Media Illness

The Trudeau government started subsidizing private Canadian media companies during the COVID-19 pandemic under the pretence that the measure was only to be temporary and warranted due to the inherent importance of a healthy media industry to democracy. However, with the pandemic over and the subsidies continuing, it has become clear that the Carney government, media company shareholders and journalists are the true winners of the subsidy program, while Canadian citizens and democracy are the losers.

Unfortunately, the failure of Canadian journalists to effectively inform citizens about the File 1000-121 Affair for over three decades demonstrates that the state of Canadian journalism and democracy were in trouble before Canadians trusted Justin Trudeau and experienced the pandemic.

Although my original campaign resulted in questions in Parliament during the Chretien government (House of Commons, March 30, 1995) and the Harper government (House of Commons, February 8, 2008), not one single journalist from any mainstream media company has ever informed Canadians about these questions.

Moreover, I encouraged journalists numerous times to address the File 1000-121 Affair, including by issuing related press releases through distribution companies:

  • Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal – Canadian consumers may be owed more than 1.2 billion dollars (February 7, 2008)
  • Prime Minister Harper notified of billion-dollar CRTC scandal (June 3, 2010)
  • Allegation CBC’s Richard Stursberg aware of ‘Mediascam'(June 10, 2010)
  • Letter to PM alleging systemic corruption posted online (June 21, 2010)
  • Request by former broadcasting industry insider to testify into allegations of CRTC corruption(June 21, 2012)
  • One Media Law’s Keith Mahar alleges to US Trade Representative that Canada has unfairly exploited the cultural industries exemption in NAFTA (August 31, 2018)       

How strange. My press release distributed by Canada Newswire on February 7, 2008, was picked up by a number of prominent online international news sources, including CNBC, Forbes and Reuters (February 7, 2008), hours before my campaign resulted in a Member of Parliament stating that Canadians were “owed more than $1.2 billion” (House of Commons, February 8, 2008), but no Canadian journalist contacted me to discuss the File 1000-121 Affair story: a well-documented case of systemic corruption involving some Canadian media companies being unjustly enriched, while others simply being subsidized.     

Despite the current and ongoing cost of File 1000-121 Affair to Canadians, the most recent coverage in Canada related to the case of long-term systemic corruption was by Antonia Zerbisias nineteen years ago (Toronto Star, February 16, 2007).

Antonia Zerbisias is the only journalist who ever got any element of the File 1000-121 Affair on the front page of a Canadian newspaper (Toronto Star, July 9, 1995). She also wrote a feature that included some additional facts about the File 1000-121 Affair which was published on the same day (Toronto Star, July 9, 1995). Five months later journalist Scott Anderson listed my story as one of the top stories ‘missed’ by the media (NOW, December 28, 1995).

It is not plausible that the Canadian media ‘missed’ my story — basic facts related to the File 1000-121 Affair were simply not provided to Canadians by journalists.

Understandably, I have totally lost faith in the integrity of mainstream Canadian media companies to inform Canadians about the File 1000-121 Affair, as reflected in my most recent press release, and which was only addressed by an American publication (Hollywood Reporter, September 9, 2018).

It is entirely possible that Canadian journalists might be shamed by an American journalist breaking the story about long-term systemic corruption in Canada.