For almost a century, the Irving family has run New Brunswick like a personal fiefdom

For almost a century, the Irving family has run New Brunswick like a personal fiefdom. They own the newspapers, the industry, and, according to some, even the government. So how does a single family come to so thoroughly dominate an entire province? And what happens when that family starts to fracture and split apart at the seams?

The firing of New Brunswick’s chief medical officer has raised questions among the community about possible corporate influence on government and has prompted corporate giant JD Irving to demand the removal of a CBC article.

According to multiple sources at the company, three senior editors at Brunswick News Inc (BNI) are under investigation in the midst of CANADALAND inquiries into the news org's relationship with the Government of New Brunswick.

"We never get jealous of the people who get all the air space," explains Emilie Nicolas. "We get jealous of the person who gets a crumb a little bit bigger than ours."

Kanye West, Dave Chappelle and Kyrie Irving have breathed new life into the antisemitic trope that Jews control the media. Is Jew-hatred from Black cultural icons more dangerous than the usual bigotry? And why is it so difficult for Jewish and Black communities to hear each other when it comes to racism? Emilie Nicolas joins Jesse to lay out a framework for better conversations.

Pour one out for Margaret Wente: she's leaving the Globe. The Irvings tighten their grip on New Brunswick news, and some Toronto councillors are learning not to cross Warren Kinsella.

When Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese called the government to follow up on a tip, he heard back from the PR arm of Irving Shipbuilding. And then the president of that company called, and threatened to sue him.

If you don’t have anything nice to report, find a way to make it positive!

The newspaper industry in Atlantic Canada is far less than healthy. The largest-circulation paper, the Halifax Chronicle Herald, is more than 400 days into a crippling strike which sees most of its senior reporters and editors on the picket line while its replacement workers are plugging out disturbingly sub-par journalism. Elsewhere in the area, the rest of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador have almost almost all of their daily and weekly newspapers cinched up between two companies: Brunswick News (owned by the Irving family, who employs approximately one-in-five New Brunswickers), and TC Media. Still, there are bright spots. Atlantic Canada is seeing a significant number of start-up journalism enterprises. Might there be a light at the end of the tunnel? Jesse joins Halifax Examiner publisher and editor Tim Bousquet and University of King’s College assistant professor Terra Tailleur to discuss. This live taping was a benefit for CKDU radio in Halifax – who carries CANADALAND every Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. AST.