Sun News Network: Difference between revisions

Sun News Network

Country	Canada
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario
Programming
Language(s)	English
Ownership
Owner	Quebecor Media TVA Group Inc. (51%) Sun Media Corporation (49%)

Sun News Network (commonly shortened to Sun News) is an English language Category C news and opinion channel owned and operated by Quebecor Media through a partnership between two of its subsidiaries, TVA Group Inc. (51% ownership) and Sun Media Corporation (49% ownership). The channel launched on April 18, 2011 under a Category B licence granted by the CRTC in November 2010, after the network aborted a highly publicized attempt for a Category A license that would have given it mandatory access on digital cable and satellite providers across Canada.

Sun News is currently available on a handful of cable and satellite systems across Canada, with Quebecor currently seeking to expand distribution. The channel is also being simulcast until the end of October 2011 on CKXT-DT, an over-the-air station (which previously aired the general-format Sun TV) available in Toronto and portions of southern and eastern Ontario; CKXT benefits from mandatory carriage on analog cable throughout those areas, and has also historically been carried (at the provider's option) on the digital service of several other cable and satellite providers. The simulcasts in Southern Ontario will end at midnight on November 1, 2011 when Quebecor surrenders its over-the-air licence; simulcasts to the Ottawa region ended at midnight on September 1.

Programming and content

Sun News' daily schedule is modeled after Quebecor's French language news channel, Le Canal Nouvelles – featuring news reportage during the daytime hours (6AM to 5PM ET) and personality-driven analysis and commentary programmes in the evening hours (5PM ET onwards). The network's general on-air attitude, its founding executives have claimed, is lively, "unapologetically patriotic," and "less politically correct" in comparison to the well-established English-language national news networks in Canada, CTV News Channel and CBC News Network, which Quebecor management have claimed are "uninspiring" and leading Canadian TV viewers to turn to U.S. networks for news.

Sun News also aims to take a populist, conservative-leaning approach that mirrors the namesake Sun chain of Quebecor-owned tabloid newspapers; that, and its employment of conservative commentators and operatives in key on-air and off-air positions, have led media reports, pundits, and critics to bill the network as "Fox News North". Sun News management has openly bristled at the comparisons to Fox News, saying that they only intend Sun News to mimic the Sun chain's “irreverent” and “provocative” approach, and that though some conservative voices would be prominent, a "range of [political] opinion" would be offered.

After originally intending for a New Years' Day 2011 launch (a date pushed back due to several start-up and staffing challenges), Sun News commenced programming on April 18, 2011; on that date, a 10-hour graphic with a countdown clock ended at 4:30 PM (ET) with the playing of O Canada followed by a half-hour launch preview special hosted by Canada Live host Krista Erickson (the Sun newspapers' "Sunshine Girl" for the day). The special was followed by the premiere of The Source with Ezra Levant and the remainder of the network's prime-time talk programming (daytime news programmes debuted on April 19). Sun News is based primarily from studios in Toronto, with additional studios located in Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Calgary. Sun News shares a newsroom in Montreal with QMI Agency and an office in Vancouver with Sun Media.

Staff

An image of Sun News Network's Krista Erickson appeared on the 4/18/2011 front page of the Toronto Sun to herald that day's launch of Sun News Network. The Sun newspapers have served as both a promotional tool and content source for the network.

Sun News is currently headed by Kory Teneycke, VP of development for Quebecor and a former director of communications and chief spokesperson for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Teneycke briefly left Sun News after a firestorm erupted over his criticism of Sun News' critics (see below); during that interim (September 2010 to January 2011), Sun News was headed by Luc Lavoie, a long-time Quebecor executive and, like Teneycke, a former Prime Minister's spokesperson (he served under Brian Mulroney).

At its June 2010 launch announcement, Sun News tabbed David Akin and Brian Lilley as national bureau chief and senior correspondent, respectively; both men serve as on-air hosts. Sun News' first significant on-air hire was nationally-syndicated talk show host Charles Adler; the Winnipeg-based Adler was tapped in September 2010 to host a nightly analysis/opinion show on the network. During summer 2010, Sun News made an overture to comedian Rick Mercer (who declined), while also denying rumours of an offer to Kevin Newman, who left his anchor position at Global National in August 2010.

In addition to the on-air staff listed below, Sun News relies in part on staff and resources from the Sun chain and other Quebecor-owned newspapers; a number of Quebecor's print journalists have been trained on the TV newsgathering tasks they will perform in addition to their regular newspaper and website duties. (Sun News logo is patterned after the Toronto Sun's long-time circular insignia, which was re-applied to the Sun tabloids and websites a day after Sun News' debut.) Additionally, Sun News has an international content agreement with CNN.

