The first thing to know about populism in politics is that it’s not an ideology but a show, a morality play featuring villains and heroes. You are expected to boo the villains. The Conservative Party of Canada is engaged in some political theatre right now with a “Defund the CBC” campaign.
The latest episode: party leader Pierre Poilievre lobbied Twitter to label the CBC and its “various news-related accounts” as “Government-funded Media,” as the social media company had done already with NPR and PBS in the United States. Twitter policy defines “Government-funded Media” as an outlet in which “the government provides some or all of the outlet’s funding and may have varying degrees of government involvement over editorial content” (italics mine). It’s a label that suggests you’re reading spin, agitprop, the party line. Poilievre got his wish. On April 16, with Elon Musk’s blessing, Twitter applied the label to the CBC’s main account. Poilievre was thrilled. “BREAKING,” he tweeted, “CBC officially exposed as ‘government-funded media.’ Now people know it is Trudeau propaganda, not news.” At once, CBC media relations director Leon Mar denied “government involvement over editorial content.” When asked for a comment by the Canadian Press, Twitter emailed back a poop emoji.
