Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
media conglomerate based in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...
, with its head offices at
Canwest Place (now called 201 Portage). It held
radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
,
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
broadcasting, and
publishing
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
assets in several countries, primarily in Canada.
Canwest was founded in 1974 by
Izzy Asper through the formation of
CIII-TV in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
under the
Global Television Network
The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language, English-language terrestrial television, terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's se ...
. The company expanded through the 1980s and 1990s, with the
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...
in 1991 as a publicly traded corporation and the international expansion of its operations in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Turkey. Throughout the years, under
Leonard Asper, who became its president and CEO in 1999, Canwest grew into a major media powerhouse by acquiring media properties such as
Western International Communications and the
Southam newspaper publishing. In 2007, with
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...
, Canwest acquired the broadcasting arm of
Alliance Atlantis.
After years of debt, Canwest began to slowly collapse in 2008, amid the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009. and later entered
bankruptcy protection in late 2009, which led to the sale of its publishing and broadcasting arms the following year to
Postmedia Network
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in En ...
, founded by ''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only. '' CEO
Paul Godfrey and
Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications Inc. was a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian telecommunication, telecommunications company which provided telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. The company was founded in 1966 as Capital Cable Televisio ...
, which later reorganized its media division as
Shaw Media. On April 1, 2016, the broadcasting assets were subsumed into
Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. (often simply known as Corus) is a Canadian mass media and television production company. The company was founded in 1987 as Shaw Radio Ltd. as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications and was spun-off from Shaw in 1999. It h ...
, an existing broadcasting firm also owned by the Shaw family.
Following the sale of assets, the company was renamed 2737469 Canada Inc., ceased to carry on business, and commenced
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...
proceedings under the ''
Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act'' before finally being dissolved on May 27, 2013.
Operations
(prior to seeking creditor protection), Canwest owned, in whole or part, a variety of Canadian media assets, including:
*
Global
Global may refer to:
General
*Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies
*Earth, the third planet from the Sun
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...
, a primary Canadian
television network
A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...
which reached over 94% of the English-speaking population of Canada;
*
E!, a now-defunct secondary Canadian
television system consisted of five smaller market stations; however, through repeaters and cable television, it reaches the majority of major Canadian markets. The "E!" name was licensed by
the American channel of the same name, which also supplies the majority of its programming outside of local news and regional programming and primetime shows from the American broadcast networks;
*
Specialty services including
Showcase,
Slice,
HGTV,
TVTropolis
DTour (styled as DTOUR) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language Discretionary service, discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment.
The channel was originally established by Canwest in 1997 as Prime, a cable compan ...
,
Food Network
Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...
,
History Television, and various
digital services;
*
Southam Inc. and its former properties, which included the number-two national newspaper ''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only. '', the broadsheet daily newspapers in most major markets, several other smaller newspapers, and the
Canwest News Service newswire. Canwest was Canada's largest newspaper publisher;
* Production, distribution, and
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
assets associated with all the Canwest properties
The company had previously sold off some of the smaller newspapers it had acquired in the Southam purchase. Canwest also previously owned broadcasting operations in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
(as majority shareholder of
Network Ten),
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
(through
CanWest MediaWorks New Zealand), the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
(as a minority shareholder of
TV3) and
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
(as the owners of four radio stations).
History
Beginnings
In 1974, a group led by
Israel Asper bought the assets of
Pembina, North Dakota television station
KCND-TV from broadcaster
Gordon McLendon, moving the station to Winnipeg as an independent station
CKND-TV. Asper, through his company, Canwest, eventually bought out his partners in the Winnipeg station. A few months later, the Asper group joined a consortium that bought CKGN-TV, a network of six simulcasting transmitters across
Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
that carried many of CKND's programs and was known on-air as the
Global Television Network
The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language, English-language terrestrial television, terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's se ...
. Canwest bought controlling interest in Global, now using the callsign
CIII-TV, in 1985, thus becoming the first western-based owner of a major Canadian broadcaster. He acquired the remaining stock in 1989.
