Canadaland

Canadaland is a Canadian news site, podcast, and podcast network that was created and published by Jesse Brown in 2013. By the fall of 2018, Canadaland featured podcasts on the media, art and culture, cooking, medicine, and politics; among these are "Commons," launched in 2015, and "Oppo", launched in 2018. Canadaland has been funded partly through advertisements, and since 2014, through the crowdfunding site, Patreon.
In October 2018, Canadaland featured a five part podcast called "Thunder Bay" narrated by Anishinaabe comedian, and writer, Ryan McMahon.
Canadaland network.
Canadaland podcast was launched in the fall of 2013. By 2015, it had become a "podcast network and a news organization with staff". The original Canadaland podcast covered predominantly Canadian media and media criticism. By September 2018, the "Canadaland" podcast network also included "Commons", a politics podcast "Imposter", an art and art criticism podcast; "Oppo", a politics podcast; "Taste Buds", a food and food critic podcast; and "Wag the Doug", an ad-hoc, irregularly scheduled podcast about Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
Commons.
In 2015, "Commons" was launched as a "politics show for people who have been neglected by legacy media" with "activist and journalist" Desmond Cole and Andray Domise as hosts. According to a 2015 article by Jonathan Goldsbie, at a meeting held as part of a province-wide public consultation on carding, Cole confronted then-Toronto police chief Mark Saunders on "whether he ha[d] data to back up his assertions about [its] usefulness". In the same article, Domise described an incident that took place when he was fifteen. After being stopped by police who asked if he was carrying weed in his backpack, he ended up "cuffed, on the ground, while the officers dumped out the contents of my backpack. In front of my peers at school." In 2015, Elizabeth May appeared as a guest on "The Commons." On their December 16 podcast, Cole interviewed three family members of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW). In 2015, over 12,000 listeners downloaded the show weekly.
In 2016, the most downloaded episodes of the Commons were "Legal Weed is Bad for Poor People", "Don't Let Harper Happen Here: Wab Kinew on Entering Politics", "White Men Gotta Speak on This", "The Government Finally Admitted They Illegally Spy On Us and Nobody Cares", "Drunk on Liberal Power", and "Kellie Leitch on Anti-Canadian Values."
Now hosted by Arshy Mann, the focus of "The Commons" will be on corruption in Canada in the 2018-2019 season.
The Imposter.
Canadaland's art and art criticism show, "The Imposter" was launched in 2016. In their first year, the most downloaded episodes were "Brushes With Drake", "Spoiler Alert", "Degrassiland", "Tanya Tagaq is Unreconciled", and "Sex Canoe". Artist, Aliya Pabani, is the show's host and producer.
OPPO.
"OPPO", a politics podcast, was launched on February 6, 2018 with journalists Jen Gerson and Justin Ling as co-hosts, presenting opposing views on various politic-related topics. The producer is David Crosbie. 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.
By March 2018, Canadaland Media's "DDx", a new medical show, 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".
Cool Mules.
The investigative six-part series "Cool Mules", topped itunes most popular podcast charts for several weeks. It tells the story of former VICE Canada Media editor, Yaroslav Pastukhov (aka Slava Pastuk), who abused his authority to manipulate interns, young journalists and a model into smuggling $20 million worth of cocaine to Australia. The series included a series of exclusive interviews with Pastukhov, who ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Thunder Bay.
In this five-part 2018 podcast series entitled "Thunder Bay", McMahon builds on the meticulous investigation by "Toronto Star" reporter Tanya Talaga—published in an award-winning 2017 book "Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death and Hard Truths in a Northern City". In "Seven Fallen Feathers", Talaga described the deaths of seven youths in Thunder Bay, Ontario, revealing shoddy police investigations, and systemic racism, facing Indigenous youth, their families, and communities. Talaga began investigating the deaths in 2011. She wrote, "I can't imagine having to send them 500 kilometers away to go to school. I find it incredibly difficult to fathom that we don't have school for Indigenous kids in their communities. This isn't right. I knew I had to write this book. I had to do it." She began the book in 2016, and wrote it in one year. Shortly after Talaga published "Seven Fallen Feathers", McMahon pitched the idea of a podcast about Thunder Bay to Brown and they launched a crowd-funding campaign.
