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LEFT-CENTER BIAS

History

Le Soleil (The Sun) is a French-language daily newspaper based in Quebec City, Canada. It was founded in 1880 and has a long history of reporting on local, national, and international news. In addition to its print edition, Le Soleil has an online presence, with a website featuring news articles, opinion pieces, and other content.

Read our profile on Canadian media and government.

Funded by / Ownership

The newspaper has undergone several ownership changes over the years, and in 2015 it became part of the Groupe Capitales Médias, whose daily newspapers include Le Droit of Gatineau-Ottawa, the Quebec City, Le Soleil and founded by former Liberal Party federal cabinet minister Martin Cauchon. In 2019, the company filed for creditor protection.

In February 2022, Canadian news outlets, such as La Presse, Le Devoir, and The Globe and Mail, reported on the sale of Groupe Capitales Médias to Louisbourg Investments. However, the links no longer work. Louisbourg Investments’ ownership structure is not publicly disclosed. The CEO and the president is Pierre Karl Péladeau, a well-known businessman and media figure in Canada. Advertsing, subscriptions and newsstand sales generate revenue.

Analysis / Bias

Le Soleil News publishes articles in a neutral tone, such as “SOM-Le Soleil survey: bridges to be rebuilt in culture.”  The article headline summarizes the main points of the survey, which was about the state of culture in Quebec. The article presents a positive view of the survey results and emphasizes the importance of culture to the city’s identity and quality of life.

News headlines typically utilize minimally loaded language as well such as this “Digital transformation: the SAAQ victim of political pressure?” SAAQ stands for “Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec” the public automobile insurance corporation in the province of Quebec. The body of the article provides perspectives from both the government and SAAQ regarding the digital transformation issue. Hence a balanced view of the issue. 

Editorially, there is a left-leaning bias as Le Soleil tends to present issues and concerns from a left-leaning perspective, as seen in an article titled “Canadians are poorly informed about climate change.” A review of sources used for this article are credible such as Université Laval in Quebec City, the Angus Reid Institute, a non-profit research organization based in Canada. The article also references the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. Although they utilize credible sources, Le Soleil does not consistently provide hyperlinks in their articles.

The article suggests Canadians are not well-informed about climate change and how this could hinder significant progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While the article does not take a direct stance on the issue of climate change, it could be seen as taking a pro-environment position in that it highlights the importance of public awareness and education around the issue. The article implies that increasing awareness and education is necessary to combat climate change by framing the lack of public understanding as a potential obstacle to progress.

In another article titled “LGBTQ2, the growing acronym” they are more focused on educating readers about the topic than advocating for a particular position. Among the sources, they also use Agence France-Presse and The Canadian Press. In general, Le Soleil (Quebec) reports news factually and with proper sources; however, there is a clear lean toward left editorially.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years

Overall, we rate Le Soleil Left-Center biased based on editorial positions that slightly favor a liberal perspective. We also rate them High for factual due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record. (M. Huitsing 03/11/2023)

Source: https://www.lesoleil.com/

Last Updated on March 11, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check

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