Global News
Canadian center-left
Background
The roots of Global News trace to 1973, when Winnipeg businessman Izzy Asper founded Canwest Capital Corporation and won a CRTC licence for a new Manitoba television station. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Canwest expanded aggressively across Canada, eventually unifying its stations under a single Global brand in 1997 to form Canada's third major over-the-air television network. The network's formal news division, Global News, took shape in 1994. Canwest collapsed under debt during the 2008–09 recession and entered bankruptcy protection in late 2009. Shaw Communications purchased the Global Television assets in 2010 for roughly $2 billion, forming Shaw Media to hold them. In 2016, Corus Entertainment — a Canwest/Shaw family spin-off — acquired Shaw Media for approximately $2.85 billion, bringing Global News under its current corporate umbrella. Since 2023, Corus has faced severe financial strain: advertising revenue has fallen sharply, the company cut nearly 800 full-time positions (about 25% of its 2022 workforce) by mid-2024, and it lost key specialty channel programming rights to Rogers. The CRTC has extended eligibility for its Independent Local News Fund to Global's 15 owned-and-operated stations to help stabilize local news production. Media bias trackers (Media Bias/Fact Check, Biasly, Ad Fontes Media) consistently rate Global News as slightly left of center with generally high factual accuracy.
Sources
- Global Television Network – Wikipedia
- Shaw Media – Wikipedia
- Canwest – Wikipedia
- Global News – Bias and Credibility, Media Bias/Fact Check
- Global News Bias and Reliability, Biasly
- Global News Bias and Reliability, Ad Fontes Media
- Corus Entertainment 'aggressively' cutting costs, laying off more employees as revenue slumps – CBC News
- Corus confirms layoffs at Global News as it eyes sustainability – Broadcast Dialogue
- Corus seeks funding for Global under Independent Local News Fund – Media in Canada
- CRTC takes action to support local news across Canada – Canada.ca
Profile compiled 2026-07-28; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.