On-air personalities

Charles Adler – host, Charles Adler David Akin – national bureau chief; host, Daily Brief Jill Bennett – reporter Pat Bolland – The Roundtable morning show Mark Bonokoski – The Source, Charles Adler David Coletto – CEO of Abacus Data; contracted pollster for Sun News Michael Coren – host, The Arena Joan Crockatt – president of Crockatt Consulting; analyst and contributor on Alberta politics & economics, and Canadian conservatism in general Jacqui Delaney – host, Newswire Nicole Dubé – reporter Eric Duhaime – QMI Agency columnist; analyst and contributor on Quebec politics Brian Dunstan – weekend anchor and host of Sun News Live, Saturday Sun and Sunday Sun; former anchor of Evening News Update Krista Erickson – daytime news anchor, Canada Live; anchor of Evening News Update Nadeem Esmail – health policy researcher at the Fraser Institute; analyst and contributor on the Canadian health care system Tobias Fisher – national news editor Glen Foster – comedian; contributor, Byline Anthony Furey – Sun Media columnist; contributor, Charles Adler Alexandra Gunn – "Life and Style" reporter; weekend weather anchor Jonathan Halevi – retired lieutenant colonel in the IDF; analyst and contributor on Islamic terrorism and Arab and Middle East affairs, The Source

Michelle Jobin – senior meteorologist Sneha Kulkarni – reporter Ian Lee – professor at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business; analyst and contributor on business and crime (specifically crime statistics and incarceration rates) Ezra Levant – host, The Source Caryn Lieberman – host, Right Now Brian Lilley - senior correspondent; host, Byline Shuvaloy Majumdar – a Visiting Foreign Policy Scholar at UBC; analyst and contributor on Foreign Affairs Alex Mihailovich – reporter Andrea Mrozek – researcher at the Institute for Marriage and Family; contributor, Byline Kathy Mueller - reporter Gina Phillips – Social Media correspondent Alex Pierson – The Roundtable morning show Daniel Proussalides – Daily Brief John Robson – history professor at the University of Ottawa; contributor, Byline Kathy Shaidle – contributor, The Source Anita Sharma – senior business reporter Kris Sims – reporter Andrea Slobodian – The Roundtable morning show John C. Thompson – director of the Mackenzie Institute; analyst and contributor on Islamic terrorism and West and South Asian affairs Neelam Verma – host, First Look early morning show Giuseppe Verdi – reporter Bryn Weese – reporter

Former on-air staff

• Mercedes Stephenson – military analyst and Daily Brief co-host (left Sun News one week before its launch; currently with CTV News Channel)
• Theo Caldwell – host, The Caldwell Account (left June 27, 2011)

Licencing by the CRTC

Original pre-launch logo for the channel while under its tentative name, Sun TV News Channel. The logo was used in 2010 during its licencing campaign and never employed on-air.

From the start of its licencing attempts for Sun News, Quebecor intended for the network to replace the company's existing licence for general entertainment station CKXT-TV (Sun TV), which is available over-the-air in Toronto and through relayed through translators in Hamilton, London, and Ottawa. In its initial submission to the CRTC in spring 2010, Quebecor requested that Sun News be awarded a Category 1 digital specialty channel licence that would have reverted to Category 2 status after three years. Category 1 status, if the CRTC had approved it, would have given Sun News the same status as CTV News Channel and CBC News Network, in that it would have required all Canadian digital television providers (both cable and direct broadcast satellite) to carry and offer Sun News to their customers should those carriers have the capability to do so. However, unlike CTV News Channel and CBC News Network, carriers would not have had the ability to distribute Sun News via analog cable, only digital. (Category 1 would not have made the channel, contrary to common belief, a compulsory part of every customer's basic digital package; however, it could be placed in digital basic packages subject to negotiations between Sun News and individual television providers)

Quebecor initially requested Category 1 status for Sun News on the insistence that the channel's combination of news, analysis, and opinion programming would create "a completely new [TV] genre" different from the other all-news channels in Canada. The CRTC disagreed, however, and turned down the application in a July 5, 2010 letter to Quebecor. In its letter, the CRTC noted that Sun News was being promoted in part as a news channel, and suggested that "news and analysis are sub-categories of the information programming category," which therefore would not, in the CRTC's eyes, make Sun News unique. Additionally, the CRTC had stated earlier in 2010 that it was not planning to entertain any new applications for Category 1 licences until at least October 2011.