Canwest subsequently invested in or acquired other independent TV stations across Canada. Eventually, his station group became known as the "Canwest Global System." In 1997, Canwest bought a controlling interest in
CKMI-TV
CKMI-DT (channel 15) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the Global Television Network. Owned and operated by network parent Corus Entertainment, the station maintains studios inside the Dominion Square Building in down ...
, the privately owned CBC affiliate in
Quebec City
Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...
. Canwest then set up CKMI rebroadcasters in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
and
Sherbrooke
Sherbrooke ( , ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François River, Saint-François and Magog River, Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territ ...
. With this move, Canwest's stations now had enough coverage of Canada that on August 18—the day CKMI officially disaffiliated from CBC—Canwest scrubbed all local brands from its stations, rebranding them as "The Global Television Network," Canada's third television network. Throughout the 1990s, Global (and its antecedents) held Canadian rights to hit U.S. series such as ''
Cheers
''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...
'', ''
Friends
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...
'', and ''
Frasier''.
Canwest also bought broadcasting assets internationally, including outlets in
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...
, and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, although all were eventually sold off. In 1991, Canwest issued a successful initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In June 1996, Canwest was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Beyond broadcasting and the newspapers
Lacking a presence in
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
, the company set its sights on
Western International Communications, which owned three independent stations in that province that carried Global programming. It eventually bought that company's broadcasting assets in 2000. This not only boosted Global's coverage in western Canada but prompted the establishment of a second over-the-air service, originally known as
CH, since in some areas the combined company had duplicate over-the-air coverage through multiple stations. Later that year, Canwest announced its acquisition of
Southam Inc.'s newspaper chain from
Conrad Black, in order to pursue a
media convergence strategy.
[
]
Canwest was initially slow to invest in
specialty channels due to the strength of its terrestrial network. In 1999, seeking to change this, the company announced a deal to buy out the Canadian partners of
NetStar Communications, owner of
TSN, but was stymied by U.S. partner
ESPN
ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
, which had veto power over such a sale. ESPN instead came to terms with Canwest's main rival
CTV, a longtime business partner of ESPN's parent company
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
, as an acceptable buyer, which the selling partners eventually agreed to.
In an effort to get into the entertainment business, the company had bought out producer/distributor
Fireworks Entertainment in 1998, and gained interest in
Seven Arts Pictures, a film production company. CanWest would sell its entertainment unit in 2005.
In 2005, CanWest launched a new website, Canada.com, which served as a digital media platform for its rebranded brands in the digital space. These brands encompassed various local news outlets, major newspapers, and other media entities. The brands were collectively presented under the "canada.com Network" and included the following (as listed in the website footer): Newspapers: National Post, Calgary Herald, Edmonton Journal, The Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, Regina Leader Post, The Saskatoon Star Phoenix, The Vancouver Sun, The Vancouver Province, Victoria Times Colonist, The Windsor Star, Dose, Vancouver Island Newspaper, VANNEET Newspaper; Television: Global, CH, Prime TV, Fox Sports World Canada, Lonestar, Mystery, Xtreme Sports, Deje View, mentv, Cool TV; Radio: CoolFM 99.1, 91.5 The Beat; Marketplace: working.com, driving.ca, connecting, celebrating, remembering, homes. The website experience revolved around news, city guides, activities, and events to enhance advertising revenue. The site was developed by Cossette/Fjord based in Toronto, Canada, in 2005.
In October 2005, CanWest's Canadian newspapers were sold into an IPO trust. Sold 25.8% of Canada's newspapers for C$550 million. Attached to the Canadian newspaper IPO was $850 million in long-term debt. CanWest bought back the 25.8% Newspaper Trust IPO (and debt) in November 2008, for cash considerations of $495 million. In April 2006, Canwest acquired four radio stations in
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
: Super FM, Metro FM, Joy FM and Joy Turk FM from The Turkish Savings and Deposit Insurance Fund for aggregate cash consideration of US$61 million.
The company was already one of the largest owners of Canadian local TV stations when Canwest and
Goldman Sachs
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...
, in 2007, announced they would jointly acquire Canadian producer and competing broadcaster
Alliance Atlantis and its massive stable of wide-distribution specialty channels. Under the deal, Canwest took control of the broadcasting portion of AAC, although Goldman Sachs remained a major investor in those assets. Goldman retained or resold the remaining pieces of AAC, the distribution arm soon re-emerging as
Alliance Films.
