31 Comments

When I discovered The Line some months ago, I signed on for the freebie. After a couple of months of my look-see, I recognized the quality of Jen's and Matt's writing and analysis, and ponied up. I haven't felt buyer's remorse, even when I don't agree with what's been presented, and even when I am righteously pissed off by a few of your guest commentators (the person who made Danielle Smith sound like the Good Witch Glinda, after she took office, was particularly odious), I don't consider pulling the plug. I have done so with other newsletters.

You guys rock. The bleak media landscape is depressing, and The Line Editors are beacons of light. I have shared some of your posts with friends, as I have other Substack writers, but so far, no nibbles, I'm sorry to say. My paid subscriptions - just a few, but they do add up to a portion of my pension income each year - along with subs to some other worthy publications and Patreon artists - have reached my limit. Then there's Food Bank and Doctors Without Borders donations and the like, and @#$&# inflation. I would like to do more, but I get a lotta requests for help from a long list of supplicants.

I do encourage anyone reading this on the Free Store Plan to consider a subscription. I would like to see this small corner of Canadian media continue and even flourish!

Good luck, Jen and Matt!

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Great Dispatch. Following the podcast, I’m glad to see extra content like Matt getting in something on the Canadian Armed Forces, Mendocino getting called out yet again for “playing loose with the truth” (your take on this is spot-on non-partisan), and the thankfully faraway spectacle of the Alberta shit-show (I hail from the eastern extremities of the GTA, which is about to get inflicted with the shit-show of Olivia Chow, important to me cuz Toronto already sucks so much out of the rest of the province). But I digress. Point is Jen made a wonderfully passionate yet insightful pitch in the podcast on how to re-cast the CBC as the logical saviour of Canadian journalism. Hopefully you can shape that into a stand-alone post.

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Meant to add -- I tried to adjust my basic paid membership to what I recollect is an option as a “Founder” or something like that. But I can’t seem to find how to do that?

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Like most Line subscribers I have a finite budget for news subscriptions. I subscribe to The Line, The Real Story (recommended by The Line) and as of yesterday to The Bureau (recommended by Terry Glavin at The Real Story). And on top of that I have National Post/Financial Post subscription. That basically puts me over my budget and come renewal time I'm going to have to make some tough choices. Glavin and Cooper will stay because of the amazing investigative work they have done on the China file. I'm thinking the future for news may lie in collaborative efforts between journalists who can offer a broad range of content within a single sub. The reality for most of us is that we can't take out endless subscriptions for everyone we want to support.

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I’ve been a paid subscriber since its inception. But I sure would like to see a column here or there dedicated to one of the most important topics which is endemic to our society: education. There are more and even more families turning their backs on the system and it requires further scrutiny. There are lots of knowledgeable folks tuned into this and it would be great to have some intelligent discussion on this somewhere, anywhere in this country. Thank you.

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I’m a fan of public education but not a fan of the brick and mortar form it’s currently in. I pulled my youngest years ago due to bullying and am thankful that alberta funds homeschooling. It’s a much better fit for our family and allows for education without the negatives of the public system.

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A cut-and-paste ... just for the record ... and to maybe motivate others. All anonymous, I think ... I have no idea if they renewed ...

FWIW, I drive a 2006 Hyundai ... and live in a 50-year-old mobile home in rural western Canada.

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Payment & receipt history

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11/28/2022 CA$150 Subscription update Paid

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Incidentally, I was banned from the Comments Section in 2002 and was not re-instated until earlier this year. There was some that said I deserved it ... 😉

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Those of you who've been banned....I salute you.

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Oopsy ... minor typo ... I was banned in 2022, not 2002.

It happens to the best of us.

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while it is to bad we are losing journalism courses in collages, the content in or on most broadcasts leaves a lot to be desired and not just broadcasts. Every entity seems to have their own people to pander too, I can't think of any of the big news sites that don't slant their coverage

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Smith is a nutcase, and from a news perspective that is good, there will always be something to report on. Lets hope that most of it turns out to be as inconsequential as this one.

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Glad the video format has returned! And a note on the death of media: here in Hamilton, a local online newspaper called The Hamilton Independent is doing a nice job. And a bit of plug for CBC radio news: top of the hour and five minutes where they only have time to report major stories with no commentary. Plus good classical music for part of the day.....

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That was a great podcast. It['s nice to hear people with solutions or consequences in Bell's case to what is a really serious problem. Knowledge is power. The internet has killed knowledge by burying in under yards if misinformation if not outright garbage.

I'll keep paying if you'll keep writing.

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The editors at "The Line" would apparently appreciate our helping to provide them with exposure to more potential subscribers. So, I just now I forwarded this week's dispatch (as per usual) to a few of my close friends ... "regulars" who I know appreciate it as much as I do ... but also tossed-in about 30 assorted not-too-grim characters from my email contact list. All BCC, obviously ...

Here's the "cover note" I wrote. Y'all feel free to emulate.

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"I overlooked passing-along the weekly dispatch from "The Line” yesterday, and so am doing it right now. As some of you may know, I have been a subscriber almost since it first appeared, and believe that its two editors are among the very best writers in Canada … fair-minded, thorough … and perceptive. The topics are wide-ranging … if it’s in the news and topical, everything is fair game.

It costs me nothing to do this, and, because it maybe possibly bring "The Line" some curious new readers, I am gonna toss-in a few more names from my email address-file. I do hope those folks don’t mind, and that they enjoy the material as much as I do. Reactions and comments would be most welcome."

