CBC provided more coverage to Peter MacKay than all of the other Conservative candidates combined, a tally of headlines shows.
MacKay’s name appeared in 50 unique headlines posted to CBC’s website, while the rest of the candidates only netted 44 headline mentions in total.
When broken down, Erin O’Toole received 24 mentions, followed by Leslyn Lewis who was mentioned in 13 headlines, and Derek Sloan who was referenced in only seven.
Only posts dating back to when the leadership race commenced on January 13, 2020, were included in the final sum.
True North relied on data provided by CBC’s search results to achieve this count. The headlines of videos and other multimedia content were also referenced.
Earlier this week, MacKay was hounded by his fellow contenders after he received an endorsement from the progressive-leaning mainstream media outlet the Toronto Star.
“Here’s everything you need to know about this Conservative leadership race: Erin O’Toole is endorsed by Conservatives like Jason Kenney. Peter MacKay is endorsed by the Toronto Star,” tweeted O’Toole on Thursday.
During his campaign, O’Toole has accused MacKay of being the “Liberal-lite” candidate in the race.
“Justin Trudeau and Peter MacKay defend the CBC. I’ll defund it,” tweeted O’Toole on June 24.
In July, O’Toole has accused the CBC of being biased towards him and other Conservatives after they edited out a portion of an interview with O’Toole where he discussed his policy plan to defund the national broadcaster.
Earlier this week, an exclusive True North report also found that the CBC relatively ignored Leslyn Lewis’ historic leadership run in favour of reporting on US Vice Presidential contender Kamala Harris.
A count by True North found that Harris received 500% more coverage than Lewis did.
Conservatives are expected to decide who the next leader of the party will be on Sunday, August 23.
hyperlink list.pdf by True North on Scribd
