The Canadian media system, which in many respects is this society's "meeting ground"—its public square—is in the midst of a profound shift away from the foundations on which it has rested comfortably for decades. The publicly financed Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, long the backbone of the broadcasting system, is threatened by budget cuts and by technological change. The newspaper industry has fallen into the hands of a few powerful individuals. Huge global corporations and a vast communications revolution are dramatically altering the nature of news and entertainment. This book argues that unless action is taken these changes will narrow our access to the information we need as citizens and damage our capacity to communicate with each other and reflect on ourselves as a community. Power and Betrayal in the Canadian Media is a sweeping exploration of the Canadian media system and the impact it has on Canadian society, politics, and culture.

David Taras holds the Ralph Klein Chair in Media Studies at Mount Royal University. He is the author of several books, including The Newsmakers: The Media's Influence on Canadian Politics (1990) and Power and Betrayal in the Canadian Media (2001), and co-author of Last Word: Media Coverage of the Supreme Court of Canada (2005).

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This is a provocative book that should be considered must reading for anyone concerned about the forces that shape the way news is delivered in Canada.

<i>Maclean's</i>