The veteran CBC broadcaster as you've never heard him before.

Ariel Garten is the CEO of Toronto-based startup Interaxon, makers of the thought-controlled computing headband, Muse. She also used to date Jesse.

Howard Bernstein helped create Ryerson's journalism internship program. Now he thinks it should be abolished.

Actor/writer Matt Watts (The Newsroom, Michael Tuesdays and Thursdays) on "incest" and "hush money" at the CBC, among other problems plaguing our TV industry.

Playwright & actor Michael Healey on why Canada's powerful never get what they deserve.

Tucows CEO Elliot Noss on how Rogers, Telus and Bell are holding Canada back.

Chip Zdarsky is a deranged and celebrated and banned comics artist who is also secretly Steve Murray, a newspaperman at the National Post.

Storage Wars Canada showrunner and documentary filmmaker Geoff Siskind on what's real, in life and in work.

How Bell, Rogers, and Telus keep competition out of Canada.

Kathryn Borel Jr. is a whole other sort of animal.

Graham Wagner wrote for The Office and Portlandia and studied philosophy because of Monty Python.

TV news is reductive, repetitive and usually ridiculous. Was it always like this?

So how's it going?

Are our Universities exploiting thousands of kids?

Former Montreal Mirror editor Rupert Bottenberg on the end of an era.

Laid-off National Post editor Jeremy Barker on newspaper budget cuts.

How did Stephen Harper dodge the Senate scandal? Why did the press let him?

VICE's Montreal origin, remembered by those who were there.

The Author of How Should A Person Be on her own hype, GIRLS, and why she doesn't care about CanLit.

The CBC's chief conservative commentator has a glaring conflict of interest, reports investigative journalist Andrew Mitrovica.

The pundit won't talk, but his National Post editor will.

How the story happened.

Jen Agg on the problems with Canadian restaurants.

Media King, Separatist Billionaire

CSEC is shadier than the NSA. Nobody really knows what they are doing, including the Ministers who empower them and the judges who grant them warrants.

Former Globe editor speaks about the recent shakeup.

The Labour Ministry cracks down on free labour, starting with the magazine business.

Robyn Doolittle and Jonathan Goldsbie talk about unreported smells and Rob Ford's mastery of modern media.

The CBC is being systematically disassembled, but its employees can't or won't speak up for it and make the case for public broadcasting.

The CRTC is unbundling cable channels, but will anyone subscribe to cable TV in 5 years anyhow?

Internet and wireless companies have supplied private data millions of times.

A people-powered journalism startup from Montreal has quickly earned the support of hundreds of backers. So what is Ricochet and who’s paying for it? Editor Ethan Cox explains.

The CBC's new plan is to be a digital content company (that doesn't make content). Jeffrey Dvorkin used to run news at CBC and NPR. He tells Jesse what he would do if he were still in charge.

The veteran CBC broadcaster as you've never heard him before. A candid, combative, and lubricated conversation about the state of journalism, the CBC, Canada in general, and Jesse's life choices in particular.

THE GRID may be remembered as the last newspaper ever launched in Canada. The people behind it share their thoughts on whether success was ever even possible.

Veteran journalist John Barber has written a fire-breathing, bridge-burning polemic on the state of Canada's newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, where he spent most of his career. He explains why he had to say it.

MuchMusic and dozens of other specialty channels collect millions of dollars a year from subscribers who didn't ask for them and don't watch them. Meanwhile, channels are laying off their staffs and producing less meaningful content than ever. Is it time to cut the cord on the protected cable business?

The Score is a digital-first, globally popular Canadian media company that's growing each year. So why did its well-loved feature writing team just get the axe? Former features editor Dustin Parkes explains.

Canada produces top animation talent but lousy animation content.

How is the press supposed to cover science in a country where the government stifles research that conflicts with its policies?

David Soknacki is the opposite of Rob Ford: he's skinny, sober and thoughtful. But is the political press too sensationalized for a candidate with substance to get noticed?

Canadians can be funny, but can funny Canadians make a living? Comedian Rebecca Kohler on the state of stand-up.

The CBC, Ontario and Quebec say they want to tax Netflix to pay for CanCon TV. The Harper government says there will be no Neflix tax as long as they remain in power. They're all full of it. A Netflix tax is impossible. Journalist Steve Faguy explains why.

Baby Boomers are the wealthiest generation ever while young Canadians are increasingly poor and in debt. Yet the federal government spends four times as much on the average senior citizen each year as it does on the average 24-year-old. Eric Swanson of Generation Squeeze is fighting an uphill battle to even the scales.

Carl Wilson changed the way music is discussed. His "poptimist" manifesto, Let's Talk About Love, made it okay to talk seriously about bubbly pop, and went pop itself- that rare work of criticism that becomes a bestseller. He rose to a top job in his field, senior critic at SPIN. But he almost instantly lost that job. He explains why, and talks about the rapid decline of music criticism itself.

CANADALAND is at a crossroads. The show won't continue without your support. But if each of the show's 10,000 listeners kicks in $1 a month, CANADALAND becomes an independent news org, a podcast network, and a daily news site.

Cartoonist Kate Beaton is an exemplary weirdo.

Norman Spector is Canada's former ambassador to Israel. He was also the publisher of the Jerusalem Post. Conversations about Israel-Palestine are invariably bummers, but for Norman, Jesse makes an exception.

Just a few thoughts about my investigation with the Toronto Star.

An on-stage interview with Pultizer-prize winning journalist Glenn Greenwald on his troubled relationship with the Canadian media and what he knows but has yet to report on CSEC spying.

Roberto Verì used to work for CBC's Q with Jian Ghomeshi. He witnessed harassment that he never reported, until now.

How on Earth did The Kids in the Hall even happen?

Joe Clark has been aggressively challenging and sometimes attacking my work for years.

The Irvings are secretive billionaires who have a monopoly on New Brunswick's news media. Journalist Jacques Poitras, author of Irving vs Irving, describes how the family subtly suppresses criticism and destroys competitors.

