Sun News Network

    It was on Friday the 13th a couple of years ago that Sun News Network shut its doors. I would wager a large sum that you are not mourning the loss. I am sure you never watched it since it was never part of the basic channel lineup and was found only if you ventured way up among the higher numbers. Besides, the hosts were not particularly appealing and I am sure you did know, without watching, that the views they held were deplorable.

      But, perhaps it would not be a bad thing to have them back and to be able to watch Fox News as well. Perhaps we would all be less perplexed and events would be more explicable if we occasionally watched a different channel. That wouldn’t improve things, but at least we would be less surprised and better able to counter the arguments of the deplorable who may live next door. John Doyle put it very well in his obituary for Sun News:

“The End of Sun News is Both a National Tragedy and Farce,” The Globe and Mail, Feb. 16, 2015. (read the entire article if you get a chance).

   “The mere existence of Sun News was met with outrage from the start. A very Canadian kind of outrage. High dudgeon about “Fox News North” bringing right-wing ranting to Canada. Bless my soul, the True North strong and free could not possibly withstand this assault….”

“We don’t do blunt in Canada. We do tut-tutting. We’re delusional about our media and smug about how broad-minded we are. We’re not broad-minded, often. We’re intolerant of bluntly expressed opinions and attitudes. For heaven’s sake, we’ve allowed Tim Hortons to commandeer our national self-image.”

“I suspect that many who loathed Sun News and now cheer its demise feel that we should have laws against obnoxiousness. The tragedy is the loss of a counterpoint to the existing media establishment. The loss of obnoxious voices, from that of Ezra Levant to Brian Lilley’s comic obsession with the CBC. The tragedy is that a national channel expressing blunt views is now silenced. The tragedy is that there is less challenge to our smugness.”