American Media

America media – in particular news media - is really, really loud. I get CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, FOX News, and Headline Prime and they all love to zero in on the same sensational story, pound it to death, then move on to the next sensational story. Since I moved here, it’s been nothing but hurricanes and pedophiles and polygamists. This goes for local news too. And it’s also really, really low-brow. And why’s everyone shouting? Someone turn down the decibel level. I get no Canadian TV where I am, and I miss the mellow, tempered news coverage and general civility of Canadian media. I now have a greater appreciation for the CBC and CTV and Mansbridge and Lloyd Robertson.

The observation above actually squares with the remarks of an African-American stand-up comic that I’d seen on the CBC’s Canada Day’s comedy special. He was a born and bred American who’d recently moved to Quebec, and he’d observed that there’s a sense of calm, Zen Buddhist-like mellowness in Canada, and living here now, I see where he’s coming from. Compared to America’s problems – terrorism threats, deficits, illegal immigration, declining public schools & the lowest SAT scores in 31 years - Canada’s problems are pretty trivial.

I also see why Americans are so insular and provincial – there is practically zero international coverage, short of their “War On Terror” in Iraq and now maybe Iran. If I’m looking at a weather map, everything north of the 49th parallel and south of the Rio Grande is blacked out. And apart from the aforementioned countries, there is really practically no mention of any other countries - including Canada - anywhere on any TV network. On Canuck TV, you can't go an hour without the US being referenced at least once.