After the CRTC's decline for Category 1, Quebecor resubmitted its Sun News application under Category 2 status. Though Category 2 is officially non-mandatory (cable and satellite carriers are not compelled to carry such channels), Quebecor included in its resubmission a request for a Category 1-style "mandatory access" period of no more than 3 years, insisting that the network would need that period of time "to effectively expose and promote its programming to viewers across Canada" without obliging cable and satellite customers to add it to their package; without mandatory access, Quebecor added, cable/satellite carriers could choose not to offer Sun News to their customers, which could lead to Quebecor pulling the plug on the project.

On October 5, 2010, Quebecor announced that it was withdrawing its mandatory access request and apply for a normal Category 2 status without any special exceptions or carriage conditions. The move was widely considered an easier avenue for Sun News' licence approval (Category 2 licences are routinely granted by the CRTC unless it is for a format considered a protected genre, of which all-news is not included). CRTC granted Quebecor a five-year Category 2 licence for Sun News on November 26, 2010.

Carriage

Since obtaining the Sun News licence in late 2010, Quebecor has proceeded to negotiations with cable and satellite providers on an individual basis; Quebecor's own Vidéotron carry the network, as do Shaw Communications and Shaw Direct (the deal with Shaw was for a free, 6-month trial period on Shaw Cable systems in Ontario and Western Canada). Sun News was also available over-the-air until the end of October 2011 via Quebecor's CKXT-TV in the Toronto, Hamilton and London areas of southern Ontario, and until the end of August in Ottawa, as well as on the Cogeco and Rogers Cable systems and the Bell Fibe TV service in at least those areas that received CKXT over-the-air. Though Quebecor originally intended to return the CKXT licence in exchange for Sun News, it made a February 2011 filing to the CRTC requesting to continue CKXT's operations past the August 2011 digital conversion. The arrangement led to complaints by other broadcasters that Sun was trying to "have it both ways" by having both guaranteed over the air coverage while asking for the subscriber fees that a specialty channel is entitled to. On July 5, 2011, the CRTC told Quebecor it would have to justify its practice of using an over the air signal to promote a specialty channel. On July 15, 2011, Quebecor responded by agreeing to surrender CKXT-TV's licence at the end of October.

Sun News had also initially been made available on Bell Satellite TV until the morning of Tuesday, May 3, when the channel was removed from the service at Quebecor's request due to no carriage fee agreement being reached with Bell TV. Bell has countered that Quebecor's asking price for Sun News carriage was in line with more popular channels and deemed too high for such a "new and relatively untested" channel; additionally, Bell wants to treat Sun News as a terrestrial channel (i.e. available without carriage fees) since it is broadcast over-the-air on CKXT. (The outage does not affect Bell Fibe TV in the Toronto area, which is compelled to carry CKXT.) Quebecor will reportedly file a complaint with the CRTC over the incident, alleging that Bell is discriminating against Sun News and thereby favouring the news networks now owned by Bell Media, namely CTV News Channel and CP24.

Controversy and criticism

2010 licensing campaign

In his August 19, 2010 column in The Globe and Mail, Lawrence Martin claimed, citing "insiders", that CRTC chair Konrad von Finckenstein was under pressure from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to resign from the commission and take another government position, such as an ambassadorship, in order to facilitate Sun News getting its desired licence. In a letter to The Globe and Mail, von Finckenstein "categorically" denied any government interference regarding Sun News or his tenure as CRTC chair.

An online petition titled "Stop Fox News North" was established by the international activist organization Avaaz.org. The petition claimed that Prime Minister Harper seeks to "push American-style hate media onto [Canadian] airwaves" with Sun News, and that the network would be "funded with money from our cable TV fees" (in contradiction to the "mandatory access" request in Quebecor's 2nd CRTC application); the petition also cited Martin's column as evidence that von Finckenstein was the "one man" standing in the way of Sun News getting a preferential licence. Avaaz's petition garnered 30,000 signatures, 21,000 of which Avaaz delivered to the CRTC because they had individual appeals added. Author Margaret Atwood was among the petition signatories, revealing she signed it not as a criticism of Sun News' possible rightward agenda but as a criticism of Harper's style of government, particularly perceived attempts by his government to expedite Sun News' licence approval.

