Business
Left-wing mainstream media is crumbling right before our eyes
From LifeSiteNews
CBS has been purchased by conservative David Ellison, government funding for PBS and NPR has been eliminated by recent congressional votes, the incoming CEO of Versant, the soon-to-be publicly traded company spun off from NBC Universal believes the public perception of MSNBC is that Republicans cannot get a fair shake from the network. He wants to change that.
Cable news is losing both audience share and financial stability, with no clear prospect for reversing these declines as the cable ecosystem itself continues to erode. The old cable news model is unlikely to survive in its current form much longer.
The pharma industry spent $5.15 billion on national TV ads last year, according to real-time TV ad tracker (source: iSpot.tv). Eventually, the Pharma Bucks that have been propping up the industry will decrease significantly, as cable TV news becomes increasingly irrelevant.
Pharma ads accounted for nearly 25 percent of advertising minutes through May 2025 for all major cable and broadcast networks (NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, and Fox News).
For now, pharma advertising has not yet begun a mass pullout from cable TV news. Still, the possibility now hangs over the industry. At present, cable news remains one of the few strongholds for pharma ad dollars, but this dominance is no longer assured.
In fact, the Trump administration has indicated a clear intention to crack down on pharmaceutical advertising, particularly in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) segment, which is traditionally seen on television and other broadcast media.
Key actions and proposals under discussion include:
- Making DTC advertising more expensive: The administration is considering ending the tax deductibility of direct-to-consumer pharma ad spending, which would significantly raise costs for drugmakers engaging in these campaigns (1, 2.).
- Increasing regulatory hurdles: Proposals are under review to require more extensive disclosures of drug side effects in ads, likely resulting in longer, more costly ad placements (1, 2.).
- No outright ban yet: Although a complete ban on DTC pharma advertising isn’t currently being planned, probably because of potential First Amendment legal challenges, the emphasis is on tightening legal and financial restrictions instead of banning it immediately.
- High-level leadership support: Key administration officials, including HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have publicly called for a ban on pharma TV advertising, and President Trump has criticized pharma advertising in the past (3). Such stances have contributed to the momentum behind regulatory proposals.
- Legislative support: There is bipartisan interest in more tightly regulating pharma ads. Senators Bernie Sanders and Angus King have introduced legislation to ban direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising across all major media outlets (1).
Trends in the cable news industry both point to a decrease in the significance of this media as well as in traditional ratings. This has also led to a more conservative shift in cable news programming, which is only now beginning to take effect.
Fox News continues to dominate cable news ratings, maintaining its lead over NBC/MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and CNN, with the network holding 99 of the top 100 cable news telecasts in the week of May 12, 2025. In comparison, MSNBC and CNN experienced significant declines in viewership, with MSNBC down 29 percent in total viewers and 40 percent in the key demographics in primetime, while CNN dropped 16 percent in total viewers and 11 percent during primetime.
CBS has been purchased by conservative David Ellison, who has fired Stephen Colbert. David Ellison is an American film producer, former actor, and the founder and CEO of Skydance Media, a major entertainment company. He was born on January 9, 1983, in Santa Clara County, California, and is the son of Oracle Corporation co-founder Larry Ellison and Barbara Boothe Ellison.
READ: Dr. McCullough: Big Pharma controls the airwaves with billions in ad revenue
CBS has not yet officially changed hands, so the firing of Stephen Colbert may or may not have been at Ellison’s request. But the suspicious timing leads many to believe that Ellison had a role in the decision to fire.
All government funding for PBS and NPR, including their local affiliates, has been eliminated by recent congressional votes. Trump has not yet signed the rescissions package into law, but it has been sent to his desk for signature after final passage by Congress. This will lead to a significant reduction in local programming; however, it is believed that national programming will survive due to other revenue streams.
NBC/MSNBC are being spun out from Comcast. Mark Lazarus is the incoming CEO of Versant, the soon-to-be publicly traded company spun off from NBC Universal. Versant (formerly SpinCo) will now be operationally above MSNBC. Versant’s new boss, Lazarus, has indicated in private communications that he believes the public perception of MSNBC is that Republicans cannot get a fair shake from the network. He wants to change that (4), and he has suggested the network should offer more balanced viewpoints. However, the current CEO of MSNBC is still very progressive. So time will tell what influence Lazarus will have on MSNBC programming.
