I was inspired to read last week of Kory Teneycke’s role in the launch of Sun News. Kory’s a product of the PR and PA world. A former colleague of mine in the conservative campaign. Kory was raised in Saskatchewan, a good family man with successful stints in politics, lobbying, and media punditry. Kory is super bright but with a down home humility that keeps his ego in check. This is his big idea! And those of us in PR and PA can be proud that someone from our industry is about to make such an impact on the media scene.
Recollect that just last year we were told by broadcasters CTV, CBC, and Global that the broadcast model was broken and that the only way broadcasters could make money was to charge viewers a carriage fee on their satellite and cable bills. Only one broadcaster, Quebecor, owner of Sun TV,  failed to join the chorus.
Little wonder then that Quebecor went against conventional wisdom by announcing that next January it was launching its own English language news channel to compete with CBC News World, and CTV’s News Net.   Quebecor is vowing to build its audience by taking on the mainstream media. Sun News is a welcome addition to the media landscape. Look for the new network to pursue its own stories – indeed creating its own news along the way. It will be unconventional and often relying on social media to help decide what viewers will find really interesting. Expect the journalists to be respected  while contrarian in perspective. These will be the journalists who are used to pushing back and fighting conventional wisdom. Also expect to see a serious attempt to integrate Sun’s broadcast and print media into coordinated news coverage.
From a PR and PA perspective the addition of Sun News offers our industry an opportunity for our consultants to be at their creative best. Kory’s looking for entertainment as well as information. Sun TV News offers another reason for us to integrate wherever possible the creativity of marketing communications with the hard news of public affairs and corporate PR. Getting a story on the Sun TV network will require skills from both areas because Kory is not looking for ‘bland and boring’. If the success of Fox TV in the U.S. is any indication, edgy and entertaining will win plenty of viewers. And our clients will have a whole new network on which to get their messages out.