Quebecor immediately dismissed the Avaaz petition against Sun News, alleging Avaaz to be an "American special interest group funded by U.S. billionaire George Soros." (Avaaz has staff in Canada and several other countries, but was co-founded by MoveOn.org, a U.S.-based political advocacy group to which Soros has contributed in the past. However, it is not clear whether Soros has ever directly funded, or otherwise been directly involved with, Avaaz.) Sun News supporters and noted employees piled on as well; Sun News Ottawa bureau chief David Akin, for one, accused Margaret Atwood on his Twitter account of attempting to squelch Quebecor's free speech rights by signing the petition, while Ezra Levant, a future Sun News hire, wrote in a column that ran in the Sun newspapers, not only criticized Soros' perceived direct support of Avaaz but brought up Soros' background as a survivor of Nazi-controlled Hungary ("false, defamatory and offensive statements," according to a spokesperson for Soros, who considered legal action against Sun Media before they apologized, retracted, and removed from its websites Levant's column; Atwood also considered a lawsuit).

Quebecor VP of development Kory Teneycke, who was heading up the Sun News project, also took aggressive stands against the network's opponents. In a September 3, 2010 opinion piece that ran in Quebecor-owned newspapers, Teneycke accused Atwood of "[putting] her political agenda ahead of principles and patriotism;" he also criticized Avaaz and challenged the legitimacy of the signatures on its "Stop Fox News North" petition, specifically citing "signatures" from fictitious characters including "Boba Fett" and "Dwight Shroot" (sic). In the same manner as those fictitious monikers, names of real-life journalists were signed to Avaaz's petition, with the journalists actually receiving automated "thank you" e-mails for signing a petition that they never actually signed. Teneycke revealed on his Twitter feed (since deactivated) that not only did he also receive a "thank you" for "signing" the petition, he also had been in contact with a prankster who submitted the signatures. Teneycke's posting piqued Avaaz, which noted that the signature list was not viewable to the general public and called the "fraudulent" signatures the work of "a deliberate and illegal effort" meant to discredit the organization. Avaaz investigated further and traced most of the suspect signatures to a single IP address in the Ottawa area; Avaaz forwarded its findings to RCMP and Ottawa Police investigators on September 14, 2010, and requested that they look into the matter. (Ottawa Police, after reviewing Avaaz's request, decided in November 2010 not to proceed with an investigation.)

On September 15, 2010, one day after Avaaz's request for a police investigation, Kory Teneycke abruptly resigned from his position at Quebecor and Sun News. Avoiding specific references to the petition controversy in his announcement, Teneycke admitted that his presence and acts while at Sun News had played a part in "debasing" the debate over the network, and that he hoped his departure would lessen the impression of interference by the Harper government and increase civilized debate on Sun News' licensing attempts. Quebecor immediately replaced Teneycke with longtime Quebecor executive (and former Tory operative) Luc Lavoie; Lavoie served as Sun News head until Teneycke quietly returned to Quebecor and the network in January 2011, two months after Sun News was granted its Category 2 licence (Lavoie remains as the network's head of development).

An October 2010 memo obtained by Canadian Press the following December under the Access to Information Act suggested that Quebecor withdrew its special status requests for Sun News in an effort to appease not only the CRTC but those within the Canadian broadcasting industry who intervened with concerns about the Sun News licensing efforts. Quebecor did not officially divulge the reason for the application change, but then-Sun News head Luc Lavoie acknowledged that the interventions played a part and hoped it would be a sign that Quebecor wanted to "negotiate [carriage terms] in good faith" with cable/satellite carriers.

Content and programming

Before Quebecor withdrew its mandatory access request for Sun News (see above), the public interest group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting issued a briefing to the CRTC recommending that Sun News' application be rejected, believing that Sun's mandatory access request was "highly unfair" to other licence applicants. However, Friends recommended that if Sun News did win licence approval, Quebecor should be required to commit revenue to Canadian programming (equal to that of CTV News Channel and CBC News Network) as well as adhere to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Code of Ethics for balanced news coverage and programming. The CRTC's November 26 approval specifically included requirements that Sun News would adhere to the RTNDA Code of Journalistic Ethics and the Journalistic Independence Code as a member of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. Sun News was regarded to be a possible benefactor of a proposal by the CRTC to give licenced broadcast stations more leeway to broadcast false and misleading news (the CRTC dropped the proposal in February 2011).

The content of Sun News' early hours and days received some criticism and generated some controversy, with critics and columnists remarking about the network's heavy self-promotion and choice of opening night topics, including several critiques against the Crown-owned CBC (a frequent Sun target in print) and little talk about the ongoing political campaign (by coincidence, Sun News' debut occurred two weeks before a federal election).Ezra Levant was panned as well for relying on "old news" during the first edition of The Source, including showing a controversial 2005 cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Less kinder criticisms came from The Globe and Mail TV critic John Doyle, who branded Sun News as "fantastically inept broadcasting," and from Winnipeg Free Press columnist Brad Oswald, who remarked that the network "lacked the ideological zeal and the financial wherewithal to achieve its self-stated goal of changing TV history."