Steven Kerzner may be the most famous TV peformer you've never heard of. His hand has insulted some of the biggest pop stars in the world. Crouched just out of frame, he had a worm's eye view of the heyday of CityTV and Muchmusic, and he tells Jesse all.

45 First Nations people allege experiencing or witnessing abuse by former school teacher John Furlong, President of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. Journalist Laura Robinson broke the story.

The President of Ecuador spent his state TV broadcast decrying a 26 year-old Canadian journalist. Then his operatives bullied her out of the country. Now, Bethany Horne tells her story.

CANADALAND is gearing up for a big year. Time to check in with those who listen to it and who pay for it: What should I be covering? How should I handle ads? Who should host the upcoming politics show? More questions, some answers, and an apology.

Andrew Coyne joins Jesse for a wide-ranging conversation before he begins his new job as editor of the National Post's Opinion and Editorial pages.

A CANADALAND live taping from The Hamilton Public Library on the state of news coverage in medium to small markets. Panelists include crowdfunded local journalist Joey Coleman, media researcher Sonya MacDonald and CHCH's Donna Skelly.

As few as 5000 people watch Ezra Levant's SUN News TV show, yet Levant himself is a major presence in the Canadian media. Why is that? Jesse asks Ezra to explain his own prominence.

Before he quit his job, Foreign Minister John Baird said journalist Mohamed Fahmy's release was "imminent". Now Fahmy is set to be retried in Egypt after over a year in prison.

The Irving Family of New Brunswick own more land than anyone in the world except for royalty and the Pope. How do they use their media monopoly to further their interests? What happens to those who try to compete with them?

And why is it so white? Editor Jon Kay answers.

Why does the government fund gaming?

CANADALAND has obtained two eyewitness accounts of the death of Darcy Allan Sheppard. Neither has been publicly released before. They tell a very different tale of the death of Darcy Allan Sheppard than what the media has previously reported. They are followed by an interview with Sheppard's father, Allan Sheppard.

Veteran investigative reporter Bruce Livesey was fired by Global News after they spiked his report on the billionaire Koch Brothers and their influence in Canada.

Journalist Mark Bourrie has vowed to sue CANADALAND for an article about his dealings with Senator Mike Duffy. Instead, Mark and Jesse talk it out.

The energy sector has flooded Canada's media with money, be it in ad dollars, speaking fees, charitable donations or "native content" partnerships. What this has bought, in effect, is a lack of critical mainstream discourse on oil and the environment. The National Observer has launched to counter this reality. Linda Solomon Wood is its founder, and she speaks to Jesse about her effort.

It's possible that Chantal Hébert's journalism once held Canada together. She joins Jesse for a discussion about what's appropriate in political news coverage, and what (if anything) needs to change.

The betrayed reporter is still fighting the Globe and Mail.

Leah McLaren was telling the world about her private life before we all started doing it. She talks to Jesse about haters, journalism and acts of provocation.

Harper cabinet member Tony Clement describes how government outsources social media monitoring of the public. Is it legal? He's not sure yet.

Aboriginal people make up over 4% of Canada's population, but less than .5% of Canadian news stories have anything to do with them. What little we do hear from the media about indigenous people is often negative. APTN is the first, and perhaps the only aboriginal TV network in the world. Jesse visits their Winnipeg HQ and speaks to Karyn Pugliese, APTN's Director of News and Current Affairs.

"I don't have to be nice to them anymore."

Jay Baruchel on the Canadian film & TV racket and how to smash it. Taped before a live audience at the Bloor HotDocs Theatre in Toronto.

Josh Dolgin is one of Canada's most idiosyncratic talents. He is a rapper, a producer, an accordian player, a magician, a cartoonist, a puppeteer, and a cook book author. He is also Jesse's former creative partner, and this conversation should probably have taken place in private, if at all.

Last week a Conservative strategist fooled the media into thinking there was a popular, grassroots movement to boycott Tim Hortons on behalf of the oil industry. There was not. BuzzFeed Canada's politics editor Paul McLeod revealed the scheme, and talks to Jesse about how reporters get played by people in politics all the time.

Globe and Mail video game critic Peter Nowak on the "fucking nonsense" of the gaming press.

South China Morning Post's Vancouver correspondent Ian Young speaks with Jesse about wealth migration, racism, and immigration schemes.

Mathew Ingram, formerly of the Globe, explains why that plan won't work.

Musician Paul Lawton discusses FACTOR, NXNE, CMW, the Canadian music industry, and why the current system is broken.

The Tyee may be the oldest surviving "digital native" news site in Canada. Who funds it and why has it stuck around for so long while so many others have faded away? Founder David Beers explains.

Journalist and Halifax Examiner founder Tim Bousquet talks about corruption, investigative journalism, and conflicts of interest in Halifax media.

Crime writer James Dubro discusses the symbiotic relationship between criminals and the press, and the four decades he's spent covering the mob in Canada.

VICE's parliamentary reporter Justin Ling is mad as hell at the PMO, and he's not gonna take it anymore.

Paul Watson discusses his resignation from the Toronto Star, his upcoming article that the Star refused to publish, and his career spent reporting from hot zones.

Veteran journalist Vivian Smith on institutional sexism, metaphorical pink and blue aisles, why some women choose to leave the profession, and how to fix it.

Anthropologist and author Gabriella Coleman on Operation Anon Down and what it's like studying Anonymous from the inside.

Veteran comedian Scott Thompson on why nothing happened after The Kids In The Hall, the biggest problems with the Canadian film & TV industry, and why gay men still have to be defanged to be accepted.

First, the National Post's Adrian Humphreys on working with Anonymous. Then, Jesse interviews #OpAnonDown about their recent leaks on CSIS foreign stations, their John Baird threat, and more.

The Ashley Madison hack was shitty and evil. But is reporting on it shitty and evil? Fortune Magazine's Mathew Ingram discusses where to draw the line.

Hart Pomerantz was Lorne Michaels's original partner, back when Michaels was still known as Lorne Lipowitz. Their top-rated CBC variety show, The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour, was a precursor for Saturday Night Live before it was pulled from the airwaves after two short seasons.

Time to check in with CANADALAND's supporters. How are we doing? What are we getting right & wrong?

