Junk News: Can Public Broadcasters Buck the Tabloid Tendencies of Market-Driven Journalism? A Canadian Experience

Abstract

In public policy terms, Canadian political elites have long considered constitutional reform a pre-condition for the continued existence of the Canadian federation. Yet for political journalists, the clause-by-clause reporting of proposed changes to the constitutional amending formula or the various options for Senate Reform that both Meech Lake and Charlottetown produced challenged today’s increasingly consumer-sensitive definition of what constitutes “news.”

For illustrative purposes, this paper will focus on the CBC’s English-language coverage during peak news periods for each initiative—a First Minister’s Conference (June 3-10, 1990) for Meech Lake, and for the Charlottetown Accord the referendum campaign in September and October, 1992.