The North State

With legacy news outlets becoming increasingly out of touch and propagandistic, critics in the news media sphere have been more necessary than ever. While there's certainly a vacuum left by one of the largest outlets losing all credibility, there are still principled voices doing thoughtful critique. Toronto journalist Emma Paling has joined the sphere. Launching Second Scoop , a news media critic...

Cuba passed some of the most significant economic reforms since the 1960s in response to economic warfare waged on them by the US. Carney, and Canada more broadly, have been silent. So what is the relationship to Cuba in this country? Scott goes through Canada's economic relationship and the framework legacy news media operates in when covering the country. Follow Scott on Bluesky Sources and furt...

Scott was on vacation last week, so he hasn't been keeping up with the news. Ontario reporter for PressProgress Eric Wickham was also on vacation last week, so he hasn't been keeping up with the news. So what happened? In a very casual episode, Eric and Scott discuss some important headlines they missed to return to the grind, what they mean and their first impressions. Follow Eric on Bluesky and...

After Prime Minister Mark Carney's announcement on combating antisemitism, right-wing Zionist rumblings in news media claimed he wasn't doing enough. Often cited as an example of the extreme state of antisemitism that Canada is the choice of Montreal professor Gad Saad to leave for Mississippi. Saad's book, often cited as a number one nonfiction seller in Canada, Suicidal Empathy is a fundamental...

On May 27 to 28, CANSEC, the country's biggest arms expo, brought together Carney ministers and top arms manufacturers in a time of vast military spending. The Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), the organization that puts it on, prevented some journalists from attending. The Maple was denied for unspecified reasons and another reporter was declined due to timelines, d...

There's been seemingly breathless coverage of a hantavirus outbreak that happened on a Dutch cruise ship. Everyone's asking "Is this the new COVID pandemic?" Journalists, especially. Health officials say no, but what does the coverage of hantavirus reveal when compared to that of Ebola or, more pressingly, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic? Daniella Barreto, public health advocate, award-winning podca...

Five months after the CANADALAND podcast "What Is Happening Here?" concluded, The Catch published a three-part series of articles diving into the validity of its narrative. While antisemitism is certainly a real problem in Canada, Jesse Brown steers his six-part series into supporting right-wing Zionist arguments at all costs. Dr. Collin Chepeka, editor of The Hunter Street Chronicle and freelance...

In an April 14 story by New York Times reporter and Canada Bureau Chief Matina Stevis-Gridneff, she used AI to fabricate a quote by federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre that did not exist. In a May 1 correction, the NYT stated "The reporter should have checked the accuracy of what the A.I. tool returned." How did such a big mistake get through one of the biggest newspapers in the world? Wh...

In a news landscape littered with layoffs, executive bonuses and increased deference to power, it can be a bleak time for those in the industry. In a journey to focus on reporting on justice, systems of power and the law, De Facto Journalism Co-op hopes to become a new leader in Canadian reporting. Emma Arkell, award-winning labour reporter at PressProgress and editor of the Shift Work newsletter...

After Amazon pulled "The Camp of Saints" from their storefront, the publisher raised a stink online of censorship. This was quickly picked up by right-wing forces like the Washington Examiner and former Alberta premier Jason Kenney as an attack on free speech. Amazon has since returned the book to their marketplace and a white supremacist screed, describing nonwhite people as violent inhuman crimi...

You know what this is about, don't be coy. 04/27/26- Correction/Clarification: Mark Bourrie has reached out to me to inform me that the phonecall I reference in the Canadaland podcast is not the phonecall made on March 19, but one from 2021. Follow Scott on Bluesky Sources and further reading: https://readthecatch.ca/monologue-why-do-we-talk-about-jesse-brown-podcast Artwork by Zo at Studio Bonjou...

It's official. Mark Carney's Liberal government is now a majority. But the tactics used to gain this majority have mainly focused on cultivating floor-crossers from other parties to join their caucus. Even before the decisive victories in three byelections, it became clear Carney's majority goal came from coaxing dissatisfied MPs. What does this mean? In a politics bonanza, University of Toronto p...