A difficult interview with the controversial columnist.

Prize-winning author, Twitter enthusiast, and censored columnist Margaret Atwood schools Jesse on technology, dictators, and CanLit.

Laura Robinson has lost her libel suit against John Furlong. The ruling, which could limit the media's willingness to report on abuse allegations, is based on erroneous information. Lawyer William McDowell discusses the possible impact.

University of Ottawa's Michael Geist breaks down the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), a proposed trade agreement that Stephen Harper has been toiling over in secret for the last five years - an agreement that will have huge impacts on Canada's internet freedom and copyright issues.

Steve Paikin just might be the best TV host in the country. But who needs TV hosts anymore?

Kady O'Malley might be the 1st Canadian journalist who gets paid, primarily, to report the news via Twitter. Ottawa Citizen calls her Canada’s first mobile-focused political journalist. Jesse and Kady discuss social media journalism and the relationship between journalists and politicians.

The Walrus is in meltdown: stories of office bullying, exploitation and workplace chaos are leaking from "Canada's best magazine". Three of the people at the centre of the controversy speak.

What does it really mean to be represented, in the media or in government? Can one kind of minority stand-in for another? What is shadeism? Does the media demand that minorities conform to whiteness in order to get in front of a camera? Is Canada finally, truly ready to deal with race? Septembre Anderson takes it all on.

Joey Coleman was often the only reporter at Hamilton Ontario City Hall: a one-man digital newsroom, funded by his audience. His constant presence irritated a city councillor, who lost his temper and got physical. Joey didn't fight back, but he was the one punished: through a series of retaliations he was pushed out of the building and his news coverage became impossible. He joins Jesse to tell his story.

Who keeps the media in check? The newly-formed National Newsmedia Council, according to John Fraser and Don McCurdy. Can a bunch of journalists and public members wrangle the entire Canadian journalism industry?

Is VICE a cult? Is it a sweatshop? Does their partnership with ROGERS influence their content? VICE Canada's head of content Patrick McGuire and executive vice president of TV Michael Kronish sit down for a tense chat with Jesse.

Comedian Sugar Sammy might be the most famous Canadian you haven't heard of. He plays to sell-out crowds in Paris, India, South Africa, and night after night in Montreal. He has sold hundreds of thousands of tickets. Yet he has yet to break through in english Canada or in the States. Jesse asks him why, and waxes nostalgic for the time he and Sammy were at the same university.

It's taken 40 years for the media to pay attention to the permanent crisis of missing and murdered aboriginal women. Karyn Pugliese, APTN's Director of News and Current Affairs, talks about what has finally changed and why it's taken so long.

How will we know how bad things have gotten when most of the records have been erased? Anne Kingston discusses how Canada has thrown its data in the dumpster and become an international cautionary tale.

Marineland denies the allegations made in this podcast by Phil Demers, their former animal trainer. They have launched pending legal action against The Toronto Star, Phil Demers and others.

What is CANADALAND doing wrong? What are we getting right? Where should we be headed? Listen in and find out: we recorded our annual staff meeting/staff mixer.

It's a brutal time for the Canadian television industry and it's about to get worse.

Do Canada's legacy news orgs have digital strategies? Do they make any sense? Is profitability online even possible?

Do media unions protect journalists at the expense of journalism? Do they make it impossible for struggling news orgs to survive? Do they protect older workers at the expense of the younger generation? Nora Loreto, author and union activist, talks about what place organized labour might have in today's media.

News Canada (NC) looks like a wire service, but distributes stories produced by the federal government.

Last week, Postmedia laid off 90 journalists from newsrooms across Canada, months after absorbing the Sun newspaper chain. What if a slow, painful death was the plan all along? The National Observer's Bruce Livesey weighs in on the implosion of Postmedia.

When Ken Alexander co-founded the Walrus in 2003, he wanted it to be a left-leaning literary magazine that also functioned as an educational charity. Now he says The Walrus has lost its way, strayed from its editorial mandate, abused its staff and violated its charitable obligations.

The new host of CBC's Q talks about what he'll change post-Ghomeshi, and what he won't.

Most Canadians don't hear about the stories Indigenous peoples tell within their communities. Mainstream media only covers the most tragic events affecting Indigenous communities — if it chooses to cover them at all. Now, alternative digital platforms have created an opportunity for these stories to travel outside the communities they are about.

Glen McGregor just left the Ottawa Citizen (along with 14 others) after breaking many major political stories of the last few years. So what's next for him, for the Citizen, and for print journalism in Canada's capital?

The Toronto Star's HPV fail reveals a wider problem: the journalists who inform us about science are increasingly scientifically illiterate.

Is it ok for an anonymous sexual assault allegation to destroy the reputation a beloved cultural hero?

Dozens of women and girls have been murdered in the Halifax area over the past few decades. Tim Bousquet is capturing it all on his independent news site, the Halifax Examiner. 

Should journalists have control over what other journalists have access to? Allison Smith is the publisher of Queen's Park Today, a daily news website that reports on Ontario politics. For the last four years, the Queen's Park Press Gallery - a group of journalists - has denied her membership on dubious grounds.

The media is fuelling our real estate obsession and Garth Turner, ex-Conservative MP turned real estate blogger, is pouring cold water on us.

NOTE: Since this episode aired, The Imposter was put on hold, and has re-launched with new host Aliya Pabani.

Adrienne Batra and Alex Pierson were SUN News TV hosts until the network suddenly went dark last month. Now, they join Jesse to come clean about what it was like to work at the most hated TV station in Canada.

The Ethnic Aisle is a crowdfunded digital magazine tackling issues of multiculturalism, diversity, and race in Toronto and the GTA. Chantal Braganza is the managing editor of The Ethnic Aisle and a digital media producer at TVO. Guest hosted by Scaachi Koul.

Freelance journalist Matt Braga joins Jesse to talk about spy shit - the Panama Papers, CSIS, C-51, and Ben Makuch's ongoing battle with the RCMP.

What happens when three lawyers argue with Jesse Brown?

