Canadians can do better than Sun News Network

Since the right-wing television network Sun News went off the air last week, pundits from all over the media landscape have tried to address the implications for the mainstream media as a whole, arguing that the disappearance of Sun News is a loss to the public discourse and another crack in the mainstream media's armour.

• Sun News Network shuts down

Others have celebrated the loss as a victory for a progressive Canada.

In his column on the topic for Maclean's magazine, columnist Scott Gilmore wrote,"Fewer voices are never a good thing."

He went on to discuss confirmation bias, the largely trite idea that we seek out information and opinions which confirm our own worldview.

Gilmore argued that in our modern information-rich, podcast- and blog-filled world, confirmation bias is enhanced and the public sphere suffers as a result.

Sun News not really 'news'

While the tendency to reaffirm one's own beliefs may be enhanced by digital and independent media, that argument obscures the fact that Sun News should never have been considered a legitimate news network,or a rational source of commentary, either by the left or the right.

It was surprising that more conservatives weren't concerned about how Sun News portrayed the Canadian right as angry, xenophobic and emotionally driven ideologues.

The idea that Michael Coren, Ezra Levant and Krista Erickson were the most prominent conservative voices in the mainstream media should have been frightening to any thoughtful, conservative Canadian.

In a general sense, a diversity of opinions in the media is a good thing. Yet it is telling that the pundits featured by Sun News are also some of the most oft-maligned public personalities in Canada today.

A diversity of opinions is good for public discourse when the new opinions being welcomed into the public sphere contribute to the discussion or facilitate participation by previously unrepresented groups. The rantings of Levant and his political brethren did none of those things.

Were Canadians better informed?

Was public discourse in Canada really enhanced when Ezra Levant used language reminiscent of Nazi propaganda to describe Canada's Roma community?

Were Canadians better informed after Toronto's former mayor,Rob Ford, and his brother Doug were given their very own propaganda hour?

According to Gilmore, confirmation bias has real implications for Canada. He writes that:

"Our national conversations on important issues turn into separate monologues, where the left and the right talk only to themselves, repeating the same data and the same slogans, turning in circles all the while. We see this online, in our newspapersand even in Parliament."

The problem is real, but the solution was never Sun News.

Unlike the Sun newspaper chain, which boasts countless diligent and laudable journalists, Sun News kept the spotlight focused on bombast and figuring out new ways to be disagreeable.

Reflexive eulogizing

The reflexive eulogizing of Sun News betrays our continued bias towardthe mainstream media, even in this age of independent and new media-based news sources.

The reaction to the closure was no doubt impacted by the fact that the Canadian media scene does not have the same diversity of voices that the American landscape boasts.The independent media, particularly in Washington D.C., is vibrant and at times a force to be reckoned with.

Talking Points Memo, Breitbart, Politico, Mother Jones and dozens more help shape the American national conversation through their digital and print offerings, and the bulk of the top American news podcasts are from NPR. Even Buzzfeed, once maligned as only good for clickbait lists, is now churning out cutting-edge journalism.

Canadian media landscape

Yet in Canada, if your news doesn't come from CBC, CTV, The Globe and Mail or the National Post, it comes from the CP or your local paper.

The Walrus excels at long-form journalism and Maclean's occupies a Time-like place in our national media (with a fraction of the readership), but where does the digitally-engaged, 20- or 30-something, small-"c"conservative turn to for their Canadian news?

If it was Sun News, that would have been an immensely unsatisfying experience, as the xenophobic and small-minded commentary the network was best at doesn't reflect the experience of most conservative Canadians.

The Canadian polity would have benefited from an honest and fair Sun News, which respected its subjects and its viewers, but that isn't what Canada got.

The disappearance of Sun News is not a loss as much as it is a reminder that especially in today's digital world, not all media is created equal.

In the absence of an independent media offering like that available in the United States, our existing content producers should strive to offer that "diversity of voices" to Canadians, not just for the public good, to create a new buy-in for the so-called Millenial Generation with the institutions of old media.

Alternatives to the old model

The Winnipeg Free Press recently announced that it is hiring a handful of digital editors and the CBC has begun soliciting opinion pieces from the public.

CBC also has a handful of Canada's most popular podcasts, and Canadaland, the independent production which reports on the media itself, has recently gained a new prominence. All reflect a growing awareness that Canadians are looking for an alternative to the old model.

Sun News may have been an attempt to break from the mould, but it failed on its merits.The quality journalists who lost their jobs will find work in a Canadian media field that is slowly adjusting to our demand for content that is reactive, user-driven and easily accessible.

Corey Shefman is a lawyer and political consultant in Winnipeg.