Canwest executives testified in the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission hearings over
fee-for-carriage, requesting that the commission force cable and satellite companies to pay for their signals without passing the fees on to their subscribers. In his testimony, Canwest president Leonard Asper blamed the current rules for the poor financial condition of Canada's broadcast television stations, a position which has subsequently been adopted and addressed through rule changes by the CRTC and FCC.
Restructuring, creditor protection, bankruptcy, and liquidation
Canwest's various acquisitions took a significant financial toll. As early as 2002, most of Canwest's operating income was going to pay interest on its high-interest-rate debt. By 2007, the company's bonds were downgraded to junk status. By early 2009, it became clear the company's debt was not manageable during the
Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009. , forcing Canwest into an extended set of negotiations with its lenders and a series of cost-cutting moves. The company's income statements reported net losses in 2008 and 2009, even though its operating activities were profitable (before taxes, interest, and non-operating charges: C$197 million in 2009, vs. C$428 million in 2008).
In May 2009, Canwest sold off four radio stations in Turkey to Spectrum Medya.
On August 31, 2009, Canwest shut down its secondary system
E! (the former CH). Three of the former E!
owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an network af ...
s –
CHCH Hamilton
Hamilton may refer to:
* Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States
* ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda
** ''Hamilton'' (al ...
,
CHEK Victoria, and
CJNT Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
– were sold to third parties, while a fourth,
CHBC Kelowna
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan, Okanagan Valley in the British Columbia Interior, southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna ...
, was converted to a Global station. The remaining station,
CHCA Red Deer
The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or Hart (deer), hart, and a female is called a doe or hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Ir ...
, was closed as of the same date.
On September 24, the company announced that it would sell its 50.1% stake in
Ten Network Holdings for
A$680 million, in order to pay down its significant debt. The sale of CanWest's Australian media operations reduced some C$582-million in debt tied to the Australian TV network, raising the total value Canwest can erase from its overall debt to more than C$1.2-billion. Before the Ten deal, Canwest held about C$3.8-billion of debt on its balance sheet. In court documents, Goldman Sachs alleges "fraudulent" and "abusive" changes to the internal operation of Canwest in the days before it filed for creditor protection. As part of the filing, the Wall Street investment bank is seeking to undo these changes, and has also claimed that CanWest's creditors should return the C$426 million they received from Canwest balance sheet in September, after CanWest sold its stake in Ten.
On October 6, the company voluntarily filed for creditor protection under the ''
Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act'' (CCAA), due to billion mounting debt across radio, television broadcasting and publishing assets in several countries. At the same time it announced it had agreed to a recapitalization transaction with some of its lenders, which will likely require the approval of the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). When completed, bondholders – led by
hedge fund
A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...
s West Face Capital,
GoldenTree Asset Management, and
Beach Point Capital Management – will own a majority of shares, leaving existing shareholders, including the Asper family, with a total of 2.3% of the "new" Canwest. However, the Aspers are expected to invest a further C$15 million in the restructured entity.
In January 2010, CanWest's bonds commanded about 70 cents on the dollar. CanWest's bonds at one point traded for as little as 15 cents on the dollar. Several sources say that as CanWest notes increased fivefold in price, distressed-debt funds took profits on part of their position, with Angelo Gordon among the buyers.
On February 3, 2010, it was reported that a group led by Golden Tree Asset Management LP complained that "it was unfairly frozen out of the auction of Canwest Limited Partnership."
As part of the transaction, Canwest and some of its subsidiaries, including Canwest Media Inc.,
The National Post Company, and Canwest Television LP (the licensee of Global,
MovieTime,
DejaView, and
Fox Sports World Canada
Fox Sports World Canada was a Canadian pay television channel. The channel's programming primarily featured soccer and covered other world sports such as rugby. Although its original Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ( ...
) filed for creditor protection under the ''
Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act'' (CCAA). Canwest Limited Partnership, a subsidiary that owns the company's other newspaper assets and online properties, is negotiating separately with creditors and is expected to file for creditor protection at a later date. Specialty channels operated in partnership with other companies (such as
TVtropolis
DTour (styled as DTOUR) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language Discretionary service, discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment.
