Elon Musk has recently put his Twitter ownership to good use, first slapping American and British state media with a disclaimer label identifying them as government propaganda outlets on their Twitter profiles.
Now he’s going to work on Canada’s government propaganda machine, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Via Reuters:
Public broadcaster Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) Twitter account was on Monday labeled as “69% Government-funded Media” by the social media website.
The Twitter label on the CBC site previously showed “70% Government-funded Media”, but Twitter owner Elon Musk said the “Canadian Broadcasting Corp said they’re “less than 70% government-funded”, so we corrected the label”.
CBC has said it will pause its Twitter activities over the labeling, a spat that has also drawn in Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Conservative rival Pierre Poilievre.
A hit dog hollers.
When you’re taking flak, you know you’re over the target.
Pick your metaphor.
Justin Trudeau isn’t too happy that Twitter labelled @CBC “Government-Funded Media” 🤣
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) April 17, 2023
“Attacking this Canadian institution, attacking the culture and local content that is so important to so many Canadians, really indicates the values and the approach that [conservative political rival] Mr. Poilievre is putting forward,” Trudeau declared.
Trudeau, as an avowed admirer of “basic Chinese dictatorship,” reflexively defends CCP-style state media. It affords his administration the means to disseminate its propaganda unchecked by facts.
Justin Trudeau: "There's a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime." pic.twitter.com/Vxwn2DhpgZ
— Harrison Faulkner (@Harry__Faulkner) April 11, 2022
CBC, like its American and British counterparts NPR and BBC, insists absurdly that it is “independent” while dependent on state funding.
“Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on @Twitter,” the CBC protested as it quit Twitter.
Our journalism is impartial and independent. To suggest otherwise is untrue. That is why we are pausing our activities on @Twitter. | Notre journalisme est impartial et indépendant. Prétendre le contraire est faux. C’est pourquoi nous suspendons nos activités sur @Twitter.
— CBC/Radio-Canada (@CBCRadioCanada) April 17, 2023
But the proof of the CBC’s wholesale collaboration with the government is in the pudding. No matter how draconian or authoritarian the Trudeau administration proves itself to be, the CBC is reliably in his corner, loyally pumping out the state narrative without exception.
Consider, as one example of many in the dozens of years of service to the state since its incorporation in 1936, the CBC’s framing of the COVID freedom trucker convoy to protest draconian vaccine mandates in Ottawa last winter.
Via CBC, Feb. 19, 2022 (emphasis added):
The scenes that unfolded in downtown Ottawa over the past three weeks have been described by people living there as disruptive and frightening. For people right across the country, they’ve also been eye-opening.
Anyone who thought this kind of dug-in, angry occupation of streets in a capital city would never happen in Canada was proven wrong by how quickly and easily Ottawa was brought to a standstill by the so-called Freedom Convoy.
What’s more, as the days of diesel-spewing truck idling and intrusive horn-honking went on, there has been disbelief at how little anyone seemed willing — or able — to do.
“Please, Mr. Trudeau, crush the convoy harder!” was essentially the plea.
In doing so, CBC granted the would-be dictator the rhetorical cover to persecute the truckers with an unprecedentedly heavy hand.
The CBC and Trudeau’s government are one and the same, no matter how vigorously the CBC protests this fact. Elon Musk did the right thing here, for which he deserves credit.
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