CNN is being spun off as a separate company from Warner Bros./Discovery’s streaming/studio assets. CNN is now undergoing major staff layoffs and has already introduced sweeping programming changes for 2025. However, whether CNN will shift to the center-right is anyone’s guess.
In June 2025, The Washington Post, under the guidance of Jeff Bezos, named Adam O’Neal, former Washington correspondent at The Economist, as its new head of opinion content. O’Neal emphasized a philosophy of optimism and focus on personal freedom and free markets, echoing Bezos’ vision.
The Los Angeles Times‘ editorial stance has undergone a dramatic change in late 2024 and 2025 under the ownership of Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. The most significant developments include a shift toward “fair and balanced” and the firing and restructuring of the entire editorial board. The LA Times under Soon-Shioung has indicated that there will be an explicit shift to feature conservative, centrist, and liberal voices. Soon-Shiong has also expressed a desire to increase conservative voices in the Times’ opinion section, citing concerns the publication had become an “echo chamber” for the political left (5).
Most mainstream media outlets recognize that audience capture is what will keep this industry alive. As there is a more conservative mood among the general populace, slowly but surely mainstream media is being forced to keep up. People do not want to hear a one-sided, progressive primordial scream coming from their TVs. If they don’t change their overtly socialist, DEI stances, they will continue to wither.
Likewise, seamlessly melding cable networks with streaming services will be the future of the industry. But that again requires liberal voices to be quelled, as they do not represent the center field, let alone the conservative voice.
Without relevancy, cable news is a dying dinosaur and will be replaced. The king is starving and on his last legs: long live the new king – alternative media.
Reprinted with permission from Robert Malone.
From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
By Conrad Eder
Ottawa’s EV subsidies have backfired. Western Canada’s canola farmers are the latest victims of misguided government industrial policy
Economic policy is more like gardening than engineering. You can shovel all the money you want into trying to grow coconuts in a Canadian winter, but you’ll achieve far better results—and feed many more people—by planting potatoes in the spring and letting nature run its course.
For Canada, that means embracing policies that create fertile ground for all businesses to compete, innovate, and serve consumers. Ottawa, unfortunately, prefers to play God with the weather. What began as economic tinkering has triggered a cascade of interventions now devastating Canada’s canola industry.
Rather than letting the market determine Canada’s strengths, federal and provincial politicians decided they knew better, wagering $52.5 billion to lure EV and battery manufacturers to Canada. Massive public subsidies were placed on a handful of firms and technologies.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer delivered a sobering assessment of this boondoggle: it could take decades for taxpayers to break even on these subsidies—and only if nothing goes sideways.
Well, you know what they say about best-laid plans.
After committing billions, Ottawa faced an awkward truth: Chinese manufacturers were eating our lunch, offering EVs at lower prices, thanks in part to their own subsidies. Instead of reversing course, Ottawa hit the panic button and slapped a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese EVs.
Let’s be clear: this wasn’t about national security or consumer protection. It was about salvaging one of the largest industrial bets in Canadian history.
Yes, some sectors require targeted oversight to protect privacy and safety. EVs aren’t one of them. Their risks can be managed with targeted regulations and technical safeguards. But the tariffs do real damage by blocking affordable EVs and denying Canadians the right to judge for themselves.
Predictably, China didn’t take the tariffs lying down. In March, Beijing slapped 100 per cent duties on Canadian canola oil. In August, it hit canola seed with 75.8 per cent tariffs, effectively shutting out Canadian farmers from a $4.9-billion market.
Ninety-nine per cent of canola fields are in Western Canada. Canola is Canada’s top crop export, supporting tens of thousands of Prairie jobs and generating over $43 billion annually.
Another trade war, another lose-lose. Canadians pay more for EVs. Chinese consumers pay more for food.
And now, predictably, agricultural lobbyists are seeking Ottawa’s help. The government—having started the fire—has responded with $370 million in biofuel incentives and expanded financial support for canola producers. More subsidies. More distortion. Another Band-Aid for another self-inflicted wound.
