The Toronto News Media Map and Advertising
Torstar, CTVglobemedia, Canwest, Rogers, Quebecor, and CBC are the big ones, but independents like Now and other web dailies (such as the one you're reading right now) are also vying for your eyes.
If you're getting the lion's share of your news from any given area on the map above, and not branching out and getting news from other sources, can you be sure that you're not missing out on equally valuable but different perspectives?
News media in Toronto is following trends similar to those around the world - large corporations buy up smaller companies, and they also diversify by purchasing other forms of media and entertainment properties (such as magazines, television stations, telecommunications, and even pro sports facilities). Needless to say, this has profound implications - including the increase in popularity of cross-property advertising.
It's expected that Rogers will use dedicated ad space to advertise its mobile phone, Internet, and TV services on the web pages of its subsidiary news organizations such as 680news and CityNews (much like blogTO promotes its Urban Maps in dedicated ad space on blogto.com).
But should it also be expected and accepted that those sames news organizations sell products and services through actual news articles?
Advertising masquerading as Toronto news isn't new, but it's sometimes so blatantly obvious and deceitful that it often makes me wonder how much we're willing to take, and how far this concept can be pushed.
Should Rogers be carefully and creatively crafting news bits to help sell over-priced football tickets, and appeal to our desires for a raise at work during tough economic times by hawking its magazines on CityNews.ca?
Should Canwest use arguably skewed news items in the National Post and Canada.com to advertise viral marketing ploys for TV shows on their entertainment TV networks?
Should CTVGlobeMedia allow advertisements for real estate listings to be slyly incorporated into the Ontario news RSS feed and posted as news articles in the Arts section of the Globe and Mail?
Does the fact that everyone's doing it make it more acceptable?
One thing is for sure - as the the news media landscape in Toronto continues to experience conglomeration, widening political slant, and a shift from print to clickable text online, it's becoming more and more important to understand who is who.
In the very least, it's my hope that the map above helps Torontonians better understand where their news comes from and help they better make decisions about what sources they rely on.
Comments (31)
Regarding Rogers Media: Do you mean . . .hawking its magazines? Hocking means "pawning".
Hawking is aggressive selling.
On Monday mornings I'm neither a salesperson nor a linguist ;) Thanks for pointing that out, David.
Wow -- great idea, and great work.
A suggestion, if you ever do another edition. While there are many, many non-English language publications and you do have to draw the line somewhere in terms of circulation or addressable audience size, it might be worth adding Corriere Canadese and Ming Pao Daily, both of which are Toronto dailies and widely available, and perhaps L'Express de Toronto, which I see all over the place. 'Course, as IU say, that could open a real Pandora's box -- it was seeing Sing Tao Daily on the chart that got me thinking. But, well, a thought.
Thanks for the suggestions, Disparishun. I might rework this in the future to include non-English news media (beyond Sing Tao) as well.
Oh, and it would be cool to make it all hyperlinked, and (although daunting) it would be interesting to map all of these media companies entertainment ("non-news") properties as well.
I think this map has a lot of potential. I'm going to give it the design critique you didn't ask for.
-Ditch the watermark, it just obfuscates the fact we are talking about bandwidth and airwaves.
-The location of the various "related holdings" could be arranged and perhaps you could put them in areas related to the size of various market shares.
-You could also use circulation and web traffic to help organize the material
I also think you could further clarify (or ditch) the divide between "BIG" and Indy. Aren't we in a world of shades of grey yet? :)
I've done a bit of media mapping myself, although it was tracking the design & format of specific publications over time rather than cutting a section through an entire market at a specific moment.
My information graphics nerd nitpicking aside, I think this is a great venture and post. I'm looking forward to the discussion it generates.
Thanks for the feedback, Greg. This could be a really in-depth research project and the map could be vastly improved. Perhaps my effort here could be inspiration for someone to take it further.
This discussion has got my creative juices flowing.
The media map reminds me of the conspiracy art of the late Mark Lombardi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Lombardi).
Jerrold, I think I might create my version of this, I'll send you the link when I'm done.
Nice work. This is really interesting to read, and I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that I'm impressed with the quality of journalism found on Blogto.com I'm a New Yorker planning to move to TO in the upcoming months, so I started reading your blog to get a head's up on what's happening in TO. I read Gothamist in NYC and your articles make their reporting seem shallow and not well researched. Kudos to you, blogTO...I'm looking forward to returning to my homeland!
@ Pete
We're not talking about traditional advertisements in news media (newspapers, web). We're talking about news media tricking readers into thinking that they are getting news when in fact they're delivering advertising.
On this site advertising is not hidden in news articles, it's confined to dedicated ad space. Surely you don't think the flashing beer ad on this page is a news article. :P
Like covering the Mombacho cigar launch party? I think everyone got up in arms about how that seemed like blatant advertising. (I don't mean this to be critical, but sometimes news can easily be read as an advertisement - a particularly insidious way to get circumvent laws as well)
Many news articles can be read as promotions - iPod launches, the whole Wheels section of the Toronto Star, what about Fringe and Restaurant reviews?
