Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 19, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba 1winnipeg free August l9 ill report urges More involvement commissioners Laurent Tom Kent and Borden Spears answer reporters questions after releasing Boneyard of broken dreams morale in country newsrooms Borders on commission says Ottawa up the newsrooms of Canadian dailies were characterized 11 years ago As Boneyard of broken 1 the latest study of the Industry says the Boneyard has expanded i the rate of sudden death of established dailies in recent years plunged Many newspaper staffs into a state of disillusionment bordering on reports the Royal commission on news papers established last year to examine the High concentration of monopoly in the higher salaries and better training for journalists Are urged in the successor the Senate scrutiny of the Media conducted in 1969 and 1970 by senator Keith Davey special commit tee which the Boneyard says the latest study our investigations Lead us to think that there Are fewer dreams now to some of the cynicism is the deeper one of not having had journalists Confidence in their publish ers is thin or they Are frustrated even this Kent report malaise is in the commissions View part of the Price we pay for conglomerate the commission says the publishers at the end of the after the deaths of newspapers i Ottawa and found themselves in a much stronger the position of their employees was less our economic study shows that the increase in average from in 1974 to in failed to keep Pace with inflation that newspaper workers on aver age suffered a slight loss in earning the commission headed by Tom former editor of the Winnipeg free press and Public now Dean of administrative studies at dal Housie says salaries for reporters Are not quite As badly out of line As they were a dozen years ago when the Davey committee found them shockingly inadequate but they still suffer by senior journalists with established reputations can move easily into Busi Ness or government at higher it is the same at the beginner stage Young people must make sacrifices to enter a career in the Bright University graduate can be better off financially by going into a into almost any Branch of Indus try or into the disparities continue throughout the Middle newspapers profit by their workers personal dedication to the proprietors behave also As if they had no direct stake in the training of their there is a certain amount of inhouse Yutsan bolts at Tention to technical it is sporadic and far from general in any formal organized this is particularly True in it says newspapers Are fond of citing polls to indicate general Reader Satis faction but commission surveys got a flood of Reader suggestions for raising standards of and it adds it is notorious that the which assumes a licence to criticize every other is the least open to any criticism of its own it says journalists As a group Are eager to raise their own Standard of performance rightly or wrong they perceive themselves As being stifled by the unwillingness of proprietors to pay the it says recent deaths of newspapers created disenchantment among journalists which is because the trend in journalism has been in the direction of accepting the business in the views of the 1960s have been trans formed somewhat to relative con no less dedicated to but More interested in fairness and balance and More ready to pursue Quality within the confines of the sys their Faith in the system now has been with a consequent weakening of their says the study relatively few specialists individuals with academic or professional qualifications in the physical sociology and so on Are employed by Canadian new spa one reason simply is that the newspapers Are unwilling to pay for this kind of news executive has gut feeling Aid unacceptable by Boym the Public must have were of a say in How newspapers Are run if Faith in the press is to be says the report of the Kent commission released without More Public newspapers could suffer the fatal effects of alienating their warns commission chairman Tom a Survey of canadians de for the inquiry shows newspapers be suffering from their own sort of bad television has become the preferred source of news for most canadians and newspaper readers no longer believe in the press As they once this if it continues to could alienate the Reading Public and turn out to be fatal for Many new spa says the More newspapers must somehow become More accountable to their readers if they Are to Stem the acknowledged erosion of credibility and Public is Survey results show that newspapers Are still in about 90 per cent of canadians read at least one newspaper in a last 1 newspapers were sold each week for every woman and child in the average Canadian spends 53 minutes during a typical weekday pouring Over his paper 66 minutes Over the weekend about 69 per cent of those surveyed read five or More issues a most Likely to read newspapers were those people Over 35 years of highly educated and with incomes of More than most people surveyed said they be Lieve newspapers have a greater responsibility than other Media outlets to provide comprehensive coverage of All subjects and of local one in six canadians believes his daily paper does not provide the sort of local and Community coverage it yet two out of three canadians think their local paper is doing a Good to excellent Job in fulfilling its responsibilities to the older people and those living in competitive newspaper markets rate their papers performance most people interviewed said they from the Canadian press Keith general manager of the Canadian said yesterday he has a gut feeling the news Agency Board of directors will reject a Sugges Tion from the Kent commission that government Grants be used to encourage an expansion of cps news cover the commission recommends the government provide annual Grants equal to one half the amount up spends on improved or expanded news cover age at Home and abroad each up is the Only existing news Agency that would be eligible under the Grant for limited to news services Avail Able to All newspapers and with no More than one third of its Gross Revenue from one newspaper owner or associated Kincaid said the suggestion runs counter to a policy adopted 55 years ago about such Clark up president and pub Lisher of the Vancouver said he has a gut feeling cps Board of tors would not accept government Grants because the news service has to be seen by readers As being totally at arms length from the the commission rejects statements it heard from up and some newspapers Canadian readers show Little est in news from outside the the commission research has turned up some prominent examples which suggest that the if not demanding wider coverage of world is at least extremely interest Kincaid questioned the economic basis for the Kent As he did the factual bases for the com missions two most pointed allegations about foreign coverage by up staff is declining and that the French language service is an Embar Kincaid said there is some question whether up would qualify for govern ment Grants because the commissions incomplete analysis of cps Revenue from newspapers overlooked the eral millions of dollars received for extra such As for computer delivery of technical charges and equipment excess Revenue from these services pays a substantial part of cps news Kincaid said the number of foreign assignments made from Canada has increased in recent up staff had de from Northern last