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A few rambles:

-I grew up in AB and still follow the politics. I'm not a Danielle Smith fan, but the UCP can only do better than a party thst overvalues public sector workers as stakeholders. By coincidence, Smith may be the best to lead the province as her reputation for unpredictability may dissuade the federal Liberals from taking on another batrle. My biggest issue with the UCP is that it spends too much

-more competition is always better as it drives innovation. Canada should open up media, telecom, commercial aviation, dairy and poultry to competition. The gains of letting market forces determine winners and losses always outweigh the losses

-I'm surprised at M&J even suggest that the government take action to sustain Canadian journalism. They are on the right path with The Line and the sooner Torstar, Post Media, Bell Media et al die the quicker evolution can progress

-I'm particular shocked by the defense of CBC, albeit tepid. CBC serves no purpose beyond marking one's side in the culture wars. Canadians who want to tell stories can do so on their own through YouTube, Substack etc. Remote communities can access content online. The sooner CBC dies, the sooner Canada can make a step towards balancing the federal budget and eliminating a front on the culture wars

-finally, I hope Mendocino hangs on as long as possible to inflict maximal pain on the Liberals. This is the party of the undead. Scandals that would destroy the careers of mortal politicians can't kill the Trudeau or Liberal brands. It will take scandal after scandal after scandal to finally drive the wooden stake

-I embarrassed to have grown up in a country where someone like Justin Trudeau exists let alone achieves a leadership position

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Two observations. First on journalism. The Line editors, like so many other who have branched out to new fora, benefited from starting out in traditional media. They learned and were mentored by others and saw both good and bad examples of journalism I'm sure. It helped develop them as journalists. As newsrooms are shut down, how will the few new graduates get mentored and grow? How will they learn their craft? No matter your career, everyone needs to develop. What will this mean for the quality of future journalism? On our defence spending. Government parsimony is not new and has spanned governments of all stripes. What makes it more egregious, though, is that, once again governments of all stripes, have claimed some kind of special place for Canada, have wanted to be a "player" on the international stage, but have never been willing to pay the cost of said "player" status.

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And here I am again.

Jen, I really did find your suggestion that folks such as Bell should also feel the sting of expectations that do not pan out. The idea that Bell should be subject to competition from the outside, perhaps US, European or Asian telecoms, is intriguing. I would note that I am, for the most part, quite accepting that more of Canadian business should be subject to competition. I would further note, however, that it seems to me desirable that control of Bell, etc. should remain in Canada (I suspect that ship has already sailed but it makes sense for the regulators to work to undo some of that.)

Now, having said that, as a pensioner I do feel the need to note that pension funds and individuals are a large component of the shareholder base of the Canadian telecom companies and any such opening up of competition will inevitably cause losses to those shareholders. I am not eager to be forced to embrace losses but it may be that that is the way that particular cookie crumbles. C'est la vie. Non! C'est la guerre!

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Journalistically, this may be the end of the age of the dinosaurs. If I thought that large media had some sort of monopoly on journalistic integrity and insight, I probably wouldn't be subscribed. However, the best I can say about the mainstream media is that it its often gullible. At its worst, it is biased to its own self interest and sensationalistic.

Being a senior and oil industry veteran, I fall on the alternative universe side of the Canadian political system. Right and left leaning politics tends to be cyclic, having cycles of up to a decade but the difference this time is that a lot of medias has tied itself to one side or the other. The politics of the left dominates but when the tide turns the CPC has their knives out for the CBC.

This still isn't the asteroid that will kill media dinosaurs. In a perfect world, the best journalists, like the small mammals that populated the earth 65 million years ago, will slowly repopulate it after large media dies.

Stand on the street corner and hoist your sign that says, "The end of big media is near!".

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The Lines obsession with Danielle Smith and the implication that anyone that voted for her must be a nutcase is why I won’t be renewing my subscription. There are a lot of fine Substacks available that touch on subjects that are much more important to Canadians.

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I don’t think that’s what this substack is saying at all. It is important for leaders to be steady and non-reactive, and it sounds like Danielle smith was not steady and non-reactive in this case. She did go straight for the big guns of censorship rather than seeing if it was an individual user problem to an account problem.

I hope she learns from this (because being non-reactive is truly important). I voted for UCP in the election so no, I’m not just here to argue. But I recognize a valid concern when I see one and I think it’s important to call things like this out.

A key classic responsibility of media is to hold government accountable. Doesn’t matter whether you agree or disagree with the government as a whole - they need to be held accountable and goodness knows we don’t see other media doing it in appropriate ways. Calling out a behavior or response rather than a person - and not attacking the person in process, is essential.

As humans we are all imperfect and we all have room to grow. This applies to elected leaders as well and if you believe what Danielle Smith has said, then you know that she values self improvement, and continued growth. (I do believe this is a truth when she says this, personally, but that’s just my belief.) anyways - if you believe that’s true, then this is an opportunity for her to grow. For her to become more even keeled and less reactive before the full facts are known. You’ll also note Facebook gets some blame too. Rightfully so.

We have to hold our leaders accountable even if we agree with most of what they say. Likewise, being able to hear dissenting points of view and consider them is essential too. Echo chambers never end well in my experience so I actively guard against them. It’s actually the reason I subscribed to the line - not only do I read things I enjoy, but I read things that I don’t agree with. And that’s super important for personal growth and knowledge. How can we ever correct our paths if we don’t have the opportunity to see different points of view and consider them?

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I will continue to subscibe as you are worth my time and money. I also promote you with likes, retweets, etc on the socmed platforms I frequent. Finally, your work generates many in-person discussions, which I always end by saying...'and you should subscribe to The Line!' Hopefully, if all your current subscribers continue to do what I'm doing, it will be enough!

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