Better Political Journalism in Canada (S03 E09)

Feature Guest: Prof. Lydia Miljan, University of Windsor - Department of Political Science

For the final Season 3 episode of The Long Way, we return to the theme of news media bias in Canada and getting better journalism. We can accept from the outset that there aren’t any easy answers. But we can at least make progress toward understanding what is going on in the world of journalism today while hoping to see a better end product. Among the various aspects of journalism we examine is the way political news media handle the sharing of opinions – something our feature guest, Prof. Lydia Miljan from the University of Windsor, picks up in her comments on the podcast.

“So, it’s journalists explicitly giving their take on the day’s news,” Prof. Miljan tells The Long Way. “And why would we say that their opinions are worth more than someone else’s? Well, perhaps because they have some insider knowledge and they talk to people, but if you watch those shows on a regular basis, no, you’re just getting their point of view based on the fact of their education [and] where they live. You know when I talk to friends across the country, especially those in Western Canada, they’re increasingly frustrated with the national news media in this country.”

We’ll also hear from Holly Doan, publisher of the online news platform Blacklock’s Reporter. In Peter Stockland’s field report for this episode of The Long Way, Doan shares her view that bias isn’t necessarily the central problem in news media.

During this episode, you’ll hear references to journalist Andrew Coyne as well as to Bill C-10 on federal government regulation of the internet and social media (with all the related free speech concerns). If you’d like to dig a little deeper, check out these episodes of The Long Way:

S03 E01: Media Bias and False Balance featuring Globe & Mail columnist Andrew Coyne.

S03 E07: Free Speech and Broadcast Regulations for more on Bill C-10 with feature guest Michael Geist.

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The Long Way is a podcast of think tank Cardus.

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