For the past year, Desmond Cole has been the media's go-to guy whenever a story about black Canadians would come up. Now, he discusses what's to come after hosting COMMONS.

Justin Trudeau's government told us that selling weapons to Saudi Arabia was a "done deal" of the Conservative government, but reporting by The Globe and Mail's Steven Chase revealed that it was entirely within the Liberals' power to stop it. The Globe called the government hypocrites, the NDP called them liars. What about the public?

In Newfoundland and Labrador, massive numbers of workers are getting laid off. Taxes are skyrocketing. The oil industry is collapsing. Meanwhile, journalist James McLeod has independently published a Sunshine List that exposes just how cosy the province really is.

Live from the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, cartoonists Ted Rall, Chip Zdarsky, and Rokudenashiko talk censorship, the surprisingly subversive power of cartoons, and the dying art of comics journalism.

When it came to Canadian arts administration, Jeff Melanson was the king. Until his messy annulment papers from frozen food heiress Eleanor McCain alleged that he left more than just administrative damage in his wake from the National Ballet School, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Banff Centre for the Arts. Anne Kingston dives deep into the hushed world of Canadian arts institutions.

CBC still has a bullying & harassment problem. Jesse and Jane discuss how they investigated it for their recent report, "Bullying & Harassment Claims Emerge at CBC's As It Happens, TV Sports, and HR."

Gawker is in trouble. Writer Stephen Marche, a frequent target of the gossip site, expands on his defense of the blog that smears him.

How did the Liberals win the election? Author Susan Delacourt knows.

Global News anchor Chris Gailus is one of British Columbia's most renowned television broadcasters. He's been accused of sexually harassing his former makeup artist, Dawne Koke. Koke speaks to Jesse about her claims and about sexual harassment in the news business.

Is the Communist Party of China influencing the Canadian-Chinese press? Journalist and paralegal Jonathan Fon joins Jesse for a discussion on the influence of Beijing.

When disaster strikes, local television matters. But does anyone actually care about small-town daily news coverage anymore?

Kathryn Borel reveals new details about the Jian Ghomeshi case.

Baroness Von Sketch, CBC's new sketch show, is funny. What happened? Jesse asks Baroness writer, author, and standup comedian Monica Heisey about what went right and what may be changing in Canadian comedy.

John Furlong has been accused of abusing dozens of First Nations children when he was a teacher in Burns Lake in the 1960s. Journalist Laura Robinson told this story and ended up on the wrong side of a defamation lawsuit.

Media scholar Karen Burrows discusses the impact on our power as media consumers.

The Trudeau government is actually considering it.

Canada's tech sector is hemorrhaging talent. Between tax credits, targeted R&D programs, and Trudeau's cheerleading, can we stop the bleeding?

Answers to some of the questions about reporter Raveena Aulakh's suicide. How much did the Toronto Star know about its "toxic" workplace and what did they do about it?

Last winter, Canadaland invited journalists to The Revue Cinema in Toronto to discuss the films that made them want to become journalists.

The Collapse of the News Business is Irreversible. So what will emerge from the ashes?

Why does indigenous representation in settler media matter?

If you share paywalled content, does that constitute copyright infringement?

When Jean Charest was a paid agent of an energy company he had a secret meeting with the government pipeline regulator, who then lied about it.

The BBC, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, Bloomberg: all of them are increasing their presence in Canada at the exact same time that the Canadian media is cutting back like never before. Jessica Murphy, head of the BBC's new Canadian bureau and the New York Times' Canada correspondent Ian Austen discuss the influx.

We lost almost half our staff this month. We need to pay better to retain our amazing team. Help us on Patreon and everybody but Jesse will get a raise.

Is solutions-based journalism the future of Canadian news?

Justin Brake caught the nation's attention by broadcasting the peaceful protests of Muskrat Falls. And then he got served with a court injunction.

Every day at 12:36pm, Marc Weisblott sends out his "tabloid" newsletter. Is he a cultural critic? A media visionary? Or just a crank?

La Presse journalist Patrick Lagacé tells all about why the Montreal police spied on him and other journalists, and why the free press is under attack.

Fake news sites won the American election. BuzzFeed Canada's Craig Silverman discusses how bogus Facebook stories blew credible news out of the water.

The Government is about to change the CBC.

First Nations reporting usually falls into the four D's: drumming, dancing, drinking, and death. Wawmeesh Hamilton is trying to change that.

Suburbs frozen in the 1950s. Progressives in the middle of oil country. Jesse explores the eccentricities of Edmonton, past and present.

Do politicians and foreign dignitaries have better access to health care than everyone else?

Featuring the best moments from Canadaland's new arts & culture show, hosted by Aliya Pabani.

Featuring the best moments from Canadaland's new arts & culture show, hosted by Aliya Pabani.

Misha Glouberman has been hosting Trampoline Hall, a barroom lecture series created by author Sheila Heti, for 15 years. He and Jesse are almost, but not quite, friends.

When reporters are more relevant as unwilling political props than as chroniclers of facts, what happens to the job of journalism?

In the wake of Colten Boushie's death, Jesse discusses racial tensions in Saskatoon with panelists Betty Ann Adam, Rob Innes, and Mylan Tootoosis. Recorded live at Winterruption in Cosmo Seniors Centre on January 20th, 2017.

Yellowknife crime reporter John McFadden has been getting into problems with the local police for a while now. But that won't stop him from doing his job.

On this episode, guest host Ashey Csanady and Vicky Mochama look at CBC's recently launched comedy portal and wonders if it's relevant and, you know, funny.

In 2008, political pundit Don Martin penned a negative screed against former NBC wartime correspondent and - at the time - Alberta provincial electoral candidate Arthur Kent, aka the Scud Stud. Convinced that Martin had violated basic journalistic ethics, Kent took him and the CanWest newspaper chain (later Postmedia) to court for defamation of character.

Late last month the Public Policy Forum released its long-anticipated report on the state of Canadian newspapers. Somewhat unexpectedly, this was a bold and far-reaching document, exploring the changing face of media in this country. The principal author of the paper, former Globe & Mail Editor-In-Chief Ed Greenspon, joins Jesse to dig deep into its findings. Read the entire report (no, seriously, read it) here.