In the podcast, McMahon opened up the shady nature of the city's authorities.
Management and staff.
Canadaland's staff reporters include Allison Smith, Ryan McMahon, Jaren Kerr, and Jesse Brown, among others.
Jesse Brown is the founder, host and publisher. David Crosbie is the producer and host of OPPO and Short Cuts. Jen Gerson is an OPPO co-host, OPPO, Jonathan Goldsbie is news editor and a co-host of "Wag the Doug", Allie Graham is a producer, Justin Ling is a co-host of OPPO, Arshy Mann is a host and producer of the COMMONS. Corey Marr is head of business development and ad sales. TK Matunda is a producer of the COMMONS. Ryan McMahon is the host of "Thunder Bay." Kevin Sexton is the managing editor of podcasts. Allison Smith is the co-host of "Wag the Doug."
Canadaland podcast.
Brown launched his podcast and blog called "Canadaland" in October 2013. In an article in the "Times Colonist", Mike Devlin described Brown as the "controversial host of the popular Canadaland podcast and crowdfunded news site." 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." 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 reluctant to appear on the program until his "first big scoop", less than six months after the podcast was launched. Brown, and "Canadaland", by extension, earned "credentials", and "journalistic credibility" with stories such as the February 2014 "scoop" on "The National" anchor Peter Mansbridge.
Stories covered.
Since the fall of 2013, Canadaland "has spilled 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." This included the February 2014 story about Mansbridge, who had been paid $28,000 to speak at a December 2012 Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) event. 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", "Vice", and reporter Andrew Mitrovica, forcing Mansbridge to address the issue, sparking a lively debate in the Canadian mainstream media outlets. 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".
Although, Canadaland does not believe that their show was the sole catalyst, by April 2014 CBC announced changes in its rules regarding speaking engagements for its journalists.
Episodes.
In 2016, the most downloaded episodes of "Canadaland" were "How To Save Our CBC", "Notes on the Ghomeshi Trial", "White Pundits Matter", "Edmonton Is Weird", and "Newfoundland Is Screwed."
Media response.
"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".
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".
National Post's Christie Blatchford wrote that Canadaland's 2017 fake obituary by "Indigenous activist and freelance writer" 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." Blatchford called it "a cruel and juvenile piece that no newspaper would ever publish, let alone with such relish. It shames the profession."
Audience.
Viewers and downloads.
A year after the podcast was launched, it was attracting about 10,000 listeners every week. By late 2018, Canadaland's five podcasts reached 100,000 weekly listeners.
Funding.
"Canadaland" has been funded partly through advertisements, and since 2014, through the crowdfunding site, Patreon. "Canadaland" publishes an annual "Transparency Report" that details their finances."
Their most successful fundraising Patreon campaign, was the 2017-2018 pitch by Ryan McMahon, for Canadaland's investigative podcast, "Thunder Bay". McMahon pitched "Thunder Bay" as the S-Town, of the north, in reference to the popular investigative journalism podcast by producers of "Serial" about a town in Alabama. By November they had surpassed their "funding threshold", an unprecedented success. McMahon, was "blown away by the support—not just from people across the country, but within Thunder Bay itself."
National NewsMedia Council.
Canadaland is a member of the National NewsMedia Council (NNC), a national independent press council, established in 2015 to improve media transparency and accountability in Canada. The NNC replaced regional press councils in their role of overseeing complaints from the general public regarding Canadian news media. There are over 400 newspapers including major newspapers, such as the "Toronto Star", "the Globe and Mail", "Maclean's", "Montreal Gazette", "Postmedia", the "Calgary Herald", the "Edmonton Journal", and "Sun Media" that are members of the Council.
The Canadaland Guide to Canada.
In her review of Jesse Brown's 2017 book "The Canadaland Guide to Canada", author Charlotte Gray described Jesse Brown as a "crowdfunded media critic and self-described 'public irritant'" 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."