Tuesday, July 23, 2002
Further to CanWest and Rafe - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- Today, let me update you on the situation I talked about in this space on June 20, 2002. The gist of that column was part reporting on the CanWest Global situation over the firing of the publisher of the Ottawa Citizen and Gordon Gibson, and part my own urging for the boycott of all products peddled by CanWest’s proprietors, the Asper family of Winnipeg.
Since then a lot has happened. For a time, Rafe Mair was on the news nightly bitching and bellyaching about the Asper’s and their choking off of democracy and free speech at their papers. Mair’s own vociferous pronouncements got his station CKNW, and its owners Corus Entertainment, into a bit of hot water. Seems Pacific Press, the company that controls The Vancouver Sun and The Province, and which is in turn owned by the CanWest Global company, decided to halt any promotional partnerships with CKNW. Pacific Press wanted to exact revenge for Rafe Mair’s boycott, pressuring CKNW to make Mair shut up, or else face not having CKNW’s (as well as Rock 101 and CFOX’s) logo appearing in either one of the CanWest papers in this town. Corus (which is owned by Shaw Communications) to their credit, has said they stand by Mair and his stand on boycotting the papers. To date, the boycott stands and Pacific Press had more pressing problems as their presses’ had stopped running. Yesterday they were up again, being the first time that the two papers in this town were printed.
Pacific Press during this labour dispute refused to say whether it was a strike by its employees or a lockout exacted by management. The union said it was the former, whilst the bosses were mum on the subject. See, prior to the strike, Pacific Press had said they were going to punish CKNW by halting cross-promotion, because Rafe Mair was supposedly choking off their subscription numbers, thus punishing the workers who work for both papers. Alas, that argument is much like farting against thunder when one realises that no sooner than saying Mair was threatening the livelihood of Pacific Press’ employees, Pacific Press themselves locked them out. Certainly, following this labour dispute Pacific Press will surely have to regain their lost readership. It’ll be interesting to see how many lost readers they will credit to the lockout/strike or to Rafe Mair.
This entire spectacle has been strange. The Asper’s of Winnipeg have been nothing less than supporters of the Liberal Party and of Jean Chrétien. Patriarch Izzy Asper, was once head of the Liberal Party of Manitoba, so he can be forgiven that. The slanting of news to portraying Chrétien in a flattering light however has been, I suppose, the Apser’s attempt at trying to curry favour with the government. CanWest in all its glory is a huge conglomerate. In the June 20th column I noted that their media -- Internet, newspapers and television -- reach 97.6% of Canadians. However in recent years, compounded with the acquisition of Southam and the National Post from Conrad Black, the newspaper arm has been losing money. The Asper’s are smart because even though the newspaper division of CanWest has been bleeding red ink (and will continue to), they keep their newspaper interests because the print media remains a terribly influential medium in this country. A terribly influential medium in this country’s politics as well, lest we forget.
So, CanWest keeps the papers going, and enforces a pro-Chrétien stance. They do that because he’s their buddy, plus he controls the CRTC. The CRTC happens to regulate broadcasting licences in this country, and for CanWest, having broadcasting licences is profitable. You’ll note that on basic cable in this town, one can get 3 channels directly controlled by CanWest; and on the digital tier at least 2 more, with no doubt more on the way. This TV brokering allows the press side to keep afloat, and the entire operation makes CanWest as much money as possible. Though not enough.
But beyond everything else, the issue is how the Asper’s are controlling the media in this country, thus controlling what we think. Surely, because they own the business they can direct how the operation is run. That’d be the case if they made erasers or widgets, but when it comes to journalism and the press, it is a completely different subject. The Asper’s cannot assume that if they own the presses in this country they can print whatever they want. They cannot assume that because their sympathies lie with the state of Israel, they can choke off any meaningful debate that may or may not portray the Palestinian side in a good light. As I said a month ago, this isn’t an issue where (as the NDP would like) the government should step in and limit the number of media outlets a person can own. Clearly, this is a capitalist society and the free market must be allowed to prosper. That said, consumers must vote with their pocketbooks and send the CanWest company a message, that their way isn’t desired and should not be allowed to prosper. Also, looking at the terrible publicity got by the CanWest company through the Mair mess and the shutdown of their presses here, why would anyone want to pay for a product peddled by such incompetent goofs?
Finally, late last week I got an e-mail from one Gordon Gibson. Like Russell Mills, he too was sacked for opposing the Prime Minister in a column that appeared in the National Post. You’ll recall that Gibson was told the firing, due to much negative press, wasn’t valid and that he remained a writer for the CanWest company. He informs me that he is still in negotiations with “these” CanWest people, and that should conditions be set where independent editorial policies, separate those of the Asper’s, will prevail, he’ll return.
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Questions and comments may be sent to: editor@thecommentary.ca
An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .