MEDIA EXAMINED
MEDIA CONCENTRATION IN ALBERTA
MEDIA CONCENTRATION IN ALBERTA
MEDIA CONCENTRATION IN ALBERTA
News media in Alberta, corporate empires and oft-cited 'think tanks'
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INDEPENDENT & NON-PROFIT MEDIA
MEDIA CONCENTRATION IN ALBERTA
MEDIA CONCENTRATION IN ALBERTA
Established and emerging news media which is indpendent or not-for-profit.
MEDIA ON MEDIA
ALBERTA MEDIA HEROES (SPRING 2025)
ALBERTA MEDIA HEROES (SPRING 2025)
Journalism, reports and studies on media in Alberta and elsewere.
ALBERTA MEDIA HEROES (SPRING 2025)
ALBERTA MEDIA HEROES (SPRING 2025)
ALBERTA MEDIA HEROES (SPRING 2025)
Outstanding contributers to media as a public service in Alberta (Updated by season. Feed us a suggestion).
MEDIA STATS
62 - The number of news outlets which closed in Alberta from 2008-2025. Twenty-three outlets opened during that time. (CBC Calgary, March 31, 2025).
31% - Canadians who use social media to find news (Made in CA).
100% - Major daily newspapers (or "brands") in Alberta owned by Post Media. (Source: Postmedia); hey are Calgary Herald, Calgary Sun, Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun.
Two - Number of journalists from Alberta’s four major papers covering the Alberta legislature, 2020, where previously there were 12 (Source: Alberta Views, 2020)
$32.42 - What a Canadian, and presumably Albertan, paid in 2022 for having the CBC, 4th lowest among 19 industrial nations studied. (Policy Alternatives, 2025)
22% - advertising as a share of CBC revenue, higher than in 10 of 19 countries with public broaccasters (Policy Alternatives, 2025).
78% - Canadians who would like to see the CBC/Radio-Canada continue if it addresses its major criticisms. (The Centre for Media Technology and Democracy, Oct. 23, 2024)
29% - social media network users in Canada using YouTube for news on a weekly basis in 2024. Highest among social media networks, surpasing Facebook which was 25% (Statista.com, 2025)
US$16.65bn - Projected revenue in the Canadian TV & Video market for 2025. (Statista, 2025)
34.2% - Bell Canada's share of commercial tv revenue in Canada in 2023. Highest followed by Rogers (18.1%), CBC (16.9%), Corus/Shaw (12.7%) (Statista, 2025)
32 - The number of newspapers (or "brands") owned by Post Media overall in Alberta. Overall in Canada Postmedia owns 130 "brands" (Source: Postmedia).
66% - shares of Postmedia owned by Chatham Asset Management, an American hedge fund with ties to the Republican Party. (Sources: Wkipedia, Toronto Star and The Tyee, July 8, 2016)
4% - world’s nations currently with 'good’ press freedom (Source: Reporters Without Borders, World Press Freedom Index 2024. - Canada ranked 14th, ‘satisfactory’. The USA, 55th, ‘problematic’.)
23 million - Number of Facebook users in Canada, still more than all other social media platforms (Made in CA)
$7.42 billion - revenue to Broadcast Distribution Undertakings (e.g. Telus Optik TV or Bell Fibe TV) in 2022. Radio broadcasters took in $1.42 billion. (Source: CRTC, 2024)
$927 million - Revenue to Canadian FM radio broadcasters in 2023. Previously profitable, FM stations saw a net loss in 2023 of $45.6 million after taxes. (Source: Statistics Canada, 2025)
132 - traditional ethnic TV services available in Canada (29 radio). Source: CRTC, 2024)
MEDIA CONCENTRATION
"With growing concentration of media ownership, independent voices decrease and locally produced and locally relevant information, news, and cultural resources diminish" - American Library Association.
POSTMEDIA NETWORK owns all major newspapers in Alberta: the Edmonton Journal, the Edmonton Sun, the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun; and small town newspapers in Cochrane. Drayton Valley, Cold Lake, Edson, Fort McMurray, Grand Prairie, Hanna, HIgh River, Fort Saskatchewan, Lloydminster, Mayerthorpe, Nanton, Peace River, Pincher Creek. Sherwood Park, Vulcan, Vermilion and Whitecourt. Postmedia HQ is in Toronto.
BELL MEDIA owns the former CTV network with 7 TV stations in Edmonton and Calgary and 4 Alberta radio stations, in addition to 27 specialty channels like Crave, HBO, TSN, and more. Bell HQ is in Montreal.
ROGERS, owns four radio stations in Calgary and three in Edmonton (50 across Canada) and City TV in both cities. Rogers HQ is in Toronto.
