A breakdown of media coverage found that CBC and CTV coverage promoting expensive Liberal government policies far overshadowed the few times the outlets reported on the programs’ cost to taxpayers.
According to a “machine content analysis” of government and media coverage, the two outlets spent more time covering the benefits of the government’s dental care, pharmacare, and childcare programs than they did on the programs’ costs for taxpayers.
A study released by the Fraser Institute on Thursday found that 4% of CBC and CTV television coverage of government programs noted the associated costs since 2021, when the federal childcare program, was announced.
The study used Wordstat an AI program, to analyze the content of the CBC and CTV broadcasts from Eureka, a database of television newscasts. It counted common phrases and individual word counts from the companies’ broadcasts on the dental care, pharmacare and childcare programs.
The Liberals’ childcare program was announced in Budget 2021. As part of the NDP-Liberal coalition deal, the dental-care program was announced Dec. 11, 2023, and pharmacare was announced Feb. 29, 2024. The programs were billed as an effort to make life more affordable for Canadians by further paying for healthcare costs.
Since 2021, the CBC mentioned the long-term cost impacts of the programs only five times, while CTV noted the permanent annual spending twice. The CBC dedicated 9.4% of its coverage of the programs on the budget and fiscal policies in general while CTV dedicated 15.3% of its coverage to budgetary issues.
In contrast, the study found that the majority of coverage was focused on the politics and politicians surrounding the decisions and not how much they were costing taxpayers. A total of 38.35% of the legacy media companies’ coverage was devoted to the provincial and federal government’s actions and ministers, 14.15% to opposition parties and 12.35% to the coalition agreement between the NDP and the Liberals.
In an interview with True North, report author Lydia Miljan said much of the two outlets’ coverage mirrored government news releases speaking about the program itself and its impact on individuals and Canadians.
“They didn’t ask whether or not taxes would increase, or whether they’d have deficit spending, and the media seem to be more interested in sort of the strategic maneuverings of politicians, rather than doing a critical evaluation of these new social programs,” Miljan said.
The CBC focused 10.2% of its coverage on the programs’ impact on Canadians and 7.2% on the programs. The CTV shared 6.4% of its total coverage on the programs on the impact they would have on Canadians, and 14.8% on the content of the programs. The report said 0.6% of the government’s reports focused on the cost of the programs, while 53% focused on the programs themselves.
“The government continues to be very adept at controlling their message, so when they downplay the costs of the social programs, the media followed suit,” Miljan told True North.
She said the lack of government transparency on funding does not reflect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statements during his first term.
“When Justin Trudeau got into power he famously said that the new government would be ‘open by default,’ and what we’ve seen over the last nine years is more secrecy, more hiding of crucial information,” she said. “The media lauded them when he publicized all the mandate letters.”
She said the mandate letters for Finance Minister Minister Chrystia Freeland were clear in saying Freeland needed to “avoid creating new permanent spending” and keep to the governments fiscal anchors and she said the two media companies have failed to hold her accountable for that.
Miljan said she found one direct quote in all the coverage challenging Freeland on the childcare program, where CTV’s Lisa Laflamme pressured the minister saying the childcare program was passing off the costs to the same children the program purports to help when they’re adults.
She hopes that after reading this report, the media will question the government more on its fiscal and financial health.
“CBC News takes a much broader perspective – beyond the financial numbers – as cost implications are just one aspect of any given program,” a CBC spokesperson told True North in an email. “Every day, our journalists hold politicians to account for how their programs, policies and initiatives will impact Canadians.”
In an email, Franco Terrazzano, the federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, told True North that the government is failing its duty to be “totally transparent” with taxpayers about the cost of its “expensive schemes.”
“This isn’t a good look. The media loves to talk about holding politicians accountable, so the media should be holding politicians accountable for their massively expensive programs,” Terrazzano said. “The government should always be transparent with taxpayers about the price tag, and there’s no doubt that Canadians want to hear the media report on the taxpayer costs.”
The CTV did not respond to True North’s requests for comment.