Compare Canadian and American television news?

I am an American who has been spending a lot of time in Canada
recently and therefore can provide some insight into this question.

Canadian TV news is a lot like American TV news. You have your local
TV broadcasts, with local news, world news, sports, weather and prefab
health and wellness segments. Then you have your national news
broadcasts on the major broadcast networks -- NBC, ABC and CBS in the
U.S., CBC, CTV and Global in Canada, plus French-language stations.
American all-news cable channels include CNN, MSNBC and Fox News
Channel, while Canada has CBC Newsworld and CTV Newsnet. Canadian TV
news is a lot more like American news than it is like European news.
Indeed, CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge told a Yale University audience
that he is surprised people think there is a great distinction between
Canadian and American news, according to the Yale Daily News
(http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=164)

One major difference to keep in mind is that "local" channels in
Canada often cover several media markets. For example, Global has a
single regional news broadcast for Toronto, Ottawa and everything in
between. Thus, a city like Hamilton can have only one real local
newscast. In contrast, most American TV markets have at least three
competing local newscasts.

A second difference I have noticed is a different standard for what is
considered national news. In Canada, the trade dispute over logging
subsidies is discussed nationwide, while in the U.S., the story is
limited to areas with a large logging industry. Canadian news also has
more international coverage than does American news, possibly a
reflection of the fact that with one-ninth of the people, Canadians
cannot be as focused on themselves as Americans.

I have also found Canadian TV news often has a somewhat more left-wing
orientation than its American equivelant. For example, CBC Newsworld's
"Counterspin" program often has left-wing activists as guests, and
CITY-TV's "MediaTelevision" not too long ago ran a segment on an
anti-consumerism activist who protests Starbucks and McDonald's.

Speaking of which, CITY-TV itself is something very different about
Canadian TV news. The Toronto station's newscast, "CityPulse,"
apparently trying to be edgy and youth-oriented, features anchors
sitting on their desks in a dimly lit newsroom playing up stories like
what celebrities are in town. A sister station in British Columbia
recently begain operation.

There are more-subtle differences as well. Canada's Fraser Institute
(http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/onbalance/1998/february/news.html)
says that Canadian newscasts have more news about government and
entertainment and less about crime than American newscasts. The report
surmises -- and I concur -- that this has much to do with Canada's
drastically lower crime rate.

Marc Beliveau of the Center for Golbal Communications
(http://www.glocom.org/special_topics/glocom_colloquium/200111_beliveau_news/)
says American news hones in more on personal scandals of public
figures than does Canadian news. Perhaps an example of this is the
relative lack of coverage of the arrests of the son of the Canadian
prime minister on sexual assault charges compared to the glut of
coverage of the personal lives of the Clinton, Bush and Kennedy
families. One can imagine the hoopla that would develop should Jenna
Bush ever be arrested for a violent crime.

One factor limiting the amount of sensationalized coverage in Canada
is the legal environment. The Chretien case, like many other pending
court matters in Canada, is subject to a judge's publication ban. A
Canadian media outlet that publishes details of the alleged crime can
be fined by the government. In the U.S., judges cannot give such
sweeping orders. In addition, Canada has stronger privacy laws and
weaker freedom of information laws than the U.S.

I hope this answer meets your needs. If not, please request
clarification.

Other links

"News and the Institutional Perspective: Sources in Terror Stories ,"
Canadian Journal of Communications
<http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwpress/jrls/cjc/BackIssues/20.1/wittebol.html>
In covering foreign-policy issues in which the U.S. is involved,
Canadian newscasts are more likely to include comments from neutral
sources, while American newscasts are more likely to include comments
from supporters of American policy.

"The Impact of the End of the Cold War 
on Canadian and American TV News Coverage of Cuba: Image Consistency 
or Image Change?," Canadian Journal of Communications
<http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwpress/jrls/cjc/BackIssues/23.2/soderlun.html>
Canadian TV news coverage of Cuba is similar to that of American TV
coverage, although slightly less negative about the country and its
policies.

"Neither U.S. hype nor Canadian silence is golden," Canadian Civil
Liberties Association
<http://www.ccla.org/pos/columns/OJ.shtml>
A discussion comparing pre-trial publicity in the U.S. and Canada.

"Canadian TV has wholesome appeal," Detroit News
<http://www.detnews.com/2002/entertainment/0201/10/c01-386537.htm>
Includes a comment that Canadian TV news has more "civility" than
American TV news.

Nelson Media
<http://members.shaw.ca/nelsonmedia/>
An excellent guide to television in Canada.

Search strategy:
differences American Canadian television news
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=differences+American+Canadian+television+news

differences American Canadian media
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=+differences+American+Canadian+media

similarities American Canadian media
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=similarities+American+Canadian+media

And similar searches on Google Groups

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!

According to a friend who has worked for many years in the broadcast
news industry, there is a big difference between the salaries of
Canadian national news anchors/reporters and their American
counterparts.

Perhaps that's why Peter Jennings crossed the border. The huge
salaries and celebrity status granted to network news readers seem to
be unique to the United States.

I can't help thinking that this has had a negative impact on the
actual "newsworthiness" of the news programming in the USA.

Mwalcoff-ga gave an excellent answer.  I'm in the U.S. close enough to
receive Canadian TV, and the answer was entirely accurate.  I'd just
add that "The National," which airs at 10 p.m. weeknights on CBC, is
perhaps the best single hour of TV news available.  Unless there's a
major Canadian story (usually a political one) breaking, it gives a
good summary of international news (including U.S. news) and almost
always includes a minidocumentary.  It is much, much less focused on
trivia than are most U.S. broadcasts.  It also seems to offer more
variety of opinion, while in the U.S. the presentation of "all sides"
of a controversy usually means giving exposure to just two extreme
viewpoints.

For the benefit of any readers outside of Canada and unfamiliar with
its political landscape, it should be noted that the Fraser Institute
is a far-right "thinktank".  This does not necessarily make them
suspect (depending upon one's own political views, of course) but it
should be borne in mind when reading their reports.