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MONTREALHe built an empire. Now he wants to break a country.

Pierre Karl Pladeau, a Canadian media industry titan whose Quebecor Inc. conglomerate draws audiences and readers from the Pacific through the Prairies to la belle province where it dominates most, has come out in full-throated support of Quebec sovereignty. The 52-year-old announced Sunday that he will run for office as a member of the Parti Qubcois.

Today, we have the tools to take control of our own destiny, said Pladeau before a cheering partisan crowd in St. Jerome, northwest of Montreal, where he will vie for votes in the provincial election April 7.

My devotion to the Parti Qubcois is a devotion that rises from my most intimate values that is to say: To make Quebec a country, he proclaimed, raising his fist as roars rang out.

A divisive character of great renown in Quebec, Pladeaus entry into politics was rumoured for weeks, despite firm denials from the media baron that he intended to do so. Now that he has, the provinces political scene has been shaken up, with competing choruses of approval and denunciation following his candidacy announcement.

The FTQ, one of the provinces biggest unions, released a statement of astonishment at Pladeaus candidacy for the PQ, calling him one of the worst employers Quebec has ever known.

Franoise David, co-leader of the left-leaning separatist Qubec Solidaire, also took a shot at the PQ for welcoming Pladeau into its fold. Never will a member of Qubec Solidaire sit next to Pierre Karl Pladeau, in the rows of the National Assembly, she told reporters Sunday.

The PQ has been openly courting QS supporters with their secularism charter, and there has even been talk of a possible coalition. No chance of that anymore, said David.

Meanwhile, former Bloc Qubcois leader Gilles Duceppe was among those applauding Pladeau. Sovereignty isnt left, nor is it right. Its ahead. Congratulations to Mr. Pladeau for his decision, he wrote on Twitter.

Often referred to simply by his initials, PKP, the former philosophy major is a veritable celebrity in Quebec. His recent split from Julie Snyder, a famous TV producer behind Quebecs American Idol-style shows Star Acadmie and La Voix, has been tabloid fodder for weeks. Pladeau referenced the separation Sunday, telling reporters he didnt decide to run until he had Snyders full support.

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Former Quebecor Media president running for PQ

Press Release March 10, 2014

MIRIAM: SOCIAL MEDIA TO SHAPE 2016 POLLS

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago today, 10 March 2014, said that the 2016 presidential elections will be determined by social media, and no longer by the amount of campaign funding allegedly running to P2 billion.

Santiago made the statement in her speech on "Media and Good Governance" at Assumption College, San Lorenzo Village, Makati, during Communication Week. Assumption is an exclusive school for females who came from some of the richest and most powerful families in the country.

"It is entirely possible that the 2016 presidential and senatorial elections will be determined by social media," said the senator, who is frequently trending in social media.

Santiago, who ran for president in 1992 and whose presidential election protest was never resolved, predicted that because of the internet and cable TV, there will be less rallies and motorcades.

"The crooked candidates are already hiring professionals to dominate and maybe even control the social media. But such is the power of social media that netizens will be able to beat the candidates with unexplained wealth and their criminal campaign contributors," the senator said.

Santiago claimed that U.S. President Barrack Obama relied heavily on social media, which later helped him to win the Nobel Prize. The senator said that during her 1992 presidential campaign, she had to rely on her team of volunteers, who were mostly young people.

"In 1992, I had no money, so I merely relied on the energy and courage of young people. My volunteers had to beg for rejected wood from lumber yards and build the campaign stage, which sometimes crashed to the ground because it was overcrowded. Meanwhile, my opponents rented their crowds and even paid people to attend their rallies," the senator said.

Santiago believes that in the succeeding elections, there will be less rallies and motorcades since the political campaign will be staged on social media.

Originally posted here:
Miriam: Social media to shape 2016 polls

Media choices: restrictions may be relaxed on ownership laws.

The Abbott government has given its strongest indication yet that it will relax restrictions on media ownership, paving the way for more consolidation of the industry.

Two days after meeting with Australia's most powerful media executives, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull questioned why the country needed specific ownership rules regarding print, television and radio, given the surge in competition from the internet.

Axing the laws would allow a potential takeover of Ten by News Corporation, which has strong links with the network, whose chairman is Lachlan Murdoch.

It could also allow Fairfax Media, owner of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, to join forces with a television partner such as Seven.

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Also under scrutiny is the 75 per cent reach rule. This restricts television networks from broadcasting to less than 75 per cent of the Australian population.

A parliamentary committee was of the view last June that the ''reach rule was becoming redundant with the advent of the internet and converging media'' and supported its removal.

