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Fox News coming to Canada
By OLIVER MOORE
Globe and Mail Update
Canadians will soon have access to the "Fair and Balanced" broadcasts of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News.
In a decision released Thursday, the CRTC argued that "there is substantial demand in Canada for Fox News." It will be available to digital subscribers as early as next year.
Rejecting complaints about the station's "alleged ... ideological slant" the CRTC decided against imposing any extra conditions on Fox News.
The CRTC said that it had received 531 statements supporting Fox and only 82 opposed. But, to what extent the station's admittedly conservative views will be welcomed in Canada remains to be seen.
Critics say that, far from being as "Fair and Balanced" as their slogan declares, the station is essentially a house organ for the Bush White House. Pointing to statistics which show that many more Fox viewers believe that Iraqis used weapons of mass destruction against invading U.S. forces, that the world backed the invasion and that Saddam Hussein was intimately connected to the terrorist attacks of September 2001, they argue that Fox is a source of misinformation more than news.
The station's commentators make no apologies for their views, arguing that they are a leavening influence in a media landscape dominated by "liberals" and other evils. Even Cable News Network, well to the right of most Canadian media, has been derided for not being hard line enough. Top Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly has dismissed The Globe and Mail as "a far-left newspaper."
The National Citizens Coalition welcomed Thursday's decision.
"Free speech ... also means having the right to hear other points of view," NCC vice-president Gerry Nicholls said. "The more voices and the more points of view Canadians hear the better."
Launched eight years ago by an adviser to several former Republican presidents of the United States, Fox News is built around high-profile commentators who have become media celebrities. It claims to have 80 million subscribers.
The Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association asked in April for permission to carry Fox News to Canadians with digital cable, satellite or wireless television service.
By OLIVER MOORE
Globe and Mail Update
Canadians will soon have access to the "Fair and Balanced" broadcasts of Rupert Murdoch's Fox News.
In a decision released Thursday, the CRTC argued that "there is substantial demand in Canada for Fox News." It will be available to digital subscribers as early as next year.
Rejecting complaints about the station's "alleged ... ideological slant" the CRTC decided against imposing any extra conditions on Fox News.
The CRTC said that it had received 531 statements supporting Fox and only 82 opposed. But, to what extent the station's admittedly conservative views will be welcomed in Canada remains to be seen.
Critics say that, far from being as "Fair and Balanced" as their slogan declares, the station is essentially a house organ for the Bush White House. Pointing to statistics which show that many more Fox viewers believe that Iraqis used weapons of mass destruction against invading U.S. forces, that the world backed the invasion and that Saddam Hussein was intimately connected to the terrorist attacks of September 2001, they argue that Fox is a source of misinformation more than news.
The station's commentators make no apologies for their views, arguing that they are a leavening influence in a media landscape dominated by "liberals" and other evils. Even Cable News Network, well to the right of most Canadian media, has been derided for not being hard line enough. Top Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly has dismissed The Globe and Mail as "a far-left newspaper."
The National Citizens Coalition welcomed Thursday's decision.
"Free speech ... also means having the right to hear other points of view," NCC vice-president Gerry Nicholls said. "The more voices and the more points of view Canadians hear the better."
Launched eight years ago by an adviser to several former Republican presidents of the United States, Fox News is built around high-profile commentators who have become media celebrities. It claims to have 80 million subscribers.
The Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association asked in April for permission to carry Fox News to Canadians with digital cable, satellite or wireless television service.
I think I can hear Ben cheering all the way over here in Toronto.
I can't wait for this entertainment to come.
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