Sun burns CBC in bid to hype tabloid TV

[CHIMO]

Executives at the right-wing news chain Sun Media may not want to hear this, but they have a lot in common with Michael Ignatieff. Like the Liberal Leader, they’re throwing mud and schoolyard taunts at a dominant player, using the platform of the federal election to whip up enthusiasm for their message – and their new medium.

Since the writ was dropped 10 days ago, the Sun chain of newspapers has run more than half a dozen articles accusing the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation of political bias, effectively running parallel commercial and ideological campaigns.

The attacks are helping to fuel the chain’s ongoing marketing campaign for the April 18 launch of Sun TV, which is promising “Hard News and Straight Talk.”

Last Wednesday, Sun papers across the country proclaimed on their cover: “CBC Full of Grit,” pointing to an inside story that attacked an online election engagement tool sponsored by CBC, saying it improperly told some people their political leanings made them natural Liberal voters. Two days later, the Sun reported that Peter Loewen, a professor who helped develop the tool, had worked on Michael Ignatieff’s first Liberal leadership campaign. Each news report was accompanied by an editorial or op-ed decrying the corporation’s perceived bias. Then on Monday, the Sun hit the CBC again, running a story about the criminal prosecution filed against the broadcaster by the fashion designer Peter Nygard.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/sun-burns-cbc-in-bid-to-hype-tabloid-tv/article1970923/