Look, I am not one of those people who whines when a media personality shows bias. Talk radio hosts would be boring as hell if they didn’t lean one way or another as would columnists of course. The engagement between a host and a guest when the host has some defined views and is willing to debate them makes for good, informative listening.
I don’t care which way a bias goes as well. If it is too far out there for me to endure, I simply choose not to listen/watch/read whatever was produced.
Adler of course has the right to hold whatever views he pleases and to bring those views into his radio show and into social media as much as he wants. I would never want it any other way.
What I am going on about is the radical shift in bias and approach that seems to have taken over Adler in this last few months. It has been striking to say the least.
Charles Adler is a well established broadcaster who has been working in the field in a number of roles for decades. As a longtime listener, if I were to describe Adler’s leaning I would say center-right. He has never been a strong social conservative but has usually been treading the waters of a fiscal conservative with a moderate social stance.
I had been a guest on his TV show a time or two when he was with the Sun News Network and I think once on his radio show. They were fun interviews. Adler was prone to bouncing about while making jovial yet pressing questions and commentary that keeps you on your toes. I liked that style in listening to him as well.
People’s views evolve and change over time. That is natural. It is not normal for folks to go damn near 180 degrees over the course of a few months though and that somehow has happened to Adler.
Adler’s anti-conservative campaign has been sudden, fervent and almost obsessive. It seems to have begun during last spring’s Alberta election campaign. Adler brought Jason Kenney in on what can only be described as a brutal ambush interview. Adler used every one of the Notley talking points which had been mercilessly (and ineffectively) used to try and paint Kenney and the entire UCP as being backwards bigots. Kenney took the unexpected pummeling well but it was painful to listen to. Probing questions and debate are fine but that interview was a prolonged attack.
After that interview, Adler brought Rachel Notley on not to give her a grilling on her campaign and policies but rather to spend another half hour double teaming Kenney and the UCP to drive home further the notion that this was somehow a party of neanderthals as can be seen in the program description below.
For the remainder of the campaign Adler stuck to throwing rocks at Jason Kenney and puffballs at Rachel Notley. Thankfully it appears to have had utterly no impact on voter intentions.
Adler’s sights are now turned on Andrew Scheer. From having economists on who speak to how well Trudeau has managed the economy to implying that Scheer is a homophobe because he hasn’t done any campaign stops in gay bars Adler is outdoing himself on his crusade.
In just going through Adler’s social media scroll from just these past few days the pattern is rather more than evident.
Adler constantly demonizes both Doug Ford and Jason Kenney. He then works his utmost to try to make the case that Andrew Scheer will be controlled by these conservative monsters!
There is utterly no evidence anywhere that Scheer is somehow a puppet of Jason Kenney. Why and how on earth would he be? This is getting into deep conspiracy theory territory but Adler is shameless in his trying to perpetuate this myth.
If the Kenney controlling Scheer conspiracy isn’t enough, Adler is working to point out that Doug Ford is actually controlling Scheer. Twins? Really?
At least in that tweet Adler came right out and advised folks to vote Liberal this fall.
The tweet above is the one that inspired my rant today.
Where the hell did this question come from? Scheer suddenly has to decry Alberta separatism? Scheer who is a federal leader who isn’t even from Alberta is somehow secretly an Albertan separatist?
Adler is hoping dearly to draw Scheer into a narrative that has utterly nothing to do with him.
The question is why?
There is an election pending. There are countless questions and opinions to explore in coming days and months. Why dive down the rabbit hole of Liberal campaigning in trying to paint conservatives as homophobes/separatists/extremists etc? Adler knows damn well that this is simply shallow, lazy commentary at best which again is what makes his transformation so mystifying.
I am not alone in wondering. Other broadcasters and politicians are starting to speak up on this as well.
The list of folks asking what happened to Charles is growing.
Perhaps we will never know but I suspect that the obsessiveness and overt Liberal campaigning from him is only going to get worse in the next couple months.
