Media Concentration
in Atlantic Canada: Media by Monopoly
By
Kim Kierans
August 18, 2006
“The
horse has left the barn. You can’t change all that,”
quipped Senator David Tkachuk at the June 21, 2006 Ottawa news
conference to release of the Final Report on the Canadian News
Media
“There’s no going back,” added Senator Jim
Munson
The two year study by members of the Standing Senate Committee
on Transport and Communications paints a grim picture of media
concentration and cross-ownership in Canada. The report found
“areas where concentration of ownership has reached levels
that few other countries would not consider acceptable.”
It also found “regions that are not well served.”
[1]
Welcome to Atlantic Canada, where independent media are endangered
species.
They’re endangered because as the report noted, “…
rules to prevent high levels of concentration of ownership of
media properties, either in particular regions or within the
country as a whole, do not exist.” [2] The Senators did
not hesitate to place blame on authorities and in particular
the Competition Bureau and the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission who “have not used the processes
available to them to limit concentration.” [3] The result
is media by monopoly. In Atlantic Canada, print monopolies dominate
in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and they’re gaining
a firm grip in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.
Brunswick News Inc., a division of the Irving family empire,
has consolidated its newspaper holdings in New Brunswick. It
owns all three English-language daily newspapers. According
to the 2005 figures of Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), those
papers have a combined weekly circulation of 609,213. Brunswick
News also owns all but two English-language weeklies and a growing
number of French-language weeklies. Its broadcasting division,
Acadia Broadcasting, operates three radio stations in the province
and one in Nova Scotia (See Table below for a list
of Irving holdings).
KIM KIERANS is the Director of the School of Journalism at the
University of King’s College in Halifax, where she also
acts as professor of broadcast writing, reporting and documentary.
Her research areas include community newspapers and media concentration.
Kieran spent 22 years reporting, editing, and producing for
CBC Radio (Maritimes) and continues to work as a freelance writer
and editor for CBC One and a columnist on community news.
She holds a BA (Hons) in Classics from King's/Dalhousie and
a MA in Atlantic Canada Studies from Saint Mary's University.