The NDP selected Avi Lewis as their new leader after a conference this past weekend. After a long campaign that largely went under-reported due to the party's meagre seat count, we now have a federal party leader pushing for public options, scaling back fossil fuel production and backing peace on the world stage. Independent journalist Nora Loreto spent the weekend at the convention and joins Scot...

Ontario premier Doug Ford used his personal cellphone for provincial business, leading a panel of three judges to rule his personal cellphone was subject to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. Now, Ford wants to exempt the premier, cabinet ministers and parliamentary staffers from FOI laws, explicitly saying because of his cellphone use. The move is a brazen attack on the public's right to know...

In 2019, Canadian journalism outlets meeting certain requirements were able to receive a tax credit under federal law. These were codified under the federal government's Qualified Canadian journalism organization (QCJO) guidelines. Now, seven years later, it turns out at least two government agencies were basing their response to journalist inquiries on these qualifications. The Orchard founder an...

The USA and Israel launched a joint military campaign against Iran. With most legal scholars saying this strike was illegal and most official investigations into Iran's nuclear program saying they weren't building weapons, you'd think a position would be easy to strike. Instead, Prime Minister Mark Carney has supported the US in their attack, at most attaching some "regret" to that support. When l...

The Narwhal and Amber Bracken are suing the RCMP for wrongful arrest. Officers held Bracken for multiple days after raiding a Wet'suwet'en land defender camp in unceded territory. It's one of the most consequential cases for press freedom in Canada... so what's the deal with the lack of coverage? This week, Ethan cox, co-founder and editor at Ricochet Media and Camilo Ruiz, independent journalist...

It's now been a couple months since Jesse Brown's Canadaland series reporting antisemitism in Canada. Was there value in his reporting? While some points may have been well-made, the series obscured the issue and downplayed Israel's role in antisemitism in general. Blake Lambert, journalist, professor at Humber Polytechnic and TMU journalism instructor joins The North State to discuss the series,...

Last week, a school shooter shook the community of Tumbler Ridge in northeastern BC. Nine people, including the shooter, are dead and 27 injured. Despite the horrific nature of these killings and there being little indication of motive, the right-wing influencer network online has weaponized the shooter's identity to attack trans people. Mel Woods, senior editor at Xtra Magazine, has covered this...

In November of 2021, the RCMP raided a land defender camp in Wet'suwet'en territory with assault rifles and chainsaws. Over a dozen people were arrested, including photojournalist Amber Bracken and documentary filmmaker Michael Toledano. The Narwhal, who had Bracken on assignment, teamed up with the photojournalist to sue the RCMP. The trial is now ongoing and set for closing arguments in April. W...

Pierre Poilievre swept the leadership vote at the federal Conservative party's convention this past weekend in Calgary. While news outlets breathlessly explored the vote and what it means for the party, one journalist who applied for media accreditation was denied. The reason? "I don't know." Meanwhile, at that same convention, a new category of accreditation was made to designate "content creator...

Happy 2026! Scott's back and he's angry. Everybody's talking about Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. After countless articles and panels waxing poetic about how great a moment it was for Canada, few felt the need to criticize anything about it except for its possibility at implementation. In this monologue, Scott uses Carney's speech as a lightn...

So the first full-year of The North State has wrapped up. What a time it's been! This podcast has interviewed journalists from Karyn Pugliese, to Rachel Gilmore, to Sarah Samuel and not to mention that one that happened recently. But since Scott's always the one asking the questions, it's that rare time of year where you can pose them to him. Eric Wickham, Ontario reporter for PressProgress and po...

After a tumultuous year in Canadian federal politics, it seemed that the 2025 Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner was geared for virality before it even began. Then NDP interim leader Don Davies stole the show with his self-deprecating humour. Pierre Poilievre stunned with his other-deprecating humour. But these moments lead us to assume that the relationship between politicians and the press is, a...

Over the course of the past two years, Jesse Brown, founder, editor and publisher at CANADALAND has lost the trust of many journalists in the industry, especially me. His behaviour and approach to journalism has shaken multiple contributors and former employees to the point where they have left his project. He has attempted to reconcile with this perception in the lead up to his new series, What I...