Analysts at JPMorgan say the scrapping of the reach rules could make takeover targets of regional TV networks Prime Media and Southern Cross Media.

Prime broadcasts Seven content in regional areas while Southern Cross broadcasts Ten content. The privately held WIN Television broadcasts Nine content.

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Coalition 'sympathetic' to relaxing restrictions on media ownership

Exclusive: The only foreign policy show on the U.S. media dial this past week has been the bashing of Russian President Putin over the Ukraine crisis with a slap or two at President Obama for having worked with Putin on Syria and Iran. Lost in this group think is the why behind this demonization,reports Robert Parry.

By Robert Parry

The U.S. political-media elites, which twisted themselvesintoa dangerous group think overtheIraq War last decade, have spunout of control again in a wildoverreaction tothe Ukraine crisis.Across the ideological spectrum, there is rave support for the coup that overthrew Ukraines elected president and endless ranting against Russian President Vladimir Putin for refusing to accept the new coup leadership in Kiev and intervening to protect Russian interests in Crimea.

The we-hate-Putin hysteria has now reach the point that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hasdeployed the Hitler analogy against Putin, comparing Putins interests in protecting ethnic Russians in Ukraine with Hitler citing ethnic Germans in Eastern Europe to justify aggression at the start of World War II.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Russian government photo)

I just want people to have a little historic perspective, the reputed 2016 Democratic presidential frontrunner told a question-and-answer session at UCLA on Wednesday, confirming reports of her using the Hitler analogy during an earlier private fundraiser.

Some Clinton backers suggested she made the provocative comparison to give herself protection from expected right-wing attacks on her for having participated in thereset of U.S. policy toward Russia in 2009. She also was putting space between herself and President Barack Obamas quiet effort to cooperate with Putin to resolve crises with Iran and Syria.

But what is shocking about Clintons Hitler analogy and why it should give Democrats pause as they rush to coronate her as their presidential nominee in 2016 is that it suggests that she has joined the neoconservative camp, again. Since her days as a U.S. senator from New York and as a supporter of the Iraq War Clinton has often sided with the neocons and shes doing so again in demonizing Putin.

Democrats might want to contemplate how a President Hillary Clinton would handle that proverbial 3 a.m. phone call, perhaps one with conflicting information about a chemical weapons attack in Syria or muddled suspicions thatIran is moving toward a nuclear bomb or reports that Russia is using its military to resist a right-wing coup in neighboring Ukraine.

Would she unthinkingly adopt the hawkish neocon position as she often did as U.S. senator andasSecretary of State? Would she wait for the fog of war to lift or simply plunge ahead withflame-throwingrhetoric that could make a delicate situation worse?

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The We-Hate-Putin Group Think

(03-07 11:26)

The head of the powerful US gun lobby railed against American media Thursday, saying it was biased and lying about the heated debate on regulating weapons. One of America's greatest threats is the national news media that fails to provide a level playing field for the truth,'' NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre told an annual conference of conservatives just outside Washington, AFP reports. Congress failed to pass a hotly contested gun control law last year, despite a series of recent mass shootings that shocked the nation. The failure came after stiff opposition by the National Rifle Association and other gun groups, which mounted a successful counter-campaign and warned members that the US government was bent on taking guns away. The political and media elite are lying to us,'' LaPierre told the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. LaPierre, whose group counts about five million members, said the media ''hate us, just for saying out loud and sticking up for what we believe, as if we had no right.'' But their moral indignation, it should be directed right into their own makeup mirrors,'' he added. His comments echoed criticisms often made by conservatives about the mainstream media, which former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin once memorably dubbed the lamestream media.'' LaPierre vowed that NRA members will never, and I mean never, submit or surrender to the national media.'' Recalling that the right to bear arms is enshrined in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, LaPierre declared that standing with the NRA is a massive declaration of individual rights.'' And he promised a bare-knuckle street fight'' for this November's mid-term elections. US President Barack Obama, a Democrat, issued targeted executive orders and actions aiming to tighten rules for gun ownership and to help states provide information about the mentally ill for federal background checks. The rules were announced after the Newtown, Connecticut school shooting that left 20 young children and six staff dead in December 2012. The massacre relaunched a push for gun control laws in America and a handful of states have since tightened gun rules. But the national measures Obama sought, including a plan for enhanced background checks on gun buyers and a ban on assault-style rifles, failed in Congress. The NRA will not go quietly into the night. We will fight. I promise you that,'' LaPierre said.

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Defiant US gun lobby rails against media moral indignation