The vindication of Sun News

Sun News has always attracted criticism. Since the earliest days in printing papers it’s been slammed as a hard-right, fringe and radical organization.

This hatred came to a head back in 2011 with the launch of the Sun News television station, and the nickname “Fox News North” became synonymous with the network.

Due to its high channel placement and forceful campaigns to discredit it, the network has always struggled with ratings.

Nonetheless, it has only been three and half years since its founding, and it’s not going anywhere.

Even though the network has found its footing and the hosts have become more experienced, the mountain of disdain still remains.

But one look at the critiques shows a sea of hypocrisy. In fact, I’m extremely glad to have the Sun News Network around, because although it has its flaws, it has managed to contribute greatly to the Canadian body politic in numerous ways.

Political bias is the number one complaint hurled at the organization, but anyone familiar with the state of Canadian journalism can see that it has been incredibly polarized for half a century.

We know the Toronto Star has a strong left-wing point of view, the Globe and Mail is more of a Liberal paper and The National Post and Sun chain of papers are conservative.

But Sun doesn’t just have a bias; it has an honest set of hosts and contributors that admit their ideology.

That is a sharp and welcome change of pace from the Canadian broadcasting norm, where television organizations propagate the laughable idea that they are totally objective.

In fact, Ezra Levant, Sun’s most popular figure, has openly said on air, “If it was Stephen Harper who admitted to smoking marijuana, I wouldn’t bash him like I do to Trudeau. That’s because I’m a conservative commentator who is here to take the conservative side.”

Contrast that with the CBC’s David Suzuki, who is framed as a non-partisan scientist and TV host.

Not only does he bash Stephen Harper routinely, but has gone so far as to actually appear in a television ad endorsing the Ontario Liberal Party.

I think most Canadians would appreciate a more open and honest approach to political commentary, as opposed to a hidden bias that can sway a program.

Apart from bias, those who hate the network simply write the shows off as stupid and the hosts idiotic.

The level of criticism has actually reached the point where if someone on Sun disagrees with the mainstream Liberal view, they are just written off as idiots and phony journalists.

This is more of a political tactic then anything else and shows the laziness of some who can’t properly critique Sun and settle instead for cheap insults.

People have opinions that others don’t like. That’s a part of life.

But the willingness of the left to vehemently despise a network that has a different point of view shows close-mindedness and intolerance.

To make matters worse, those who Sun criticize the most refuse to go on to defend themselves.

For example, the unwillingness of Justin Trudeau to make an appearance so he could argue his beliefs is staggering.

I’m extremely conservative for the average Canadian, and even I don’t agree with everything I see on Sun, but I’ve watched the CBC for years and it eventually became too much. They often covered the same story for weeks and even months.

Opening every episode of Power & Politics with half an hour dedicated to the senate scandal got boring after three weeks.

There are other stories to be reported on, and these networks aren’t doing so.

I find Sun presents stories that are extremely underreported. And sometimes they’re irrelevant, but other times they’re significant and catch on.

Numerous times a story brought forward by Sun has sparked interest in other news outlets and enters the mainstream debate.

Overall, Sun News is just a conservative news outlet — nothing more, nothing less.

They give the viewers exactly what they advertise. If you don’t like it, then don’t watch it.