In the months after Robyn Doolittle's groundbreaking series of exposés about the scandal-ridden Toronto mayor Rob Ford, she left the Toronto Star for a new investigative role at the Globe & Mail. Then, mostly, silence. Her lack of bylines belied her hard work behind the scenes as she dug into what would become the story of the year: a 20-month investigation into police departments across Canada and their chronic underreporting of sexual assaults being filed.

Michael Chong is trying to sell an inclusive, sober conservatism. Are conservatives buying it?

Something special to announce today, new show on Thursday.

Postmedia, the largest newspaper chain in Canada is in its death throes.

The newspaper industry is pleading for hundred of millions of dollars per year to help prop itself up.

Ren Bostelaar posted nude pictures of women to 4chan without their consent. He avoided a criminal record by taking a peace bond. Is revenge porn legal in Canada?

Michelle Shephard has been covering Omar Khadr since the beginning. She talks to guest host Omar Mouallem about what the media keeps getting wrong about the story.

In it: should you fuck your Prime Minister?; Why Canadians secretly love climate change; why we love the RCMP; and a peek at the Canada of the not-too-distant future. The stage show for our book, the CANADALAND Guide to Canada.

Following the election of Donald Trump, Craig Silverman wrote the defining article on fake news. Now he dives into hyperpartisan media -- websites that blend legitimate reporting with clickbait viral headlines to create a morass where you can't be sure what's real and what isn't.

It's been, to put it mildly, a shit week for Rebel Media's self-styled 'Rebel Commander' Ezra Levant.

Sports journalism is facing many of the same issues as other facets of the industry: declining ad revenues, job insecurities, and too much content vying for too few eyeballs.

Who thought we'd have a Nazi problem in 2017? Richard Warman did. Years before the current "Should I punch a Nazi" debate took off, he attacked neo-Nazis with the law. And the media hated him.

Every year, Toronto hosts some of the biggest stars in Hollywood as they debut their new films. But is the Toronto International Film Festival actually good for the city?

Michael Enright got Jesse his first job in radio. He was also CANADALAND’s first ever guest, drinking bourbon and talking shit about the Canadian media. For our 200th show, he’s back to talk about how the media has changed since that day.

Over the summer, videos came out that appeared to show Saudi Arabia deploying Canadian combat vehicles against their own citizens. And it barely made a splash in the Canadian media.

Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly had the thankless task of crafting a new culture plan that was sure to disappoint. She is now being viciously attacked by the press.

Sarah Polley talks about how she helped Jesse break a major story. And she discusses domestic abuse, sexual harassment and assault, and the culture that fuels it.

The Toronto Star's Daniel Dale has become one of the most-watched journalists in Washington in part by simply enumerating Donald Trump's lies.

Adam Gopnik lived out a certain Canadian fantasy. He left the country and became a prominent New York intellectual.

“Objectivity for the sake of objectivity often means make sure that the powerful always get their say. And sometimes Caesar shouldn’t have his say. Sometimes the truth is just true.”

Is local media doomed? We speak to three entrepreneurs who are making a go of it with three very different models.

Reporters Anna Merlan and Madeleine Davies were investigating and writing about Louis CK well before the New York Times story came out. And they faced a lot of criticism for it.

“I do think that people should be marching in the streets over this,” says ICIJ director Gerard Ryle.

And why you can't just blame Google and Facebook for what happened last week.

This Facebook group gets more engagement than the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail combined.

PressProgress looks like the news, but it's funded by a leftist think tank. Who are they and what are they trying to do?

Over the holidays, CANADALAND is presenting the best work across our network. Here's a recent episode of COMMONS about Robert Pickton, marginalized communities and police accountability.

This episode of The Imposter was featured alongside shows like The Heart and Radiolab as Constant Listener's best podcasts of the year.

This week, we're presenting some of the best work from across our network. In this series of The Imposter, host Aliya Pabani decides that to learn more about comedy, she's going to learn how to be a comedian.

Forget taxes and regulations — why scrutinize Facebook when you can partner with them?

"From mass dissemination of false information, to impersonation, leaking foreign documents in order to influence political and legal outcomes... the possibilities for the types of activities contemplated in [Bill C-59] are limited only by imagination."

After years of dodging emails about the internal politics of the country's largest subreddit, r/Canada, Jesse finally jumps down the weirdo-message-board rabbit hole.

"I don't want to be trusted by the government."

"It's the wild west out there right now, and for lots of people that means it's really dangerous and their experience is horrible."

Tim Fontaine "set fire" to his journalism career last December, when he launched Walking Eagle News.

Richard Stursberg was the most hated CBC executive in recent history. What advice does he have for Catherine Tait, the CBC's new president? And what does he have to say about his own infamous legacy?

We hear from two Canadian journalists currently facing legal consequences for doing their jobs. The outcomes of these cases could set precedents for how the press is allowed to operate.

More than a year after their expansion into Canada, the New York Times is holding its own against our native media. And they're doing it with only three reporters. But what exactly is their goal here?

How did an online subculture of lonely men inspire the murders of 10 people in Toronto?

No outcome other than an approval was ever possible.

While journalists worry about Facebook algorithms and digital advertising, every other industry gets to be excited about technology. So today, we try our hardest to find the positive tech stories for the news industry.

Last week, Israeli forces killed over 60 people and injured thousands more at a protest in Gaza. How did Canadian media cover it?

Why is CBC so bad at giving credit for stories that other news outlets broke?

How do you cover celebrities in a country that's so bad at making them?

Canada's broadcast regulator has put forward a proposal to tax everything from porn to podcasts to help pay for CanCon.

On The Media was one of the main inspirations for CANADALAND. This week, Jesse meets them.

Almost every news story about cannabis is accompanied by a stereotypical stoner pic.

The book world has been thrown into turmoil by sexual assault allegations, inter-generational fighting and questions over Indigenous ancestry. Is this inside baseball for a tiny industry, a microcosm of the culture wars or a battle over who gets to tell Canada's story?