Sun News' perceived sex appeal received attention early on, with both Rick Mercer and Ottawa Citizen columnist Dave Dutton among those tweeting about the "babe shots" during Sun's first day. Later in the week, libertarian columnist Tasha Kheiriddin of the National Post slammed Sun News over the "low cut, sleeveless" attire of the network's female anchors; Maclean's Washington bureau chief Luiza Ch. Savage, in agreement with Kheiriddin, billed the network as "Skank TV" on her Twitter feed (a comment she has since retracted). Sun News management has defended their anchors' "right to bare arms," as did New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament Olivia Chow — who unveiled a sleeveless look during an April 21 appearance on The Roundtable, stating that "It’s not what [women in politics] wear that matters, it’s the ideas they bring forward."

A June 1, 2011 Canada Live discussion Krista Erickson conducted with interpretive dancer Margie Gillis would also garner attention; in the discussion regarding public funding for arts programmes, Erickson took an aggressive verbal tone towards a soft-spoken Gillis, shouting over Gillis' responses and challenging her comments about lack of compassion amongst Canadians when, to quote Erickson, "We have lost more than 150 soldiers who have served in Afghanistan!" Though Sun News has stood by Erickson and her conduct in the Gillis interview, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council would receive 4,350 complaints from viewers over the incident, more than double the annual average amount of complaints the Council receives. The CBSC is in the process of reviewing the complaints; if it is determined that the incident violated the Council's Code of Ethics clause that requires "full, fair and proper presentation of news, opinion, and editorial" content, Sun News will be required to issue on-air apologies.

2011 federal election

Sun Media, and Sun News in particular, was involved in two separate news stories during the final week of the 2011 federal election that centred on two of the federal party leaders. The first centred on a photo that appeared to show Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff posing with U.S. military forces in Kuwait in late 2002, months before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The source of the photo was Conservative operative Patrick Muttart, who had been providing pro bono advice to Sun News regarding its on-air presentation and offered the photo to Sun Media, which ran a story alleging Ignatieff's involvement with the U.S. plans to invade Iraq. Sun Media did not run the photo, however, as the image was illegible and did not conclusively prove of Ignatieff's presence with the U.S. troops. Sun Media head Pierre Karl Péladeau, in an editorial for the Sun papers, claimed the photo was an attempt to not only damage the Ignatieff campaign but the integrity of Sun Media and Sun News as well. The incident led to Muttart's removal from the campaign of Conservative leader and incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

On April 29, 2011, Sun News ran a report contending that NDP leader Jack Layton was in attendance at a Toronto massage clinic when police visited it in 1996 on suspicion of it being a brothel. Layton, who was never charged with any wrongdoing, called Sun News' report a "smear campaign," while Layton's lawyer, Brian Iler, said in a statement that Layton "had no knowledge whatsoever that the therapist’s location may have been used for illicit purposes." Layton's wife and fellow NDP Member of Parliament Olivia Chow confirmed the 1996 appointment and decried "any insinuation of wrongdoing" on her husband's part. Ontario Provincial Police launched a probe into how police notes about the incident were leaked to Sun News, whose report cited an anonymous Toronto vice-squad officer.

Ratings and viewership

On Sun News's first night of broadcast on April 18, 2011, 37,000 viewers nationwide tuned in to the half-hour preview show, with 31,000 viewers staying to watch the first regular program, The Source with Ezra Levant; other first-day viewership levels included 31,000 for Charles Adler and 17,000 for Byline with Brian Lilley. After that first night, however, first-week viewership fell considerably, with the network attracting 12,000 viewers on April 20, only 1,000 of them within the advertiser-desired 25-54 age demographic. Viewership numbers have varied since then; on April 22 at 7PM ET, 11,000 viewers watched Sun News, well behind CBC News Network's number for that hour (263,000) and even behind U.S. import CNN (38,000). By June 2011, Sun News reached an average of 12,900 viewers, which ranks it ahead of all-business specialty channel BNN but well behind both CBC News Network and CTV News Channel. In August 2011, Qubecor Media Inc. stated that on August 12, they had higher viewership than CTV News Channel for the time period of 3:00pm to 10:00pm and higher than CBC News Network in the time slot of 3:00pm–5:00pm. They also had their highest ever viewership of 89,000 in the 9:00pm showing of Byline. The next Thursday August 18, Sun News Network had higher viewership than CTV News Network from 1:00pm–10:00pm with Charles Adler receiving 62,000 viewers and Byline 80,000 viewers. However, on the next day, the numbers dropped to 30,000 for Adler and 19,000 for Byline.

External links

• Sun News Network website