Canadaland is a Canadian digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing a network of podcasts. The company was founded by Jesse Brown in 2013. The original podcast covers Canadian media and media criticism. Subsequently, new shows have been added to the network covering a range of topics from current affairs, art and culture, cooking, medicine, and Canadian politics.
History
The company was launched by Jesse Brown in the autumn of 2013.[1][2] The original intention of the podcast was to spill "secrets about newsroom misdeeds, broken stories about TV journalists taking money from groups they cover, and challenged reporting that [Jesse Brown] he believe[d] has fallen short."[1] By 2015, it had expanded to become a "podcast network and a news organization with staff".[3]
In February 2014, Canadaland published the results of an investigation that The National anchor Peter Mansbridge had accepted money from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) to speak at a December 2012 event.[4] This raised conflict of interest concerns as Mansbridge had accepted money from an entity with a vested interest in the oil sands issue, a topic Mansbridge regularly reported on from a national platform. The story got picked up on by The Huffington Post,[5]Vice,[6] and reporter Andrew Mitrovica,[7] forcing Mansbridge to address the issue,[8] sparking a lively debate in the Canadian mainstream media outlets.[9][10][11][12][13]CBC Ombudsman Esther Enkin investigated the issue, concluding there was no problem with Mansbridge taking money to speak before an oil lobby group, though adding that CBC should "think about the appearance of getting paid by interest groups who are likely to feature prominently in the news".[14][15][16][17]
In April 2014, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced changes in its rules regarding speaking engagements for its journalists.[18][19]
People
Jesse Brown has been the publisher and host of Canadaland since October 2013.[20] In an article in the Times Colonist, Mike Devlin described Brown as the "controversial host of the popular Canadaland podcast and crowdfunded news site."[21] Devlin wrote that Brown was "polarizing...mostly because of his irreverent critiques and smart-ass attitude" whose "media and cultural critiques" are handled in a "gloves-off manner."[21] According to Devlin, Brown became "something of a bad boy in Ontario" for attacking Canadian media "sacred cows" such as The Globe and Mail. In his 2014 article in The Walrus, Brown described how guest journalists were originally reluctant to appear on the program until it gained credibility following the February 2014 Mansbridge exposé.[20]
In May 2023, Karyn Pugliese was named the new editor-in-chief of Canadaland after Brown announced that he was stepping down from the role.[22] Pugliese is and award winning investigative journalist and member of the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation in Ontario.[23] She is best known for her work as a journalist and executive director at the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network,[24] and as the Managing Editor of CBC's Investigative unit, overseeing television programming for the Fifth Estate and Marketplace.[25] She previously served as the Communications Director for the Assembly of First Nations.[26] and as the president of the Canadian Association of Journalists. She is known as a press freedom advocate in Canada and abroad.She has previously appeared on Short Cuts, and as the host of canadaLANDBACK.
Current podcasts
Canadaland (podcast)
The original eponymous podcast is described as the "flagship" show of the podcast network. The show covers Canadian media and media criticism with new episodes being released twice per week. Each podcast episode typically features Jesse Brown and a guest who discuss news and current events relevant to the media industry in Canada. The podcast feed includes ongoing series Short Cuts, also hosted by Brown, and Détours, a twice-monthly series discussing media and current affairs in French hosted by Emilie Nicolas. The feed also includes canadaLANDBACK, which is described as a "provocative, Indigenous-driven, current-affairs podcast".
The Backbench releases bi-weekly and features rotating guests discussing the top Canadian political stories of the day. Past guests have included former Liberal M.P. Celina Caesar-Chavannes, Jason Markusoff, Emilie Nicolas, Murad Hemmadi, Drew Brown, Stuart Thomson, Jaskaran Sandhu and Leena Minifie. The Backbench was originally hosted by Fatima Syed. In September 2022, Canadian Jeopardy! champion Mattea Roach was named the new host.[29]
Wag the Doug
Wag the Doug is hosted by journalists Allison Smith and Jonathan Goldsbie. The show began in 2018 as an ad-hoc, irregularly scheduled podcast about Ontario PremierDoug Ford.[30] It has since moved to a regular monthly broadcast schedule.
Thunder Bay was a ten-part series launched in 2018 with subsequent follow up episodes in 2020 and 2023. Hosted by Ryan McMahon, the series built upon the investigation by Toronto Star reporter Tanya Talaga—published her 2017 book Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City.[31] In Seven Fallen Feathers, Talaga described the deaths of seven youths in Thunder Bay, Ontario, revealing ineffective police investigations, and systemic racism, facing Indigenous youth, their families, and communities.[32] The podcast critiques the city's authorities and their support of the Indigenous population.[31][33][34]
Cool Mules was a six-part true crime podcast hosted by Kasia Mychajlowycz that documents the cocaine smuggling of Slava Pastuk, while he was employed at Vice Media.[35][36] The series included a series of exclusive interviews with Pastuk, who ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison.[37][38] It won a National Magazine Awards Gold Award for best podcast in 2021.[39]
The White Saviors (2021)
The White Saviors was a six-part podcast series narrated by Olusola Adeogun. The series focused on activities by WE Charity and the WE Charity Scandal including interviews with whistleblowers and former staff.[40] Prior to the airing of the podcast, Canadaland was served a statement of claim by Theresa Kielburger, mother of the founders of WE Charity.[41][42]
Ratfucker (2022)
Ratfucker was a three-part limited run series exploring David Wallace, a conservative political operative, the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, and the so-called #KlondikePapers conspiracy theory.
canadaLANDBACK (2022-2023)
One episode was hosted by Ryan McMahon, who was then replaced by host producer Karyn Pugliese and producer Kim Wheeler for the rest of the six-part series. From the police killing of Dudley George to the lobster wars of Nova Scotia, the series focused on the tensions between reconciliation and land reclamation. The series was nomincated for Best Podcast: Arts, Culture and Society at the Digital Publishing Awards.