Ironically, Canada’s farm sector already receives substantial government support. Now it’s receiving even more just to survive Ottawa’s protection of a separate subsidized industry. That’s the trouble with industrial policy: helping one sector often means hurting another. And taxpayers get the privilege of funding both.
There’s a better way forward: it doesn’t involve doubling down on mistakes. The solution is to stop the engineering and let the economy breathe. Lower taxes. Fewer regulations. Neutral infrastructure investment. These create the conditions for businesses to rise or fall on merit. That’s how innovation flourishes: through competition, not cabinet-level favouritism.
It’s not hard to follow the dominoes. EV subsidies triggered Chinese tariffs. Tariffs triggered canola retaliation. Canola retaliation now triggers demands for bailouts.
One attempt to pick winners has manufactured a long list of losers.
Had Ottawa stuck with free-trade principles, Canadians could’ve had more affordable EVs, taxpayers would’ve saved billions, and canola farmers would still have access to a vital export market.
Instead, we get a chain reaction of policy “fixes,” each one compensating for the damage done by the last—each one digging the hole deeper.
When governments try to engineer economic outcomes, citizens foot the bill. The real lesson? Governments are great at creating problems. Markets are better at solving them.
If Canada wants a prosperous economic future, it must stop betting the farm on political hunches and let competitive markets do the cultivating.
Conrad Eder is a policy analyst at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
Business
Energy leaders send this letter urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to unlock Canada’s resources
An Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Canada
The CEOs of Canada’s largest energy companies, including Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus, Suncor, Imperial Oil and many more, have issued a new “Build Canada Now” letter to Prime Minister Carney. They are calling for Ottawa to repeal the production cap, scrap the tanker ban, simplify regulations and shorten project approvals so Alberta’s energy sector can create jobs, attract investment and help Canada become a true global energy superpower.
September 15, 2025
The Rt. Hon. Mark Carney, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Canada
Dear Prime Minister Carney,
Six months have passed since the first “Build Canada Now” letter was sent to you and the leaders of Canada’s other political parties outlining an action plan to unlock Canada’s world class oil and natural gas resources to strengthen Canada’s economic sovereignty, resilience and prosperity. After the election, we followed up with a second letter expressing our support for our shared vision of Canada becoming an energy superpower, one that harnesses both conventional and clean energy resources. Since then, we have seen progress but it is insufficient to stimulate the investment and growth required to make this vision a reality.
Thank you for leading the positive change in tone from the Federal Government in terms of the importance of economic development, including expanded investments in conventional energy. The launch of the new Major Projects Office, Indigenous Advisory Council, the initial list of projects of national significance, and the announcement that it will begin work in support of Pathways Plus are critical steps in the right direction. We appreciate the progress the Federal Government has made in these areas.
However, Canada still lacks the clear, competitive and durable fiscal and regulatory policies required to achieve the so-called “Grand Bargain”. That bargain being significant emissions reductions, expanded market access and material upstream production growth. Achieving these three inter-related outcomes goes beyond progressing select major projects but rather includes a multitude of other projects and related investments. Consequently, we reiterate our call to work together to make the policy changes required for this to happen.
Our call to action is urgent, with persistent indicators that the Canadian economy is moving in the wrong direction. The need to improve productivity and create jobs requires swift and decisive action. Canada is blessed with an enviable abundance of oil and natural gas resources and has the expertise to develop them in a manner consistent with environmental responsibility, social values, and working with Indigenous groups for the benefit of Canada and Canadians. As leaders of this sector, we have consistently advocated for the changes required to unwind the past decade of increasing policy complexity and uncertainty that led to delayed investments, lost opportunities and a competitive disadvantage on the global energy stage.
Given your background, you understand that the private sector and public markets require clarity and certainty to make the long-term investments necessary to realizing this sector’s potential, in turn creating thousands of high-paying jobs and significantly strengthening Canada’s economy.
Making the changes expressed in the earlier Build Canada Now letters are necessary to send clear signals that Canada is open for business. To reiterate, we believe that your government must focus on the following:
- Significantly simplify regulations. The Federal Impact Assessment Act and West Coast tanker ban are impeding development and need to be overhauled and repealed, respectively. Existing processes are complex, unpredictable, subjective, and excessively long. Processes need to be clarified and simplified, and decisions must withstand judicial review.
