Monday 30 August 2010

Stop Harper's hate media channel - sign the petition

Canada: no taxes to fund hate
Prime Minister Harper is trying to push American-style hate media onto our airwaves, and make us all pay for it.

His plan is to create a "Fox News North" to mimic the kind of hate-filled propaganda with which Fox News has poisoned U.S. politics. The channel will be run by Harper’s former top aide and will be funded with money from our TV license fees!

One man stands in the way of this nightmare -- the Chairman of
Canada's Radio and Telecommunications Commission Konrad von
Finckenstein. He's rejected the plan as a violation of CRTC policies, so
now Harper is trying to force him out. Let's urgently send a massive wave of public support to von Finckenstein.



See also:
Globe and Mail: Is Stephen Harper set to move against the CRTC?

And, from AVAAZ:

Dear friends,

Prime Minister Harper is trying to push American-style hate media onto our airwaves, and make us all pay for it.

His plan is to create a "Fox News North" to mimic the kind of hate-filled propaganda with which Fox News has poisoned U.S. politics. The channel will be run by Harper’s former top aide and will be funded with money from our TV license fees!

One man stands in the way of this nightmare -- the Chairman of Canada's Radio and Telecommunications Commission Konrad von Finckenstein. He's rejected the plan as a violation of CRTC policies, so now Harper is trying to force him out. Let's urgently send a massive wave of public support to von Finckenstein, with 100,000 Canadians encouraging him to keep standing up for Canada, and standing firm against Harper's pressure. Sign the petition below and forward this email to everyone -- we'll publish full page ads in Canadian papers when we reach 100,000:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_fox_news_canada/97.php?cl_tta_sign=9c8fbe249c5a1dbd20bb30b747744821

Harper hatched his scheme in a secret lunch last year with media-mogul Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News. Harper's aide Kory Teneycke, who will lead "Fox News North" also came to the lunch.

Fox News fuels hate. While claiming to be “fair” and “balanced”, it allows hysterical anchors like Glenn Beck to compare Obama to "Lucifer" and "Hitler" and bully 11 year-old girls. Bill O’Reilly has threatened to boycott Canada, and Anne Coulter says Canada is “lucky the US allows it to exist on the same continent.” The network has calculatingly spawned the tea party movement in the US, a mobilisation of the fringe right which threatens violence upon its opponents and wears guns to political rallies. Even more sinister, every bit of content is calculated to appear 'unbiased' while being deeply manipulative. Objectivity is hard for any journalist, but there is a massive difference between those who try, and those who serve another agenda. Perhaps most tellingly, Fox News regularly labels Canada "communist" and "a country suffering under public health care".

This is a fight for the soul of Canadian democracy. Our media is not perfect, but a ‘news’ network that slavishly serves a radical political agenda and a particular political leader threatens the fabric of our democratic society. In Canadian media, there is no room for manipulation through fear, hatred, deceit and demonisation.

This is Harper's long term strategy to make radical conservatism the political centre in Canada, tearing down the country we love to make us look like the U.S. But first, Harper needs to convince von Finckenstein to step down before the end of his term in 2012. Insiders say he’s already been offered some pretty fancy jobs including an ambassador’s post in Chile. But we can stand up and urge him to stay right where he is -- protecting Canadians from biased news coverage and hateful pundits. Let's raise a massive outcry for Konrad von Finckenstein. Tell him to stand strong, and stay in his job:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/no_fox_news_canada/97.php?cl_tta_sign=9c8fbe249c5a1dbd20bb30b747744821

Harper is attacking Canada’s tradition of fairness and commitment to democracy. He is trying to bully through the protections we have against exactly the kind of government propaganda that is Fox News North. We can answer by exercising our collective voice and showing him and his cronies that Canadians won’t be forced to accept American hate media.

In solidarity,

Ricken, Emma, Iain, and the rest of the Avaaz team

Sources:

Globe and Mail, “Is Harper set to move against the CRTC?”:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/lawrence-martin/is-stephen-harper-set-to-move-against-the-crtc/article1677632/

CBC, “The absolute last thing this country needs”:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/06/10/f-vp-newman.html#socialcomments#ixzz0r6MC4p46

Globe and Mail, CRTC refuses Sun TV's bid for preferred status on dial:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/crtc-refuses-sun-tvs-bid-for-preferred-status-on-dial/article1641654/

The Star, “Harper’s foxy luncheon”:
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/851510--mcquaig-harper-s-foxy-luncheon

Mediaite, “Canada and Ann Coulter: a volatile relationship”:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/canada-ann-coulter-colleges/

Media Matters, “Glenn Beck compares Obama to Lucifer”:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201008040051

Media Matters, “Glenn Beck smears Obama’s 11 year old daughter”:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005280025

The Examiner: “Bill O’Reilly again confuses facts about Canadian health care system”:
http://www.examiner.com/political-buzz-in-national/video-bill-o-reilly-again-confuses-facts-about-canadian-health-care-system


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