The Irvings are secretive billionaires who have a monopoly on New Brunswick's news media. Journalist Jacques Poitras, author of Irving vs Irving, describes how the family subtly suppresses criticism and destroys competitors.
[00:00:21] "A journalist disaster zone, that is what a Senate Commission called New Brunswick when they were investigating media monopolization. Why would they describe the province that way? Because of the Irving family. If you have never heard of the Irving family than the Irving family is pretty happy about that. They are a low-key family despite the fact that they are the third wealthiest family in Canada.
They are billionaires, They are the fifth largest landowner in the U.S(sixth actually). Their empire spans energy, forestry, trucking, construction, real estate and media. They basically own the print media in New Brunswick and they run their media monopoly like no other press baron family you've heard of. At one point, they seriously suggested that their newsroom staff all wear uniforms like the employees at their gas stations, as it would be sort of a moral building, team building exercise.
That plan never came to fruition but I think that gives you a little bit of an idea of how they operate. But the truth is, it is very hard to get a bigger picture on how they operate because as I mention they are very low-key, they are very private, their holdings are private, they don't have to disclose anything to shareholders. And they have been for decades, for generations of Irvings kind of impenetrable to journalists.
They don't really give a lot of access but that has not stopped journalist and author Jacques Poitras from thoroughly researching and investigating the Irving's for his book Irving vs Irving. He got limited access to some of the family before they cut him off but a lot of his knowledge of the family comes from the fact that he worked at an Irving family newspaper, The Saint John Telegraph Journal for six years. These days he is the provincial affairs reporter for CBC news in New Brunswick and Jacques Poitras will join me in a moment." Jesse
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The Family that Owns New Brunswick | CANADALAND
[00:00:21] "A journalist disaster zone, that is what a Senate Commission called New Brunswick when they were investigating media monopolization. Why would they describe the province that way? Because of the Irving family. If you have never heard of the Irving family than the Irving family is pretty happy about that. They are a low-key family despite the fact that they are the third wealthiest family in Canada.
They are billionaires, They are the fifth largest landowner in the U.S(sixth actually). Their empire spans energy, forestry, trucking, construction, real estate and media. They basically own the print media in New Brunswick and they run their media monopoly like no other press baron family you've heard of. At one point, they seriously suggested that their newsroom staff all wear uniforms like the employees at their gas stations, as it would be sort of a moral building, team building exercise.
That plan never came to fruition but I think that gives you a little bit of an idea of how they operate. But the truth is, it is very hard to get a bigger picture on how they operate because as I mention they are very low-key, they are very private, their holdings are private, they don't have to disclose anything to shareholders. And they have been for decades, for generations of Irvings kind of impenetrable to journalists.
They don't really give a lot of access but that has not stopped journalist and author Jacques Poitras from thoroughly researching and investigating the Irving's for his book Irving vs Irving. He got limited access to some of the family before they cut him off but a lot of his knowledge of the family comes from the fact that he worked at an Irving family newspaper, The Saint John Telegraph Journal for six years. These days he is the provincial affairs reporter for CBC news in New Brunswick and Jacques Poitras will join me in a moment." Jesse
more
The Family that Owns New Brunswick | CANADALAND
