#180 Who Buys A Newspaper Chain In 2017?

April 24, 2017

CANADALAND

…The Chronicle Herald’s Mark Lever, that’s who. After pleading poverty for nearly 16 months while his reporters, editors, and photographers are strike, he came up with the bucks to buy 28 Atlantic Canadian newspapers from the floundering Transcontinental chain. This gives his company an effective monopoly in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. We speak with long-time Nova Scotia journalists (and former Transcontinental reporters) Stephen Kimber and Parker Donham about the rationale behind the purchase and whether this benefits news consumers in Atlantic Canada.

Jesse Brown

Host & Publisher

Russell Gragg

Producer

…The Chronicle Herald’s Mark Lever, that’s who.

After pleading poverty for nearly 16 months while his reporters, editors, and photographers are strike, he came up with the bucks to buy 28 Atlantic Canadian newspapers from the floundering Transcontinental chain. This gives his company an effective monopoly in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island.

We speak with long-time Nova Scotia journalists (and former Transcontinental reporters) Stephen Kimber and Parker Donham about the rationale behind the purchase and whether this benefits news consumers in Atlantic Canada.

More from this series

Larry of the North: 70 Years of Arctic Sovereignty

“I'm just watching the great powers in between me and down there and over there and it's almost like a bad nightmare.” - Larry Audlaluk

April 21, 2025

Investigation: What Mark Carney Won’t Say About Brookfield

“ Here is what I would've done if I was Mark Carney, right? Just let it be out there. If you really have nothing to hide, don't hide.” - Professor Partha Mohanram

April 14, 2025

Election Dysfunction and Bozo Eruptions

“...the tentacles of party discipline and party control have completely grabbed a hold of everybody and they have a really hard time breaking free. We just no longer have politicians who can speak their minds, politicians who can stand up on behalf of their constituents.” -Alex Marland, author of Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada

April 7, 2025

When the Alt-Right “Infiltrated” a Small Town

“ …the City of Pickering has witnessed a growing infiltration of alt right individuals, ideologies, and influences that have created an atmosphere of uncertainty, fear, and intimidation over our Council, our staff, our residents, and indeed the broader community.” - Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe

March 31, 2025

#1128 Election Snap! Here’s Exactly Who You Should Vote For

“ Look inside yourself, Rosemary. I mean, you start from a prior of conflict and Ill will.” - Prime Minister Mark Carney

March 24, 2025

#1124 Who’s Banning Thousands of Books? The Left and the Right

“We cannot treat libraries as organs of propaganda, and whether it's for progressive values or for conservative values, we should not be treating libraries as simply the PR department for the kind of ideology that we believe in, and trying to ban everything else.” - Ira Wells, author of “On Book Banning”

March 17, 2025

#1120 Trudeau Dumpster Dive

We take a dumpster dive to look at all the legislation that got thrown out when Trudeau prorogued Parliament. Jesse tests the theory that one person’s trash is another’s treasure.

March 10, 2025

#1116 How to UnF*ck the CBC

The CBC: Defund or UnF*ck? The choice is yours as we open up the phone lines to hear what you have to say about the possible futures of the CBC.

March 3, 2025

All Podcasts

CANADALAND