CORUS ENTERTAINMENT owns the Global News chain with local chanels in Edmonton, Calgary and Lethbridge; also 37 radio stations including 880 Ched in Edmonton and QR Calgary, and about 30 specialty TV services across Canada. Corus HQ is in Toronto.
GREATWEST MEDIA, a locally-owned newspaper company, owns community newspaper in St. Albert, St. Paul, Athabasca, Barrhead, Bonnyville, Elk Point, Lac la Biche, Westlock, Jasper, Innisfail, Mountain View, Sundre, Airdrie, Cochrane, Okotoks and Canmore. Greatwest HQ is in St. Albert, Alberta.
THINK TANKS
'Think tanks': groups that do research or advocacy and get cited as experts. Here are often cited think tanks with information on where they are and how they are funded:
The Parkland Institute lives at the Arts Faculty at the University of Alberta and has board members from most of Alberta post-secondaries. Its revenue, about $625,000 in 2024, was raised about equally through donations by individuals and organizations, and by research revenue.
The Fraser Institute researches mainly economics and education from a conservative perspective. It does not (as far as we can see) post a budget online but it lives in Vancouver (above an Aston Martin dealership) and has phone numbers in four Canadian cities.
The Pembina Institute, conducts environmental research and education, and posted a 2023 budget of about $8.3 milion. It appears to be funded mainly by grants for government or community projects. For example, a 2024 federal grant of $128,851 is for reducing deisel use in remote Indigenous communities.
The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, a high profile political advocacy and communications group, reports collecting $6.1 million in 2024. It's success at getting media attention for 'right wing' perspectives has made it a target for criticism. An example: ‘Taxpayers’ Watchdog’ Eerily Silent as Alberta Hands Cash to Oil Companies (The Tyee, Feb. 15, 2023).
Canada West Foundation is a research organization focused on economic issues facing Western Canada. In 2022 it reported $2.9 million of revenue.
Institute of Health Economics (Edmonton), funded by
INDEPENDENT & NON-PROFIT MEDIA
EMERGING NOT-FOR-PROFITS
Taproot Edmonton "began as an outlet that published longform stories prompted by questions submitted by members. We have since grown into a source of curiosity-driven original stories, curated newsletters on various topics, and locally focused podcasts, all in the service of informing Edmontonians about what is going on in their community."
- The Pulse: a Taproot daily news briefing delivered by email.
- Speaking Municipally: a Taproot weekly podcast (Fridays) with discussion on key stories in municipal politics. Hosted by city-phile hosts Mack Male and Troy Pavlek
- Roundups on .. . .
The Sprawl, billed as "Slow news for serious people", links Calgarians with their city through "in-depth, curiosity-driven journalism. If you value independent local news, support our work so we can keep digging into municipal issues in the run-up to the 2025 civic election—and beyond! "
- Stories section offers in-depth pieces on local issues.
- newsletter
- podcast
WIndspeaker emerged decades ago but has expanded its reach into indigenius communities through digitized content, expanded radio and podcasting. It is owned by the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society of Alberta, "an independent Aboriginal communications organization committed to facilitating the exchange of information reflecting Indigenous culture to a growing and diverse audience." Windspeaker Radio Network includes: CFWE, CJWE 88.1 FM (based in Calgary, The Raven 89.3 FM (Edmonton), CUZIN Radio and CRWE Red Beats Radio.
The Tyee is an online news magazine founded in BC in 2003 "devoted to fact-driven stories, reporting and analysis that informs and enlivens our democratic conversation." Tyee stories often cross provincial boundaries or are written by Albertans.
The Narwhal is a Victoria-based nonprofit online magazine aiming to “bring evidence-based news and analysis to the surface” mainly on issues related to the environment. Stories are often relevant to Alberta and the Narwhal is an established defender of freedom of the press.
INDEPENDENTS
Alberta Views: the magazine for engaged citizens. - An emersion in Alberta politics, social issues, environment an culture artfully published ten times a year. Based in Calgary the magazine seems to be funded by subscriptions and possibly the deep (?) pockets of founder Jackie Flanagan (who knows?).
Edify Edmonton, the city's premier lifestyle magazine, is owned by Odvod publishing which has "worked with some of Edmonton’s most innovative businesses and not-for-profits, developing engaging content that reaches key customers and stakeholders". Editor-in-chief Omar Mouallem is author of Praying to the West and directed the documentary The Lebanese Burger Mafia.
LiveWire Calgary "People.Powered. News," has been around since 2018 taking ads, paying reporters and freelancers , providing daily news with the feel of a small town paper in the big city.