The newspaper business is in rapid decline. Can non-profit status save newspapers in Canada?

Food journalist Corey Mintz speaks with Jesse about how influencers, marketing and Instagram have impacted food writing and eating. 

BuzzFeed’s Paul McLeod has covered politics in both capitals.

Paul Tadich compares his time working at Global TV to a "news sweatshop".

Confusion over "off the record" played a pivotal role in global affairs this past week. So — how does this oft-misunderstood agreement actually work, and why do so many powerful people continue to misuse it?

Sara Mojtehedzadeh may very well be Canada's only full-time labour reporter.

Guest Host Sheila Heti (Motherhood, How Should a Person Be?) speaks with fellow "autofiction" author Rachel Cusk (A Life's Work, Aftermath, et al).

Next week, recreational weed will become legal across Canada. In anticipation, mainstream media has begun taking cannabis coverage seriously. Overnight, nearly every major outlet across the country has hired full-time reporters to cover it — but before we celebrate industry growth, how sustainable is this beat?

Craig Kielburger founded WE when he was 12 to fight child labour. Now, the WE brand is used to promote products made by children.  Reporter Jaren Kerr presents the findings of his 4-month long investigation. 

Episode 1 of our new series, hosted by Ryan McMahon.

Google's sister company, Sidewalk Labs, has partnered with every level of government to build the first-ever 'smart city' in Toronto — but with several high-profile resignations and mounting privacy concerns, will this project ever break ground?

For a long time, CANADALAND was (proudly) the number one podcast in the country — but that's no longer true.

Guest host Karen K. Ho explores how ethical concerns are becoming a core component of many big business stories, and what some reporters are doing to expand business journalism’s audience and sources.

The Kielburgers' WE Movement has enjoyed more than 20 years of glowing press. They also have partnerships with 38 media organizations and a history of aggressive responses to criticism. Reporter Jaren Kerr speaks with Jesse about his investigation of WE's media relations.

After 25 years at the CBC, tech columnist Jesse Hirsh decided to risk it all. During an interview about Facebook, he turned the tables, asking why CBC continues to promote Facebook after we've seen what that company has done to undermine democracy.  CBC refused to post the segment online, raising questions about what you can and cannot say on our public broadcaster. 

Thunder Bay podcast host and creator Ryan McMahon reflects on the year-long production process, and he, Jesse and Connie Walker — host of CBC's award-winning podcast Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo —speak at ImagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival about the challenges that come with telling such sensitive, complex stories through the true crime genre. 

The Canadian federal government plans to issue nearly $600M in tax credits and incentives to bolster the country's media industry over the next five years. What will this mean for the independence of the Canadian press? And will CANADALAND be applying for funds?

Blazing wildfires. Pipeline stand-offs. Unpredictable floods. Men in suits arguing... One of our era's most urgent, high-stakes stories is also the hardest one to get right.

Stories of big news breaking when everyone else is on vacation. 

A bunch of new partisan political websites are fighting for the narrative in the run-up to the federal election. Reporter Graeme Gordon is here to tell you which organizations to look out for on your Facebook and Twitter feeds, what their political objectives are, and who's paying for them.

Something like the half of all activity on the internet is fake. Yes, there are bots. But there are also fake websites that cater to bots. And then there are the ways real people adjust their behaviour to try to game the bots. Where does this leave the idyllic internet we were promised?

Canada's in a bad way with China. Has the media prepared us to deal with the growing superpower?

What do warnings of globalism, support for pipelines and calls to execute Trudeau have in common? They're all part of the rhetoric of the Canadian Yellow Vests. CANADALAND producer David Crosbie investigates how a French working class protest against a fuel tax has inspired a right-wing, populist movement holding recurring rallies across Canada.

Paula Simons did something that makes a lot of journalists cringe. She went into politics. The former Edmonton Journal columnist is now an independent senator. She speaks about crossing over, using social media to pull back the curtain on Canadian politics... and the Senate's secret snack machine.

In English media, there are whole organizations and departments devoted to debunking fake news. But in Quebec, a lot of the work falls to one guy: Jeff Yates. He talks to guest host Brigitte Noël about the unique challenges of combatting fake news in French and why he thinks it's time to destigmatize sharing bogus stories.

There's a lot to learn from what politicians and journalists can and can't tell us, their lowly constituents and readers. We read between the lines of the news coverage of the SNC-Lavalin scandal with BuzzFeed News' Paul McLeod. Then, Macleans columnist Anne Kingston helps translate politicians' passive-aggressive, condescending, or coded messages, passed to us through resignation letters, speeches, and even Twitter likes.

In the past year or so, the podcast industry has seen an explosion --or bubble, depending on who you ask-- with companies like Entertainment One, Corus, and Rogers making big plays in the market. Who are the big players? What are they trying to do? And are their podcasts any good?

This week marks 175 years of The Globe and Mail. You can read all about its accomplishments elsewhere. Writer Jamie Bradburn takes us through the paper's darker moments.

Canada's most ubiquitous TV host talks about his many, many gigs, from MuchMusic VJ to CNN interviewer -- and why he's turned to YouTube for the latest one.

Who do you turn to when the news fucks up? It turns out there's a council for that.

When Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese called the government to follow up on a tip, he heard back from the PR arm of Irving Shipbuilding. And then the president of that company called, and threatened to sue him.

The CANADALAND interview with former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who targeted the press before it was cool.

Crackdown covers the war on drugs from the trenches, and these war correspondents are drug users. 

Former CBC exec Richard Stursberg tells Jesse all about it.

And if so, can government regulation crack down on hate speech and election interference on social media without crushing free speech?

A popular pundit has a curious connection: her company worked for China.

Digital media has been gentrified into a mall, says the digital rights activist and author.

The new podcast Narcos PQ hands the mic to those who bring Canada its drugs: bikers, drug mules, outlaw chemists.

But will the $2.5 million judgment against the far-right twice-defeated mayoral candidate Kevin J. Johnston actually stop him spreading hate online?

InfoLab imagined newspapers' transition from print to digital, creating multimedia digital news in the basement of The Hamilton Spectator back in the early '90s.

