The formally-titled Canadian Magazine Dispute, whose relations date back to Canada’s protectionism efforts in the 1920’s, was a cultural and financial preservation controversy that developed from a publication dispute into a world debate. In the 1990’s, Time Warner Inc. began distributing a split-run version of Sports Illustrated in Canada, subverting their 30-year long split-run magazine ban through electronic transmission (Rinamen, 1996). The magazines were, in fact, published in the US with most of their ‘Canadianizing’ adjustments residing in the lucrative ads department, but then printed in Canada and subsequently distributed. A circumvention Canada considered culturally and financially threatening; not only was the Canadian content in
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Moreover, decades before all the hubbub, in 1970 “a Canadian governmental Committee on Mass Media concluded that ‘magazines constitute the only national press we possess in Canada. Magazines, in a different way from any other medium, can help foster in Canadians a sense of themselves’” (Globalization 101). Canadians interpret their magazine industry as a cultural staple and, rankled by US’s blatant “cultural dumping” approach, responded accordingly (Rinamen, 1996). Nevertheless, the financial threat imposed by this legal subversive act cannot be denied considering Canadian magazines currently only account for 11% of sales, having lost most of their business to American publications (Globalization 101). In a free and democratic society, people are allowed to “vote” with their purchasing habits; it is lawful to influence oneself however they choose, and ‘American’ happens to be the hot …show more content…
Avoiding establishing legal precedent so as to deflect future ‘forays’ would be paramount; a gross excise tax upon ad revenue—one of Time Warner’s primary purposes for this whole endeavor, second only to the spread of their influence—would be imposed to abide censorship laws and discourage the business simultaneously. In addition to the tax, I would define what a “split-run” magazine comprised in way unprofitable from a ‘cultural dumping’ approach; defining anything less than 80% Canadian content as “split-run” practically inhibits a magazine from selling the ad spaces to Canadian businesses and deeming the entire publication “Canadian.” Therein lies the deeper question: what exactly makes a publication
Moreover, decades before all the hubbub, in 1970 “a Canadian governmental Committee on Mass Media concluded that ‘magazines constitute the only national press we possess in Canada. Magazines, in a different way from any other medium, can help foster in Canadians a sense of themselves’” (Globalization 101). Canadians interpret their magazine industry as a cultural staple and, rankled by US’s blatant “cultural dumping” approach, responded accordingly (Rinamen, 1996). Nevertheless, the financial threat imposed by this legal subversive act cannot be denied considering Canadian magazines currently only account for 11% of sales, having lost most of their business to American publications (Globalization 101). In a free and democratic society, people are allowed to “vote” with their purchasing habits; it is lawful to influence oneself however they choose, and ‘American’ happens to be the hot …show more content…
Avoiding establishing legal precedent so as to deflect future ‘forays’ would be paramount; a gross excise tax upon ad revenue—one of Time Warner’s primary purposes for this whole endeavor, second only to the spread of their influence—would be imposed to abide censorship laws and discourage the business simultaneously. In addition to the tax, I would define what a “split-run” magazine comprised in way unprofitable from a ‘cultural dumping’ approach; defining anything less than 80% Canadian content as “split-run” practically inhibits a magazine from selling the ad spaces to Canadian businesses and deeming the entire publication “Canadian.” Therein lies the deeper question: what exactly makes a publication