company that is, in turn, owned by the Thomson family, which Wikipedia describes as Canadian.
- Yes, please give me a source on their American ownership … As far as I can tell, the Thomson family is Canadian, so I can't exclude them.
  
  They're Canadian, AFAICT.
  Edit: to be clear: the Globe and Mail belongs in the Canadian Alternatives part of the list.

Just for clarity, the Vancouver Sun is also owned by Post Media Group.
- Thanks, I've added Vancouver Sun!

This is a great post, thank you!

If you're francophone (or just a francophile) I highly recommend La Presse and Le Devoir. The former is a non-profit and considered a "newspaper of record", the latter isn't non-profit but is still an independent publication and is also often considered a newspaper of record.
And of course there's Radio-Canada, the French language publication of the CBC.
The French avoid list for me mostly revolves around Québecor — but this is more of a journalistic integrity issue rather than an American media problem. I find it important from a moral and ethical perspective to avoid media megacorp conglomerates (and this is also yet another reason to avoid Postmedia).
One more thing on franco media, reading the news is a great way of developing vocabulary in your second language. Give it a shot, it's really fulfilling and in this case unlocks some great independent / non-profit options :)
- Thanks! Especially for the link to the newspaper of record, it's important we have reputable sources.

Postmedia also now owns Saltwire, which operated most of the major newspapers in Atlantic Canada: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SaltWire_Network

You should have never let our oligarchs to operate like that IMHO
I am all about free speech etc but you can't a hostile foreign actor operating at the same level in mission critical industries. They will always exploit it for personal again at the expense of your national security.
- Come join us over at !fairvote@lemmy.ca . We are trying to restore control of government back to the people!
  
  full disclosure: I am american
  we are trying to restore control of government back to the people!
  i am DTF on this point tho haha

How about Black media, which at one point ran every small town newspaper in BC. Pretty sure that was some billionaire but BC based.
Not gonna say they are good because they definitely have shilled for conservatives in the past. I'm just curious where they are today on this scale. Would not surprise me if they were bought south.
*Edit.. not surprising
- I presume you're referring to Black Press Group. This is now owned by American Carpenter Media Group.

Where does Winnipeg Free Press sit?

I know they are awful but I have wonder how canadian are media companies like rebel media, if nothing else it might be one more reason to stay away
- CBC News 2024-09-19: Rebel News not eligible for journalism tax credits, Federal Court rules.

are they wearing flannel, have a mustache, and say eh and i'm sorry a lot?
- Worse, they publish articles undermining the Government and programs that actually help ordinary Canadians.

46 comments