Canada's news bosses are some of the most influential people in the country. They decide what is news and what isn't. We think it's time someone talked to them about that.

Jonathan Torrens talks about the CBC, what really happened on Trailer Park Boys, and about that one song you love to hate.

Greed, money, and revenge culminate with a gruesome murder on the driveway of a Vancouver mansion.

Something strange has been going on for the last little while and we’re ready to talk about it.

Twenty-two people spoke to us confidentially about working for WE. But Josh Keenan went on the record.

There are countless reporters covering politics in this country, but only one person has spent their career reporting on and analyzing health care.

You asked. We answered.

Hear about how journalists have failed when covering mysterious things in the sky. 

Glen Assoun spent nearly 17 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. But even after his sentence was overturned, the evidence that freed him remained sealed. Reporters fought successfully to have that evidence released. What they found not only raises questions about the investigation, but reveals the outright deletion of evidence pointing to another killer.

Steven Page, former frontman and founding member of Barenaked Ladies, talks about his career, why he chose to leave a beloved and wildly successful band, and the fickle realities of Canadian stardom. 

Reporter Anna Mehler Paperny talks about her book "Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person"

Over the past couple of years, a few Canadian media outlets and writers have become obsessed with trans people, painting their campaign for human rights as a menace to society. This coverage has hit a peak with the story of Jessica Yaniv, a trans woman who’s taking multiple beauticians to the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal after they refused to wax to her genitals. Where did this obsession come from? And why has this particular story taken off?

A respected doctor put women’s health and lives in danger for money and the public almost didn't hear about it.

Canoe-borne bandits strike an underwater town. A new generation of wealthy lobstermen is minted. An island disappears. And hellfire engulfs a highway jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive. Just another normal day amidst Canada’s climate catastrophe.

Alberta's premier wants a referendum on ... what exactly? And Justin Ling wants you to calm down about climate change "muzzling." Plus, meet some intriguing candidates to keep an eye on.

Comedian Bruce McCulloch talks about the legacy of Canada’s weirdest sketch show, Lorne Michaels, and the CBC.

Why are we so bad at talking about women's bodies?

Are we really considering CanCon for the internet?

Cheryl Thompson joins to help walk us through Canada’s history with blackface and why this story is not about race. 

Shad's Hip-Hop Evolution is an incredible piece of journalism that nobody is talking about.

Does political journalism actually enact change?

102 Indigenous children died in Ontario’s child welfare system because of underfunding and an indefensible inequality of services.

Major announcement about what's next for Canadaland on this episode.

Meghan Bell wants to tax the rich. She's also one of them.

Has the rise of the far-right in Canada been exaggerated?

A conversation about the similarities between journalism and porn becomes a tense disagreement about online shaming.

How the media can fail when covering Indigenous people.

A conversation with cartoonist Kate Beaton

Canada's newsrooms are whiter than ever.

Did The Globe And Mail's editor do anything wrong?

The rise and fall of Canada’s alt-weekly magazines.

The Sahotas are Vancouver’s most notorious slumlords. For decades they’ve let their buildings rot, leaving their tenants to live in filth and desolation. But the Sahotas are not like any other dynasty you’ve ever heard of. Their story is far stranger, and far darker, than anything you can imagine.

Reporter Anna Mehler Paperny talks about her book, Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person, which covers her search for answers about depression and her personal experiences.

Is Canadian media propagating the Communist Party lines?

Why did the Toronto Star try to stop Paul Watson from reporting on a story?

How the CBC is losing friends and alienating Canadians

Every year, Bell shines the spotlight on mental health for Let’s Talk Day. So we’re taking a look at their prison phone contract, which advocates say exacerbate mental health problems for inmates.

The origins of VICE told by the people who were there

Unpacking the RCMP’s recent crackdown on journalists covering the conflict on Wet’suwet’en territory

The history of Canada’s weirdest and most prolific interviewer

Who is the man beneath the tam?

A bonus AMA episode

A behind-the-scenes look at our new investigative podcast

Does the New York Times' success come at the expense of local news?

We are facing an unprecedented shutdown of services and businesses across the country. Health columnist Andre Picard was an early voice calling for Canada to “shut it down” in the pages of the Globe and Mail. He talks to us about how COVID-19 compares to other epidemics he’s covered, the media coverage so far and why he was pushing for social distancing before the government embraced it.

What feels most weird right now? Doing normal things

Restaurauteur Jen Agg just wants to get home.

COVID-19, Cineplex, and the end of moviegoing as we know it

"My life is never exactly normal. But it's normal for me."

“If it really goes down, I can always shoot a moose.”

"Put on normal clothes, remember to stretch... That doesn't help. You're still in the prison of your own mind."

Our first ever call-in show.

"I've been watching old NBA games and breaking them down on Instagram Live."

“I have been obsessed with virtual reality”

Reporter Justin Ling speaks with prisoners across Canada terrified of COVID-19 sweeping through the prison population. 

"This is the death of neoliberalism."

"I got scolded by the deputy mayor of Los Angeles for not including Funyuns in my tweet"

The Deplorables that surrounded the Trump presidential campaign have all but disappeared from the mainstream web.

"I do participate in society."

"If we are looking like we are one of the girls just dancing having fun, it's probably performative"

"My ten-year old got his first octopus all by himself"

When journalist Eva Holland lost her mom, she went on a quest to understand the science behind her phobias, and conquer them.

"I’m helping other people to be safe."

"This virus is a bitch, for sure."

"It'll probably be like a mega-hedonistic orgy after this."

Journalists across Canada tell us how Covid-19 has changed how they bring us the news.

"The chances of getting infected by somebody walking or running by you outside— they're virtually nil"

"I want my friends and family to be safe from this"

“Pushing for a world where we accept the risks of having a body… That’s where we need to go.”

A conversation with Kenny Hotz, a man at odds with his industry, his audience, and himself.

"I think I may have had coronavirus"

"I guess like a positive abnormal and unusual thing I did was propose to my girlfriend, which was pretty cool."

"I fucking hate Zooming... and having to look at my own face."