The Newfoundlander (2023)
The Newfoundlander is a limited run podcast series hosted by reporter Justin Brake. The first part discusses the Broadway musicalCome From Away's mischaracterization of his grandfather in the musical. In the second part, Brake searches for answers about his family's history. He describes how what he found drove a wedge between him and his family and put him in opposition to a new story of shared Indigenous ancestry that is being embraced by tens of thousands of people across Newfoundland and beyond.
Former shows
The Imposter
Launched in 2016, The Imposter was Canadaland's art and art criticism show[30][43] In their first year, the most downloaded episodes were "Brushes With Drake", "Spoiler Alert", "Degrassiland", "Tanya Tagaq is Unreconciled", and "Sex Canoe".[43] Artist, Aliya Pabani was the show's host and producer.
OPPO
OPPO, was politics podcast launched on February 6, 2018. The show featured journalists Jen Gerson and Justin Ling as co-hosts, presenting opposing views on various politic-related topics. Justin Ling left the podcast and was replaced by Sandy Garossino in 2020. OPPO ended in early 2021, with Gerson saying the show had 'run its course'.
DDx
In March 2018, Canadaland launched DDx, medical podcast, which was the "first program from Canadaland's new branded podcast unit, Earshot, ranked as "one of the top medical podcasts in iTunes' Canadian and U.S. rankings".[44]
Taste Buds
Taste Buds was a food and culinary podcast launched in 2018. It was hosted by Corey Mintz and covered food trends, food criticism and the restaurant industry in Canada.[30]
Book: The Canadaland Guide to Canada
In her review of Jesse Brown's 2017 book The Canadaland Guide to Canada,[45] author Charlotte Gray described Jesse Brown as a "crowdfunded media critic and self-described 'public irritant'"[46] Gray cited Brown in describing Canada as "shapeless, beige haze," that we created and that "it's time we grew up and told the truth."[46]
Funding
The company's revenue streams include principally advertisements and, since 2014, direct crowdfunding and the sale of merchandise.[47]Canadaland publishes an annual "Transparency Report" that details their finances.
The company's 2017–2018 annual fundraising campaign included an appeal by Ryan McMahon to launch a new investigative podcast calledThunder Bay.[48] The campaign proved successful, surpassing their "funding threshold".[49][48]
Critical reception
A year after the podcast was launched, it was attracting about 10,000 listeners every week. By late 2018, Canadaland's podcasts had reached 100,000 weekly listeners.[50] In 2020, the original podcast had reached more than 9 million cumulative downloads, making it among the most popular podcasts in Canada.[51]
By 2023, the Canadaland podcast network reached over 150,000 downloads per week.
The Globe and Mail's Simon Houpt compared Brown to an "action star in a Hollywood blow-'em-up: throwing fireballs and kicking asses" but added "he has a track record of playing fast and loose with facts".[1]
In the Toronto Life review of Toronto's most "addictive podcasts" in 2016, Vibhu Gairola, included Canadaland. Gairola wrote that "Unless you're a journalist, you probably know Canadaland as that podcast that broke the Ghomeshi scandal". While Canadaland self-described as a "non-sensationalist watchdog and a flag bearer for responsible reporting", Brown is known for routinely challeng[ing] and condemn[ing] the big names in Canadian news." Gairola compared Canadaland to "earnest whistle-blowing of TVO's The Agenda With Steve Paikin or HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.[52]
National Post's Christie Blatchford wrote that Canadaland's 2017 fake obituary[53] by Indigenous journalist and activist Robert Jago on Canadaland's website, of the Post's founder, former publisher, columnist, and Blatchford's former employer—Conrad Black—was "vicious", "petty and unfunny."[54] Blatchford called it "a cruel and juvenile piece that no newspaper would ever publish, let alone with such relish. It shames the profession."[54]
^Lloyd, Jeromy (March 16, 2018). "Canadaland Media's branded podcasts debut with a hit". Media in Canada. Toronto, Ontario. Retrieved October 23, 2018. Earshot's new DDX show is reaching the top of iTunes' medical charts in Canada and the U.S.
^Brown, Jesse; Mochama, Vicky; Zarzycki, Nick (May 2017). The Canadaland Guide to Canada. Simon and Schuster. p. 256. ISBN9781501150630.
^Gairola, Vibhu (March 17, 2016). "The city's most addictive podcasts". Toronto Life. Retrieved October 23, 2018. Podcast fiends have a new batch of homegrown options. Here, we break down the most binge-worthy of the bunch