That is sad indeed.
You echoed my sentiments with “what the he’ll happened to Charles Adler?” You went the extra step and wrote a well researched explanation of why so many are asking. Thanks Cory
Agreed. For decades he was an unbiased voice of reason I have followed but he is in recognizable today. Very bizarre yet he defends and attacks as soon as one questions the reason or motive. Yet another sad day for journalism; what used to be a respectable profession.
The change started just before he left Winnipeg for Vancouver. He pumped up the image of then mayoral candidate Brian Bowman as the proper, fiscal choice for Winnipeg. Bowman won, and has turned out to be Nenshi light.
Great and well researched! I have been pondering the same question for weeks now. As if Michael Coren wasn’t enough, now we have Charles Adler. I not only unfollowed him on Twitter, I stopped listening to him on AM640. He is just too fake now, trying to assert a moral authority. Which is sad because I used to look forward to 10 PM to listen to his show. But he lost me and thousands others like me.
Gosh, maybe they’re both going to “come out” and then…..:)
Okay, either that or they’re both trying to hoover up whatever scraps of liberal $ and sinecures they can get before they officially retire.
You have just said what I have been asking myself for weeks. This is not the Charles Adler I used to listen to and respect. He writes like someone on the loose from an asylum. It is more sad than scary to me, because I used to really respect him. Now I only feel pity.
Exactly my thoughts. I wondered about his flip flop and was no longer a listener,.
Thanks Cory, couldn’t agree more. My question: when does Corus step in?
it started a couple years ago when he caught TDS, Trump Derangement Sydrome. Then it spread..
Chorus will not step in because unfortunately Global runs things now and in my opinion he is behaving just the way they want him to.Sadly
I remember the hatchet job he did on Kenney, referenced in the article. I was shocked as I listened to it. Couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I have not listened to a single show since.. I tweeted him to tell him how disgusted I was, then unfollowed him on Twitter too. A shame, really. I was a regular listener for many years. I asked myself, too… What the hell happened to him? My God, can just moving to Vancouver riddle one’s brain so?
When a Journalist becomes a paid political announcement, he no longer is a journalist. Adler is no more than a paid leftwing infomercial now
It is great to see Adler has shifted in the right direction…better for him and the country…it gives people hope
Turned in the right direction, he got bought off with the Trudeau money and saw the writing on the wall. Not a man of integrity, a man trying to stay employed, and sold his soul .
I stopped listening because of the ambush interview of Jason Kenney….. It was appalling and I decided not to continue to listen….. I hope that Charles gives himself a review on his conduct as a host….. In my opinion I must say he is working against other people’s views because he has been converted to an idealogy that is truely in conflict with the program’s mandate of being unbiased….. Again my opinion is that he has crossed the line….. Maybe it is time for retirement…… I will never listen again……
I wondered if I was the only one that was just shocked when I first heard Adler on the local Global station. .I listened to him faithfully for about 8 years in Winnipeg. It must be the BC water – the guy is totally annoying now. Stopped listening some time ago.
That station is just a disaster at night. .
You have voiced exactly my sentiment. I thoroughly used to enjoy his shows but the last while I found it painful to listen to, so I no longer do. I truly wonder and hope that everything is okay with him health wise.
Charles also jumped unchecked with both feet into downtown Toronto blowhard Joe Cressy’s laughable talking points that “people are literally going to die” and “children are being left to starve” when Ford govt cut 1% from Toronto’s city budget. He had experts on child nutrition on raving about the effects of malnourished children, well after Christine Elliott confirmed that breakfast programs were funded by a different department and unaffected. You would hope a nationally syndicated talk show host, no matter what their political stripe, would research some background and make arguments based on facts, not partisan talking points. Sad to see. I have unfollowed and cancelled my subscription to his podcast.
Hi I to thought Adler was good to listen to. But noticed quite a change from Jason Kenny on. The other night he went terribly off on Doug Ford. Mike Smith could take his place
I also liked Charles Adler but since his ugly change we have quit listening to him. He emits hate for the ‘right’ Sad. Used to really like his once fair program.
