Monday, September 10, 2001
Buyer beware - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- One of the courses I am taking this semester is an interesting one called ‘International Political Economy’. It’s being taught by a capable instructor who wears his ideology on his sleeve, even running in the last provincial election for the NDP saying that the NDP should move more to the left so as to begin the dismantling of capitalism in favour of socialism. Despite our political differences I respect him a lot and enjoy the course very much.
We’ve been looking at the media, and the role they play in disseminating international news. Those that speak up in class are of the left-wing ilk and so it is not unusual to have the pap flow about how biased the press is or how the almighty dollar is the be all and end all of newspapers and television news. One of the examples cited is that of balance, and whether the media should be more on the ball when it comes to providing its consumers with balance. The class was generally in agreement that the media should be more judicious in providing balanced and unbiased coverage. Now, balanced press makes for better press in my opinion, but one must realise that the distribution of news has become as much business as anything else. I think it wrong that the onus is laid strictly on the blame of corporate media. I believe that the consumer should take some responsibility on as well.
The common story out there is that people are far too busy to seek alternative press or independent media. Sure, but I think I’ve got a lot more faith in my fellow man, when I say they aren’t stupid enough to believe everything they read.
And so, comes the topic of today’s diatribe. To buttress my approach to things, I’ll attempt to do my own delving into with a story of the moment. People should not rely merely on newspapers and television for the supposed ‘truth’. The story in question is that of who is the biggest newspaper in the land. If we were measuring respective appendages, the less civilised way to go on about that, would be to ask the parties to drop their collective drawers and we take out our measuring tapes to do the deed. Alas, in the media business it’s up to pollsters and research firms to take polls and do surveys of us the unwashed masses.
The National Audience Databank, who gauges circulation in the newspaper business, released figures on Friday that all the newspapers soon spun to their own advantage. It wasn’t soon enough for their Friday papers, but the public relations departments at the Globe and Mail, National Post and Toronto Star fired off press releases all acknowledging their own personal successes. So before the editors get going on publishing their spin on NADbank’s numbers in their Saturday papers (I am writing this column on Friday afternoon), it’s worth my own look at the raw numbers and results from the Friday pile of press releases, as hit my e-mail.
At noon Eastern, the Globe and Mail was first out of the box with a press release headlined: “Latest Readership Data Confirms The Globe and Mail is Canada’s Leading National Newspaper.” At 2:15 Eastern, The Toronto Star’s flacks exclaim: “The Star is Number One Choice For Toronto Readers.” At 3:58 Eastern, the National Post releases: “National Post breaks the 2 million reader mark across Canada.”
So with further reading, it’s clear that The Globe and Mail is the leading national newspaper, as they lead with readership against the Post in figures of up to 18%. Phillip Crawley, publisher of The Globe and Mail says that, “These figures, captured during the last gasp of the manic phase of the Canadian ‘newspaper wars’, show that The Globe’s strategy of running the newspaper on sound business principles is paying off.”
While The Globe boasts, in its PR, that their readers spend 6.3% more time reading their paper than the National Post, the Post’s Editor-In-Chief, Kenneth Whyte said: “We’re delighted with these figures, which show the Post is the preferred national daily for readers almost everywhere in Canada, and that the Globe is suffering, even in its traditional home of Toronto.”
True, the Post is tops in conservative Calgary and that in Toronto the Globe has lost nearly 21% of its readers, it doesn’t hide the fact the Globe is number one amongst national readers. It also doesn’t help when saying that the Globe has lost 21% of readers in Toronto, that the Post says itself that those losses are “twice as many losses” as theirs. Seems things aren’t looking on the up and up at the new Asper National Post morale wise.
Gossip of the moment says that Whyte, will soon be abdicating his post at the Post as Editor, because of some friction between him and the new Global bosses. (Whyte, according to sources is about to take Stephen Harper’s old job as head of the National Citizen’s Coalition.)
However the national success of the Globe and Mail is not enough to dent the overall success of the Toronto Star. Yes, the local Toronto paper is number one in Toronto and as it so happens, number one in the land. It doesn’t publish nationally, but because it has a cumulative readership in the neighbourhood of 2.2 million readers, the Toronto Star is the nation’s largest daily newspaper. The numbers are astounding. If you take the Post and Globe numbers in Greater Toronto and add it up to the numbers as posted by the Toronto Sun, they wouldn’t add up to the figures as garnered by the Toronto Star. John Honderich, publisher of the Star said on Friday, “The Star remains the pre-eminent newspaper in Toronto four years into the most competitive newspaper war in North America.”
I guess what all should do is heed the advice as I writ in a paper I did last year. The consumer should be aware of the adage ‘buyer beware’. Especially in the ingestion of news, it’s highly advisable.
- 30 -
Questions and comments may be sent to: editor@thecommentary.ca
An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .