On the subject of foreign money and its incursion (Gateway pipeline) into Canadian affairs, it was interesting to note a little item in The Globe and Mail the other day.
It said Postmedia, the giant newspaper chain, has initiated a lobbying effort to have the Harper government allow more foreign investment in Canadian newspaper ownership.
That got tongues wagging as in, ‘Hello Rupert Murdoch, welcome to the great white north.’
The Harper government, as we know, is loosening foreign investment rules for the telecommunications industry. It makes sense that it might wish to do the same for the newspaper business.
Postmedia is looking for someone with deep pockets to invest in or buy up some of its properties. The Canadian market is hardly ideal. For one thing there’s a paucity of players with big bucks. For another there’s the presence of Postmedia’s ideological opposite, the Torstar Corp. That Liberal bastion has been in the bidding for Postmedia titles in the past and might very well have its eyes on the print prizes this time.
Among other conservative properties, Postmedia owns the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen, the Montreal Gazette and the Calgary Herald. A winning Torstar bid would be the last thing Stephen Harper needs. But easing foreign ownership restrictions would help remove the chances of it happening. It would also open the Canadian door to the Murdoch-owned News Corp., if not for Postmedia titles, then for others.
Harper is a fan of Murdoch’s Fox News. He had an unannounced luncheon with Murdoch in 2009. Given the Australian’s pronounced right-side leanings, the PM would hardly be opposed to having his empire locate in Canada. Given the hacking scandal that brutalized News Corp’s reputation last year, it would be difficult from a public relations standpoint, but not insurmountable.
What is most important for a government obsessed with message control is that it develop and maintain the balance of power in the media. On the print side, the Conservatives have it. Both the Postmedia and the Sun chains are in the conservative corner and at The Globe and Mail most of the top decision-makers are of conservative persuasion.
Postmedia boss Paul Godfrey, a former CEO of Sun Media, isn’t intent on giving up editorial control of his big titles, sources report. But investors, principally Golden Tree Asset Management LP of New York, are looking to sell their stake in Postmedia before long. Godfrey, who has improved the quality of papers like The National Post and Ottawa Citizen since taking over ownership in 2010, sold the Victoria Times-Colonist, one of his big-city dailies, last fall to help pay down the debt load.
Godfrey has hired one of Ottawa’s ace lobbyists, David Angus, of the Capital Hill Group. Though it may not be so simple, one might think that to win his case all Angus has to do is wave a red flag: ‘Ah, Prime Minister, do you really want Torstar taking over the National Post and a fleet of other friendly publications? If not, I suggest you look at changing a few tax rules.’
Harper has survived Torstar expansion bids before. In May of 2010, when the big Canwest chain was being sold by the Aspers, Torstar appeared to have the lead on the bidding. Conservative insiders were in a panic. The country’s media landscape stood to be changed overnight. One of the first things Torstar likely would have done would have been to close down the Post, the conservative flagship founded by Conrad Black in 1998. Liberally inclined editors would have been installed at many of the papers. But a Godfrey-led group swooped in at the eleventh hour with a $1.1-billion offer. The titles were kept in the conservative corner. Champagne corks were popping all over Toryland.
Canada’s Income Tax Act requires that newspapers and magazines be 75 percent Canadian-owned. Though the bulk of Postmedia’s financing is from New York based fund groups, it found a way around the problem with a dual-share stock structure which keeps voting control in Canadian hands.
If the Conservatives accede to the Postmedia lobby, it would stir considerable opposition among Canadian patriots, especially if it’s seen as facilitating the entry of the Murdoch empire. Harper however has been rather successful in establishing his Canada-first bona fides on a number of other fronts, the military being one of them.
What would help him also is that media tend to avoid raising hackles about media ownership. Media don’t like to report on other media because it tends to lead to internecine hissing matches. As a consequence, media ownership isn’t anywhere near the issue in this country that it should be.
Original Article
Source: iPolitico
It said Postmedia, the giant newspaper chain, has initiated a lobbying effort to have the Harper government allow more foreign investment in Canadian newspaper ownership.
That got tongues wagging as in, ‘Hello Rupert Murdoch, welcome to the great white north.’
The Harper government, as we know, is loosening foreign investment rules for the telecommunications industry. It makes sense that it might wish to do the same for the newspaper business.
Postmedia is looking for someone with deep pockets to invest in or buy up some of its properties. The Canadian market is hardly ideal. For one thing there’s a paucity of players with big bucks. For another there’s the presence of Postmedia’s ideological opposite, the Torstar Corp. That Liberal bastion has been in the bidding for Postmedia titles in the past and might very well have its eyes on the print prizes this time.
Among other conservative properties, Postmedia owns the National Post, the Ottawa Citizen, the Montreal Gazette and the Calgary Herald. A winning Torstar bid would be the last thing Stephen Harper needs. But easing foreign ownership restrictions would help remove the chances of it happening. It would also open the Canadian door to the Murdoch-owned News Corp., if not for Postmedia titles, then for others.
Harper is a fan of Murdoch’s Fox News. He had an unannounced luncheon with Murdoch in 2009. Given the Australian’s pronounced right-side leanings, the PM would hardly be opposed to having his empire locate in Canada. Given the hacking scandal that brutalized News Corp’s reputation last year, it would be difficult from a public relations standpoint, but not insurmountable.
What is most important for a government obsessed with message control is that it develop and maintain the balance of power in the media. On the print side, the Conservatives have it. Both the Postmedia and the Sun chains are in the conservative corner and at The Globe and Mail most of the top decision-makers are of conservative persuasion.
Postmedia boss Paul Godfrey, a former CEO of Sun Media, isn’t intent on giving up editorial control of his big titles, sources report. But investors, principally Golden Tree Asset Management LP of New York, are looking to sell their stake in Postmedia before long. Godfrey, who has improved the quality of papers like The National Post and Ottawa Citizen since taking over ownership in 2010, sold the Victoria Times-Colonist, one of his big-city dailies, last fall to help pay down the debt load.
Godfrey has hired one of Ottawa’s ace lobbyists, David Angus, of the Capital Hill Group. Though it may not be so simple, one might think that to win his case all Angus has to do is wave a red flag: ‘Ah, Prime Minister, do you really want Torstar taking over the National Post and a fleet of other friendly publications? If not, I suggest you look at changing a few tax rules.’
Harper has survived Torstar expansion bids before. In May of 2010, when the big Canwest chain was being sold by the Aspers, Torstar appeared to have the lead on the bidding. Conservative insiders were in a panic. The country’s media landscape stood to be changed overnight. One of the first things Torstar likely would have done would have been to close down the Post, the conservative flagship founded by Conrad Black in 1998. Liberally inclined editors would have been installed at many of the papers. But a Godfrey-led group swooped in at the eleventh hour with a $1.1-billion offer. The titles were kept in the conservative corner. Champagne corks were popping all over Toryland.
Canada’s Income Tax Act requires that newspapers and magazines be 75 percent Canadian-owned. Though the bulk of Postmedia’s financing is from New York based fund groups, it found a way around the problem with a dual-share stock structure which keeps voting control in Canadian hands.
If the Conservatives accede to the Postmedia lobby, it would stir considerable opposition among Canadian patriots, especially if it’s seen as facilitating the entry of the Murdoch empire. Harper however has been rather successful in establishing his Canada-first bona fides on a number of other fronts, the military being one of them.
What would help him also is that media tend to avoid raising hackles about media ownership. Media don’t like to report on other media because it tends to lead to internecine hissing matches. As a consequence, media ownership isn’t anywhere near the issue in this country that it should be.
Original Article
Source: iPolitico
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