The channel was originally established by Canwest in 1997 as Prime, a cable compan ...
,
Mystery TV,
MenTV
History2 is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Men TV General Partnership, a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment dedicated to airing historic and non-historical programming of military, science, and technology int ...
, and the former
Alliance Atlantis properties) are also not included in the present filing. Canwest shares were also suspended from trading on the
TSX.
Canwest said that it was not being
liquidated at this point, and the company insisted that the proceedings would make Canwest "a stronger industry competitor with a renewed financial outlook." Nevertheless, some analysts expected that the conglomerate would sell assets or be broken up entirely as the restructuring process continues, noting that the publishing division has a separate set of lenders.
As it turned out, the company would indeed be broken up.
Sale of assets to Shaw and Postmedia
In February 2010, the company announced an agreement with
Shaw Communications
Shaw Communications Inc. was a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian telecommunication, telecommunications company which provided telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. The company was founded in 1966 as Capital Cable Televisio ...
whereby the latter company would buy an 80% voting interest, and 20% equity interest, in the restructured entity, pending approvals from the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and others. The company's newspapers were not part of the Shaw deal and were already sold separately to
Postmedia Network
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. (also known as Postmedia Network, Postmedia News or Postmedia) is an American-owned Canadian-based media conglomerate consisting of the publishing properties of the former Canwest, with primary operations in En ...
. However, the Asper family with Goldman and Catalyst made their own bid to retake Canwest with a $120 million bid in competition with the bid proposed by Shaw Communications. On February 25, 2010, it was announced that Shaw Communications had won a court battle to continue their plans to purchase assets & voting shares from Canwest. After the announcement, Shaw revealed that its investment amounted to a minimum of $95-million in exchange for 20 percent of the equity and an 80 percent voting interest in the restructured company.
Although Goldman, Catalyst, and the Aspers continued to work on their own bid after the Shaw agreement, Shaw announced a revised agreement, following court-ordered mediation, under which it would purchase the entirety of Canwest's broadcasting operations, including the portion owned by Goldman.
This deal was later modified following a second court-ordered mediation to include a settlement agreement between Shaw, creditors, and the Official Ad Hoc Committee of Shareholders, led by the Aspers, Blott Asset Management, L.L.C. and two other hedge funds. This marked the first successful equity committee campaign in Canada under CCAA. A modified deal, including the Settlement Agreement, received the approval of the Ontario Superior Court on June 23, 2010, the
Competition Bureau as of August 13, 2010, and was given final approval from the
CRTC on October 22, 2010, with Canwest delisting itself from the TSX and officially ceasing operations that same month. Final closing would officially occur in October 2011 following the official CMI Transition Order. Meanwhile, Shaw Communications reorganized Canwest into
Shaw Media.
After bankruptcy proceedings concluded under the ''
Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act'', Canwest, by this point known as ''2737469 Canada, Inc.'', finally dissolved on May 27, 2013. Asper, through his Syngus Corp. holding company, went on to establish
Anthem Media Group in 2010 and has since grown into the portfolio through the ownership of
Impact Wrestling,
AXS TV,
Fight Network and
GameTV.
In April 2016, the Shaw Media assets were subsumed by Shaw's sister company
Corus Entertainment
Corus Entertainment Inc. (often simply known as Corus) is a Canadian mass media and television production company. The company was founded in 1987 as Shaw Radio Ltd. as a subsidiary of Shaw Communications and was spun-off from Shaw in 1999. It h ...
.
Corporate governance
Board of directors
The last members of the
board of directors
A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency.
The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...
of the company were
Derek Burney, David Drybrough, David Kerr,
Leonard Asper,
Izzy Asper, Lisa Pankratz,
Frank McKenna,
David Asper, and
Gail Asper. Gail Asper, David Asper, and Lisa Pankratz resigned from the board, and from all other director and officer positions within Canwest and its subsidiaries, on February 10, 2010.