Central America and Israel and elsewhere in the Middle he of Jet in Tours troubled up cartoonist wins award in Kent commission contest Phil Mallette vision of hungry vultures hanging Over a newspaper publishers shoulder has won the 25yearold free press cartoonist first prize in the Kent commissions cartooning the scene pictures the publisher of the mythical Moose Chip times con ceding that there Tain indications from head office that ours is a troubled depicting the illustrators Mew of the present situation in the newspaper the cartoon earned Mallette a award from a panel of Independent Mallette will leave the free press on Friday for where he will attend Art school and work As a free Lance he will continue his series of Gal Lery caricatures of major news so natures each saturday in the free press videotex called danger to future press Freedom by Ingeorg Toyens to prevent concentration with a few companies of news outlets in the fun newspapers should be prevented from owning videotex the Coyal commission on newspapers said in its final report the commission recommended the proposed Canada newspaper act pre vent a newspaper from being the car Rie operator of any electronic information under the proposal a newspaper would be Able to provide information for the is still the Opportunity in this hell to off concentration before it said the Canadas largest newspaper chains have already invested heavily in the new technology which uses Telephone coaxial is or Fibre optics to transmit two Way information to Home television the Toronto through jts Parent company to Star is a partner with Southard in the f ism Luon info Mart info Ait is the giant in the Canadian electronic pub Lishing info a division of Thomson Globe and has put the papers archives 904 Library files on it item Tom publisher of the Winni Peg the commissions recommendations totally ignored the natural Hason Between newspapers and com Puter they Are flying in the face of the realities o publishing in the he Winnipeg free press publisher Don Nicol agreed videotex systems were supposed to be the newspaper of the he said print newspapers will continue to although they May be thinner and More Nicol said the newspaper business is the Only Industry currently in the Posi Tion to do further research to the video Tex newspapers have been Attr Schesl to videotex because it seemed at first to be an electronic Extension of publishing Motbey soon in that it is a medium that has relatively Little to do with that news is Only one of the Many services provided by videotex and probably opt the most remark said we if videotex ails to develop As important mass communication me newspaper groups involved in info Mart to a lesser info will have weakened their Basic Industry to no purpose by shifting in vestment away from the commission and if the technology they May be in a position to the report said there must be a separation Between the car Rier and the Content of the news to ensure Freedom of the if Canter systems operate news ser vices themselves the result could be monopoly news services provided by Telephone Aad Cable to systems that Are licensed Aid regulated by the Freedom of the press would by Extin d Tkv Accident w not by p Lurf of but thro Tuth Tho unifying effects for bbl of ref modern technology and corporate paily newspapers Are already reel ing from the effects of Tough Competition with other electronic Media the report said daily newspapers As they now exist will be Able to maintain circulation and advertising revenues for at least five but there is no guarantee they can outlive the dec the crts stated in 1979 that owner ship and control of broadcast under takings should be separate from the ownership and control newspapers except in special presentations to the commission hearings also warned new8 in the future could by he Taim by those who control videotex videotex officials have Long Maia Tajad their systems would have mining m the newspaper Todus feel their local pipers had improved Over the past three readers said they Are most de in health and consumer yet Survey results show today or is concerned that his paper Doest respond to his about 78 per cent of respondents said newspapers tend to sensationalize the and 72 per cent said they believe the daily journals play Down stories that could offend their a minority of those interviewed said they would want to see More objective unbiased news reporting and More follow up and investigative the report cautions that Young peo who show Little loyalty to their May already be ing the value of surveyed just months after the Winnipeg Tribune and the Ottawa journal closed their were surprisingly unconcerned about the ownership of their about 55 per cent of respondents said it does not matter to them who owns their but three of four canadians said they would have some concern if one company controlled All of the daily papers in a province or if one company had the monopoly of the mass Media in the report cautions papers the commission report says newspaper officials smugly assume readers Are satisfied with their paper simply because opinion polls May have been the commissions report says news papers remain the primary instruments for the dissemination of news and opinion despite the proliferation of and the commission recommends formalized Public involvement in the operations of a newspaper through an Edito rial advisory committee under the proposed Canada newspaper three members of the two newsroom journalists and two company representatives would be on the Sevenman the advisory body would discuss the objectives of the paper and the role of the the committee would also review editors annual re ports and would be free to make Public criticism which the newspaper would be required to papers state views by the Canadian press following is a selection of excerpts from editorials in Canadian newspapers commenting on the Kent commis Sion papers owned by one of the major newspaper groups Are so Ridenti the Globe and mail the National edition of the Globe and mail is not something devised by Thomson newspapers to extend their advertising or editorial Powers across the it is a fulfilment of a dream of George its to make this newspaper available wherever interested readers might be of All the commissions recommendations a veritable idiots Delight in interference in the ownership and action of the nations press the scheme to turn the globes National edition into a club Over its owners head is the most at to those of us who have believed that a truly National newspaper would serve this and the Unity it must find if it is to Vancouver province the whole newspaper business would wind on the basis of this in a Strait Seket that would take the heart out of and subject it to i press rights panel that clearly would end up As a press control panel if headed by such people As no government in its right mind should fashion the suit of shackles the commission which in total would be unprecedented in any Western Ifft Nim Irmi the recommendations of the commission amount to an Extension of the philosophy of a Uteralt government that is totally dedicated intervening in every phase of fee if the Kent recommendations Are to be snapped up by a government intent on adding the newspaper Industry its firm then democracy is no longer Contero Plattal its own Navel it is letting upon its own Utera Golem melt of Pierre Trudeau Hng an opss silo with taming 9 f ii the the one real Osja Clyl it has to us deliberate attempt to Stooge the Structure of Tite ;