There is little evidence to suggest that external forces have a direct influence on Canadian news content. Like internal influences, the power of external forces is sometimes subtle and not direct. As noted earlier, Postmedia’s opinion pages across the country are decidedly conservative. Some journalists worried about the influence of this conservative view leaking into editorial decision-making, including news selection and treatment.
Most news organisations pride themselves on their independence. While some broadcast journalists and newsroom leaders told stories of advertisers complaining about news coverage or trying to shape the news, these efforts were always rebuffed. A reporter interviewed at a major news organisation recognised the efforts of advertisers to tilt the news in their favour but claimed it had little effect: “Yes, advertisers have pulled advertising in reaction to stories that we’ve written in the last three years […]. We don’t have discussions with our advertising department about this. There is a real separation of church and state”. Another reporter interviewed agreed:
When a company is being quite aggressive with us, they might in some sort of ham-fisted way try to threaten that they wouldn’t advertise with us, but I’ve never heard of any reporter or editor backing down on this story because of that.
One newsroom leader talked about how a car dealership commercial may get strategically moved from blocks containing investigative stories highlighting the deficiencies of automobiles. This journalist, however, proudly highlighted how the broadest station’s senior manager had even scolded the car dealership advertisers who complained about critical news coverage.