- Shorten timelines for project approvals. The Federal Government needs to dramatically reduce regulatory timelines to approve all projects within months, not years, of application. This is required to restore investor confidence and once again attract capital to Canada. Clarity on provincial versus federal jurisdiction related to project approvals is also required and needs to be respected.
- Commit to grow production, not limit it. The Federal Government’s unlegislated cap on emissions must be eliminated to allow the sector to grow and achieve its potential for the benefit of Canada and Canadians. The “production cap” creates uncertainty, is redundant, will result in production cuts, and stifles investment.
- Fiscal framework that attracts investment. The Federal carbon levy on large emitters is not globally cost competitive and should be repealed allowing provinces to set regulations. The Federal Government can lead cooperation across jurisdictions, protecting domestic and international competitiveness. Industry needs clear, competitive, and durable fiscal frameworks, including associated with carbon and overall taxation, to secure capital and incentivize investment.
- Incent Indigenous investment opportunities. The Federal Government needs to provide Indigenous loan guarantees at scale so industry can create ownership opportunities to increase prosperity and ensure Indigenous communities benefit from resource development.
As you have clearly stated, our country needs to move from “uncertainty to prosperity”. There needs to be tangible change to make this happen, and without clear and urgent action we risk missing a generational opportunity to capture the potential before Canada now.
As Parliament resumes for the Fall sitting, the energy industry remains committed to working with you, your cabinet, and the provinces on an urgent basis to achieve the energy sector’s potential for the good of Canada. Together, Canada can become the global energy superpower we all envision. We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Original signatories
Brandon Anderson
President & CEO
NorthRiver Midstream Inc
Doug Bartole
President & CEO
InPlay Oil Corp.
Robert Broen
President & CEO
Athabasca Oil Corporation
Scott Burrows
President and Chief Executive Officer
Pembina Pipeline Corp.
Chris Carlsen
President & COO
Birchcliff Energy Ltd.
Brad W. Corson
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Imperial Oil Ltd.
N. Murray Edwards
Executive Chairman
Canadian Natural Resources Limited
Darlene Gates
President and Chief Executive Officer
MEG Energy Corp.
Paul Hawksworth
President and Chief Executive Officer
Inter Pipeline Ltd.
Tyson Huska
President & CEO
Longshore Resources Ltd.
Mike Lawford
President & CEO
NuVista Energy Ltd.
Chris Mazerolle
President
Chevron Canada Resources
Nicholas McKenna
President
ConocoPhillips Canada
Paul Myers
President
Pacific Canbriam Energy Limited
François Poirier
President and Chief Executive Officer
TC Energy Corp.
Susan Riddell Rose
President & CEO
Rubellite Energy Corp.
Don Simmons
President & CEO
Hemisphere Energy Corporation
Adam Waterous
Executive Chairman, Board of Directors
Strathcona Resources Ltd.
Richard Wyman
President
Chance Oil and Gas Limited
Terry Anderson
President and Chief Executive Officer
ARC Resources Ltd.
Michael Binnion
President & CEO
Questerre Energy Corporation
Craig Bryksa
President and Chief Executive Officer
Veren Inc.
David J. Burton
President & CEO
Lycos Energy Inc.
Paul Colborne
President & CEO
Surge Energy Inc.
Greg Ebel
President and Chief Executive Officer
Enbridge Inc.
Grant Fagerheim
President and Chief Executive Officer
Whitecap Resources Inc.
Bryan Gould
Founder & CEO
Aspenleaf Energy Limited
Philip B. Hodge
President & CEO
Pine Cliff Energy Ltd.
Rich Kruger
President and Chief Executive Officer
Suncor Energy Inc.
Byron Lutes
President
Mancal Energy Inc.
Brendan McCracken
President & CEO
Ovintiv Canada ULC
Jon McKenzie
President and Chief Executive Officer
Cenovus Energy Inc.
Curtis Philippon
President & CEO
Gibson Energy
Mike Rose
President and Chief Executive Officer
Tourmaline Oil Corp.
Brian Schmidt
President & CEO
Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd.
David Spyker
President & CEO
Freehold Royalties Ltd.
Bevin Wirzba
President and Chief Executive Officer
South Bow Corp.
Vern Yu
President & Chief Executive Officer
AltaGas
Additional signatories
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