Prime Minister Trudeau said naming the Nova Scotia mass shooter was giving him "the gift of infamy"

“Hugs feel like they’re going to be euphoric.”

“I never believe in going down without a fight…I’m a triple fire sign.”

"The wild oscillations of feeling are abnormal for me."

In the face of a global pandemic, it’s hard to focus on anything else.

“In the silence you start to wonder…how are we going to find each other again?”

“The job of fiction is to intrude on reality and instead we’re living in a situation where reality is intruding on the fictional.”

"After this pandemic, we can create a new normal that's better for everyone."

The child welfare system is failing Indigenous children, and APTN's Kenneth Jackson can't stop covering it.

“I’m going to be very careful about how much I leave my property until there’s a vaccine.”

"I had a confrontation with someone in the line up for a grocery store... and that moment of slow honeyed ease was totally interrupted."

“My biggest fear is that not enough will change, and not enough lessons will be learned.”

The pandemic could be an "extinction event" for American newspapers and so their publishers want their own government bailout. Meanwhile Canadian papers want money from Google and Facebook, too.

"In the psyche of the white Canadian is this same desire to see Black people in positions of either service or as comedic foils"

InfoLab imagined newspapers' transition from print to digital, creating multimedia digital news in the basement of The Hamilton Spectator back in the early '90s.

Lord Tim Bell worked for a rogues' gallery of international clients, and co-founded one of the most powerful PR companies in history.

Adrian Harewood is a news anchor at CBC Ottawa News and the host of weekly current affairs show, Our Ottawa.

The history of policing back to John A. Macdonald, the killing of Dudley George at Ipperwash in 1995, and its impact on two Indigenous journalists

We really didn’t expect to find ourselves writing about the WE organization again. But then it became part of the biggest politics story in the country, and we obtained a recording of a strange conversation between one of its founders and a person who was then a senior employee in the group’s Kenyan operations.

It’s a scandal that could—but probably won’t—take down Justin Trudeau. 

Peter Aldhous reported a decade ago that a Canadian lab’s prenatal paternity test was “unreliable."

A new law in Alberta is Jason Kenney’s latest front in the oil war.

Last week’s House Finance Committee hearings into the WE Charity scandal yielded few new insights into why the government awarded it a massive sole-source contract or how the organization itself operates. Thankfully, the press has continued to turn up information that MPs have not.

The history of Canada’s weirdest and most prolific interviewer

Crackdown covers the war on drugs from the trenches, and these war correspondents are drug users. 

This week marks a month since the start of a land occupation to block a residential development at the edge of Caledonia, Ontario — and the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve.

The Epoch Times’ COVID-19 special edition raised controversy when it landed in mailboxes across Canada in April. The paper was accused of spreading misinformation and fomenting anti-Chinese racism.

The Toronto Star’s new internal ombud tells us what the job is, discusses power and race in the newsroom, and responds to that reply all email.

There’s a broad undertaking to shake up who gets arts funding, and who governs it.

Restaurants have suffered huge losses during the pandemic.

The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel calls corporate social responsibility’s bluff.

Quebec's distinct culture reacts differently to global movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter.

Jonathan Torrens talks about the CBC, what really happened on Trailer Park Boys, and about that one song you love to hate.

A reporter was offered money to kill this story. 

MSNBC host and journalist Ali Velshi has been traveling to U.S. swing states talking to voters in the lead-up to the presidential election.

Rebel News personality Keean Bexte is suing Canadaland for defamation.

The CBC's Jody Porter discusses covering the trial, and what she's learned about telling other people's stories.

Karl Dockstader and Sean Vanderklis update us on the 1492 Land Back Lane occupation and explore why federal government inaction just makes things worse.

A conversation with the late National Post columnist and court reporter.

When artist Aydin Aghdashloo was accused of sexual misconduct, the Iranian-Canadian community's response was divided.

The Westons might be Canada’s Jeff Bezos, argues Vass Bednar, and not just because they’re very rich.

A man imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for years was released over a decade ago, after the U.S. decided he wasn’t an “enemy combatant” after all.

The holidays, as we know them, are cancelled.

A teenage boy and his friends start robbing banks in Toronto. A future Prime Minister is deported from Montreal. A Black Panther in Baltimore goes to prison for four decades.

Here's an episode of the podcast Crackdown, hosted by Garth Mullins.

The pandemic has widened the digital divide, leaving people from Iqaluit to rural Alberta and Ontario fuming at ISPs like Xplornet.

With COVID-19 cases in Canada on the rise, what about the people who can’t stay home?

Many people who broke into the Capitol broadcast their crimes across social media. Twitter, Facebook and other platforms responded by deleting accounts, but other people rushed to preserve and organize all their posts from the assault on the Capitol, as well as photos and videos from journalists present.

Comics journalist Joe Sacco tells Jesse about how he draws stories out of people— then draws them onto the page.

The New York Times’ wildly popular podcast Caliphate came into question after its central character, a Canadian man who claimed he’d joined ISIS and committed executions, was charged with perpetrating a terrorist hoax.

The Indian government doesn’t take criticism lightly, whether it’s from Prime Minister Trudeau... or Rihanna. 

Michelle Latimer was the buzziest Canadian director and showrunner of 2020. But it all came crashing down in December when a CBC investigation called into question her Indigenous identity claims.

LifeSiteNews may be the biggest Canadian news outlet you’ve never heard of — a kind of Breitbart for traditionalist Catholics.

In Australia, the news disappeared from Facebook. And Jesse got very worried about the future.

A Haitian senator’s wife paid $4.25 million—all money down—for a house in Laval, Quebec. Meanwhile in Haiti, people have been protesting against corruption, kidnapping, and a president who they say is over-staying his term in office. How do we talk about Haiti without reproducing unhelpful tropes and stereotypes?

Israeli-Canadian lobbyist Ari Ben-Menashe's latest gig is working for Myanmar's military junta.

The culture war icon is back with a new bestseller.

SeaWestNews calls Alexandra Morton “BC’s loudest anti-salmon farming activist,” and her writing “rambling” and “conspiracy-laden.”

Restaurants have struggled badly during the pandemic.