Media Beat: April 19, 2019

By David Farrell

Inside Notre Dame: The Story of God, narrated by Morgan Freeman

Inside Notre Dame Cathedral, after the fire

Quebecor head Pierre Karl Péladeau says future of TVA Sports in jeopardy

Bell has asked the CRTC to revoke Quebecor-owned sports channel's licence as punishment after it cut off the channel's signal for Bell subscribers at the start of the NHL playoffs last week.

The CRTC should at the very least suspend the channel's licence until June 30, after the Stanley Cup final, pleaded Robert Malcolmson, Bell's senior vice-president of regulatory affairs and government relations.

Malcolmson presented Bell's case at a CRTC hearing in Gatineau, Que., Wednesday. – CBC News

Rogers’ Q1 earnings report

Net income was $391 million or 76 cents per share for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a profit of $425 million or 80 cents per share a year ago when Rogers, which owns the Toronto Blue Jays, received a special payment from Major League Baseball.

Revenue totalled nearly $3.59 billion, down from $3.63 billion in the same quarter last year, with the wireless division accounting for $2.189 billion in revenue during Q1. – The Canadian Press

Countering disinformation channels

The federal government is taking action to counter some of the worst fake news and disinformation campaigns, including an online portal about cyber threats to democracy, but there’s only so much they can do.

Reporters for our newspapers and broadcast outlets are doing their best, but too often their publishers and editors aren’t interested in pursuing those stories — not when there’s easier, cheaper stuff to cover that get a lot more clicks.

So, if we want people to be able to make informed decisions at the ballot box, we’re all going to have to step up. That’s why National Observer is launching the Election Integrity Reporting Project: our biggest ever reporting initiative, aimed at exposing manipulation and the people behind it. We’re building a strong, data-savvy team, raising funds to hire some of the best analysts out there. And we’ll be partnering with key civil society organizations. – National Observer

Canadian laws to block election meddling flawed

New federal legislation aimed at keeping the coming election campaign fair and free from foreign influence is a step in the right direction. But laws aimed at reining in social-media advertising miss the mark, says the British journalist who exposed Facebook’s role in the Brexit debacle.

Carole Cadwalladr, a journalist with The Guardian and The Observer, spoke to Vancouver’s TED conference on Monday and called Facebook’s role in the British referendum on leaving the European Union as a “crime scene” that has not been investigated fully. – Andrew Seal, Globe and Mail

By the numbers.: Millennials vs Gen-Xers

Debt-to-income ratios are a key financial indicator and provide information on the ability of households to service debt from their current income. The debt to after-tax income ratio reached 216% for millennials, far exceeding the 125% for young Gen-Xers or 80% for young boomers. – StatsCan

Faith Goldy’s YouTube channel a forum for “high IQs” (and disaffected WASPS?)

“If your goal is to get white supremacists and neo-Nazis offline you’ve accomplished nothing by banning me. I’m none of those things. I’m just a person who loves my country and who talks about statistics and who wants to foster a space for nationalists. I believe in intelligent nationalism (14:40)."