NOT-FOR-PROFIT RADIO
CKUA - Alberta's original public broadcaster, CKUA today is "a donor-supported broadcaster that inspires and connects through the power of music, arts, culture, and story." It has broadcast studios in Edmonton and Calgary, is available around the world online and on 16 FM frequencies around Alberta.
CJSW - "A not-for-profit, volunteer-powered organization where University of Calgary students, campus and community stakeholders come together to create, collaborate, communicate and make great radio content."
FM 88 - Since 1984 campus radio at the University of Alberta has had a mandate to “enlighten and entertain our audience through high quality and diverse programming that constantly challenges the status quo”.
PODCASTS
West of Centre: a CBC weekly podcast hosted by Kathleen Petty where “politicians, pundits, and other thoughtful westerners” discuss issues of the day.
Daveberta offers the Nitty gritty on elections and politics in Alberta. Written by Dave Cournoyer who also hosts the podcast.
MEDIA ON MEDIA
Journalism, Reports & Studies
No, Pierre Poilievre's net worth is not $25M, despite what dubious AI-generated articles say (CBC News, April 1, 2025)
News Media Across the Political Spectrum (Source: Harvard Library, 2024)
Opinion Creep: How facts lost ground in the battle for our attention (Source: News Literacy Project)
Above the Fold: The former editor of the Edmonton Journal's inside look at the damage being done to Canada's newspapers (The Walrus, 2017)
Journalist group protests Alberta war room’s use of term 'reporters' (Global TV, 2019)
Paper Rout: Postmedia in the gutter (Source: The Literary Review, October 2023)
'We must rethink local journalism', says new grad who won top prize for this essay (CBC News April 13, 2025)
Common Ground is a U of A-based organization with researchers aiming to uncover the ideological underpinnings of politics in Western Canada and the American West.
Local News Research Project: "A crowd-sourced resource that tracks what is happening to local newspapers, broadcast outlets and online/digital news sources in communities across Canada . . . (It's) map displays information going back to 2008, the start of a deep recession and a turning point for many previously profitable local news organizations."
Canadian Media Concentration Research Project - Alberta Media Usage Study (AdCanada Media Inc.)
The public, the pandemic, and the public service: The case of Alberta (Institute of Public Administration of Canada, Feb. 28, 2024)
Paper Thin: Deathwatch for Alberta’s big-city newspapers (Alberta Views, March, 2017)
From digging up news to spinning it; former journalists make the jump to political press secretaries (Edmonton Journal, 2017)
CBC-RELATED
Note: CBC, a crown corporation, falls into the category of public broadcaster, a media source “neither commercial nor State-controlled; who’s only raison d’etre is public service.” (UNESCO) Public broadcasters may receive funding from user fees, donations, public financing, and/or advertising.
Is Canada Ready for Life Without the CBC? Pierre Poilievre Thinks So (The Walrus, Jan. 9, 2025)
‘There’s some merit to the criticism that CBC has a left-leaning bias’: Expert panel sees a murky future for the CBC (The Hub, June 8, 2023)
Heritage minister pitches CBC/Radio-Canada overhaul and a major funding hike (CBC News, Feb. 20, 2025)
3 critics of the CBC share their vision for the public broadcaster's future (CBC News, Oct. 30, 2024)
The CBC has TV and Radio stations in Edmonton and Calgary. The radio network has 88 stations across Canada in English and French.)
9,429 - total employees at CBC (CBC Annual report, 2023)
1958 - the year CBC stopped being the chief regulator of Canadian broadcasting.
79% - respondents who said CBC is either equally important or more important than before the digital age.
Zero - A former CBC reporter’s calculation of times “management . . . influenced our coverage of government, federal or otherwise” (Globe and Mail, 2023)
MEDIA HEROES
JUDY ALDOUS
Alberta has seen many a talk show host over the years perhaps none as credible as Aldous who, until recently, hosted Alberta@noon (CBC AM). Aldous has proven herself to be well-informed and capabe shepherd leading us through hard and divisive topics Aldous reporterd and produced for CBC Calgary since 2002 and is apparently transitioning to other projects. She will be missed.
BERT CROWFOOT
Founder of the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society, creator of Windspeaker and other Indigenous newspapers and radio stations, Crowfoot is a straight-shooter who pursues excellence for Indigenous media in Alberta and Canada. Now 70 years young, Crowfoot is pictured here on Season 2 of the Deadly Uncle Podcast (a podcast for physical and mental wellbeing of Indigenous men and boys) where he talked about his continuing efforts to expand Indigenous broadcasting in Alberta.
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