Editorial controversies
Since the 2000 acquisition of the major former Canadian newspaper holdings of
Conrad Black's
Hollinger International (now
Sun-Times Media Group), including
Canwest News Service, opposition has been expressed by some journalists, union spokespersons, politicians, and pundits about Canwest's enforcement of its corporate editorial positions. A 2001 decision to run regular uniform national
editorials in all metropolitan dailies (except ''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only. ''), whereby local
editorial boards could not take local positions on subjects of national editorials, ignited major national controversy and was subsequently withdrawn.
Conflict over Canwest editorial control and policy has focused in particular on three issues:
* The
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...
. Since Israel Asper's leadership of the
Manitoba Liberal Party
The Manitoba Liberal Party () is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late 19th century, following the province's creation in 1870.
History
Origins and early development (to 1883)
Originally, there were no off ...
, the Asper family has been identified with Liberal politics and politicians. In July 2001, Southam national affairs columnist
Lawrence Martin was fired after a column of his critical of Liberal
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a retired Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. He served as Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, leader of t ...
was not published.
Russell Mills, long-time publisher of ''
The Ottawa Citizen'', was fired in June 2002 after the newspaper published a series of articles exposing a financial scandal involving Prime Minister Chrétien, and called on him to resign. Canwest newspapers and broadcast outlets in British Columbia were criticized for giving a "free ride" to the
BC Liberal government of Premier
Gordon Campbell, while coverage of the
New Democratic Party was criticized as being unfairly negative. However, as of 2006, at least one Asper family member (
David Asper) was publicly supporting the
Conservatives.
* The government of
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
and conflict in the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
. Veteran ''
Montreal Gazette
''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
It is the only English-language daily newspape ...
'' reporter Bill Marsden has said that the Aspers "do not want any criticism of Israel. We do not run in our newspaper
op-ed
An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page," is a type of written prose commonly found in newspapers, magazines, and online publications. They usually represent a writer's strong and focused opinion on an issue of relevance to a targeted a ...
pieces that express criticism of Israel and what it is doing." A study released in 2006 by the Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation of Canada found that the ''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper and the flagship publication of the American-owned Postmedia Network. It is published Mondays through Saturdays, with Monday released as a digital e-edition only. '' was 83.3 times more likely to report an Israeli child's death than a Palestinian child's death in its news articles' headlines or first paragraphs.
In 2008, Canwest launched a lawsuit against the Palestine Media Collective for producing a newspaper parody of ''
The Vancouver Sun
The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...
'' that satirized this bias.
In 2004, the
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
news agency protested after Canwest altered
newswire stories about the
Iraq war
The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...
and the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict about Territory, land and self-determination within the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. Key aspects of the conflict include the Israeli occupation ...
, such that Reuters felt it had inserted Canwest's own
bias
Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is inaccurate, closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individ ...
under Reuters
byline
The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines (notably '' Reader's ...
s. The changes were apparently made in accordance with a Canwest policy to label certain groups as terrorists. Ottawa Citizen, a newspaper in the Canwest chain, made similar changes to a story by
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
.
* Canwest editorial control and management itself. In December 2001, staff members at ''
The Montreal Gazette'' launched a ''Gazette Newsroom'' web page with an open letter, titled ''Media Giant Silences Local Voices: Canadian Journalism Under Attack'', that got signed by 77 Gazette journalists as of 2002 January 23,
opposing the national editorial policy, and the reporters among them participated in a
byline strike, refusing to sign their names to their stories in the newspaper in protest. Management responded with a
gag order. The next year, several journalists left ''
The Halifax Daily News'' over similar conflicts, and ten journalists at ''
The Regina Leader-Post'' were reprimanded or suspended after a byline strike to protest censorship of coverage of a speech in
Regina by ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division.
...
'' columnist and Canwest critic
Haroon Siddiqui.
See also
*
Postmedia News
References
Further reading
* Edge, Marc. ''Asper Nation: Canada's Most Dangerous Media Company'' (Vancouver: New Star Books 2007) .
* Edge, Marc. "Thwarting Foreign Ownership Limits: Policy Activism by CanWest Global Communications in Canada and Australia." ''Canadian Journal of Media Studies'' 5 (2009) pp: 70–87.
External links
Shaw MediaWho Owns What: CanWest Global Communications(''
Columbia Journalism Review'')
Focus on CanWest(TNG Canada/
CWA)
Information on Canwest Creditor Proceedings
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