@ Dave
Point taken, but the distinction is that when our new writer (who didn't end up working out, incidentally) wrote up a review of the cigar launch party, there was no connection between our publisher and the seller of the cigars, whatsoever.
Most of the examples I cited in the post above are distinctly different, in that the publisher has a vested interest (i.e. ownership or income) in the product of service advertised within the news piece.
iPod (and other tech-related) launches:
News reporting on a technology release is revelent news, IMO. Sure it's a product, but it also has cultural implications. Furthermore, reviews (good and bad) of tech products in reputable publications are genuine, and the manufacturer doesn't pay for placement in those review/news pieces. The same goes for food and artistic performance reviews.
Wheels section of the Star: mostly a collection of ads, not being masked as news. If cars are reviewed in Wheels, one can only hope that they're genuine and not paid advertising (and I supect they are legti).
I understand Jerrold, I was just attempting to demonstrate another more innocent side.
Sadly, the newspaper business just isn't as viable a medium as others. Hence the reason why media groups are amalgamating into larger and more diverse businesses (I think that when they all join into a snigle entity known as the Ministry of Truth, we should worry) who then use whatever mediums they have at their disposal to make money (which is what papers are supposed to do for themselves).
Sorry to hear about that writer! Keep your new writer, Laura! She seems like she's all kinds of awesome. (Could have had her cover the Comic-Con)
For those who live outside of Toronto:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osprey_Media
That -entire- list is a subsidary of Quebecor in addition to the ones Jerrold listed.
And it should be noted that former PC leader and Prime Minister, Brian Mulrooney sits on Quebecor's board of directors.
You forgot SUN-TV (which is okay, most do).
Also the Rogers-owned OMNI which has always covered news in other languages. Presumably their coverage is just as pro-Ted's interests as what we've seen this year on Citytv.
"But should it also be expected and accepted that those sames news organizations sell products and services through actual news articles? "
No it shouldn't be expected.
Let's not get actual real "NEWS" confused with personal interest stories and reports whether cars, food, movies, health, etc. If they were messing with the real news that is just wrong, otherwise most of this "fluff news" you wouldn't be reading it at all if the advertiser didn't pay for it. So you can have your report on Cheese provided by the Dairy Farmers of Canada right at the time there is a listeriea outbreak which you may find very insightful or you cannot have it at all because it won't get produced unless it's sponsored by, provided by, paid for by...
How does everyone feel about Blogs and comments being censored? What you think is an open forum for city of Toronto discussion and for news discussion is not actually 'open'.
Presumably the coverage on here is pro-Jerrold's interests.
blogTO most certainly is an open forum for disussion, and our reader comments are most certainly not censored to fit my or anyone else interests. If you have any reason to think otherwise, perhaps you should contact me or the publisher.
Comments on blogTO are very rarely unpublished, but when the need arises, they are. Reasons include:
- when the comment is clearly threatening, or offensive (profane, racist, derogatory, harrassing, etc.)
- when the comment reveals personal information (names, phone, address, etc) of another commenter or persons in the post (the exception being publicly available contact info for politicians or businesses, etc)
- when it's a accidental double comment
- spam
We do our best, and we'd never remove comments simply because we don't agree with opinions expressed within.
@ stickles
I scanned Sun TV's programming schedule and didn't find any news. Am I missing something?
Maybe dave's attempted threadjack was meant to suggest that all forms of media control views and opinions??? I mean, I guess technically Jerrold COULD be Big Brother and remove opinions from comments - but I don't think he does...
I mean, even Zack still has his comments up.
I've submitted a bunch of posts, they don't post directly they say they are being submitted for review.... none of which end up on the site and none contained your comments below. What gives? Either way change your name and email address and you can post again.
"Comments on blogTO are very rarely unpublished, but when the need arises, they are. Reasons include:
- when the comment is clearly threatening, or offensive (profane, racist, derogatory, harrassing, etc.)
- when the comment reveals personal information (names, phone, address, etc) of another commenter or persons in the post (the exception being publicly available contact info for politicians or businesses, etc)
- when it's a accidental double comment
- spam"
I realize that you never pretended the list to be comprehensive, but an awful lot of "indie media" got snubbed here - what about all the campus newspapers, for instance? Surely the Eyeopener, the Varsity, and others are worth a mention.
I was *this* close to doing a media map of Canada's newspapers and TV/cable stations. Now I might actually do it.
so CP24 and cityTV have two different owners? had no idea
i wonder how many people even know what channel ctv newsnet is on
@ Dave
If your comments contain two or more hyperlinks, they're automatically sent to moderation (anti-spam measure) BUT they should be marked as safe and published once reviewed (and declared non-spam by human eyes). Granted, we have had some technical glitches with this system and some comments do get lost.
If this happens again, please do let us know and we'll make every attempt to fix it.
Just got a copy my MARKETING magazine - the Sept 29th issue (Brad J Lamb is on the cover) There is a big pull out poster map of this exact thing in the center. Canada's Media Landscape, covers print, television and radio stations - indepth.
Canwest
CTV GlobeMedia
Quebecor
Torstar
NewCap
St Joseph Media
Corus
Gesca
Astral Media
Transcontinental
Rogers
CBC
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