Pingback: Your Moral And Intellectual Superiors – Small Dead Animals
Has anyone checked the ratings on his show? Is he dropping sponsors? It’s radio, money talks…
Just like politicians, the media can be bought. Now Alder carries water for the left.
Honestly, what is the point of attacking Andrew Scheer?
He never makes public appearances (I never see him).
He doesn’t do ads (I haven’t seen any).
He doesn’t have policy.
He kicks anyone out of the party who has ever said anything.
I expect Scheer to displace Kim Campbell at first place in Canadian politics. He is that inspiring.
And in response to what’s changed: pretty obvious. Direct Liberal Party payouts for supporting the narrative. CTV cashing in, Global cashing in, Toronto Star cashing in, CBC triple cashing in (direct govt payout, new payouts going to Liberal supporters, Senate appointments and Governor Generalships for the “best”, …) … Charles Adler, obviously cashing in.
As an Albertan, I echo Adler’s concerns.
Kenney’s rhetoric has been pro-secession, Scheer has done nothing to refute the case, & both continue fanning flames of discontent.
You can hardly blame him for loathing Ford, who’s continued bumbling & chaos only provides the quintessential example of current conservative political & economic stewardship.
& How/why would you think economists have lauded Trudeau’s policies if you’re not an economist? Based on Kenney’s corporate tax cuts? Or having of public services?
Or, could you concede there being even a small cause to worry for the changes & that Adler, a “well established broadcaster who has been working in the field in a number of roles for decades” is only far too well aware of what the problem is?
& You noting his political stance being “center-right” with him as a “fiscal conservative” should serve to only reinforce his established position as someone you should probably listen to for old-school conservatism.
Because conservatives today are most certainly NOT what they were.
Another socialist mole pops out of his hole.
Thanks for that. I, too noticed Adler’s swing to the left when he moved to BC. I had been listening to his shows for some time on CHQR Calgary. No more. Corus, with a couple of exceptions, is a lost cause. Shills for the leftists.
simple – more money in crapping on conservatives.
Makes one wonder if there is a relationship to the Funds that Ottawa is putting up for Media?
Adler made 31 syntax errors on one episode in the Alberta election. He also said the Leaders debate floor was in “Calgary.” I stood outside the front of Ctv Edmonton Studios for 2.5 hours with a pro oil pipelines sign, I was freezing as I forgot my gloves. Let me tell you the debate floor was in Edmonton. Mr. Kenney & Ms. Notley said “hi rory” to me from over the fence as they were leaving. A few minutes lates Mr. Mandel & Mr. Khan did as well. He also says he backs support for more autism money. But blocked me from calling his show and I have Aspergers Syndrome or high functioning autism. He truly likes to discriminate against me. Once he used to be right of Ezra Levant on certain issues now hes a Commie. He also never berated Notley equally for bringing in the carbon tax after she came in.
CKNW got rid of that Drex character.
Is Adler on the take from Justin, like that Jethro on CHED radio Edmonton?
Meanwhile Corus must realize they are losing money having these two characters on their payroll. Perhaps Trudeau is paying off Corus.
Why work for advertising dollars when you can live off taxpayer dollars.
I used to go to bed at 10 p.m. and listen to Adler on my radio, didn’t want to miss any of his opinions on current affairs. What happened to him? Did he have a nervous breakdown. Did he have an epiphany which caused him to talk to his deceased father and admit he’s a Liberal? I hope he gets help, I shall miss him, because I can’t listen anymore.
Why did CKNW ever hire this easterner from Montreal and Boston Winnipeg?
How about replacing him with some nice fresh British Columbia perspectives.
Stuff that only B.C. people can identify with.
I now live in Alberta,
CKNW. Please get back to your former style.
I guess those fall ratings are what is most important.
I’m thinking brain-cancer….either that or a big bag of CA$H from Corus.