Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 19, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free August d n press commissioners Laurent Tom Kent and Borden Spears answer reporters questions after releasing report 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 the latest study of the Industry says the Boneyard has expanded 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 to the Senate scrutiny of the Media conducted in 1969 and 1970 by senator Keith Davey special commit tee which first used 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 in 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 commission headed by Tom former journalist and Public ser now with Dalhousie says salaries for reporters Are not quite As badly out of line As they were a dozen years ago when the Davey com Mittee found them shockingly inadequate but they still suffer by compari 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 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 government Grants urged to increase world news reports Ottawa up canadians Are More interested in foreign news than most Canadian newspapers seem to says the Royal commission on newspapers that also recommends government Grants to beef up news Agency the commission made the statement yesterday As it strongly criticized the Canadian press up news service for reducing the Quantity and Quality of foreign news coverage despite advice to the contrary from the 1970 Senate committee on the mass Media headed by Keith up is a cooperative news the largest news service in the it has ill daily newspapers As members who Are assessed fees More than 400 radio and television Lions pay for the sister services of broadcast the Agency has six foreign equally split in new York and the commission rejects in its report statements it heard from up and some newspapers during its Cros Canada hearings this Spring that Canadian readers show Little interest in news from outside the the merits were used in part to justify Lack of More extensive foreign coverage by Canadian the commission research has turned up some prominent examples which suggest that the if not demanding1 wider coverage of world is at least extremely interest says the report of the nine month commission headed by Tom it cites several studies by different organizations to Back the claim that canadians want More foreign news including its own National and says there is a vicious Circle at work which binders in there Are few Canadian correspondents the editor rial staffs of Canadian newspapers in too few people with knowledge of the outside they do not know How to handle foreign news the editors Are Able to convince themselves that what they cannot handle confidently is not what the readers people do Dpi get the paper they would like but the Piper its editorial staff is capable of in the Case of it says foreign coverage appears to be going from skimpy to nonexistent As the National news Agency has Cut its funds for foreign coverage since 1974 to per cent of its annual budget from per and since closed its Oneman Paris reduced its eight Man Bureau in new York to two and its fireman Bureau in London to it recommends the government pro vide annual Grants equal to one half the amount up spends on improved or expanded news coverage at Home and abroad each up is the Only exist ing news Agency that would be eligible tinder the Grant limited to news services available to All newspapers and with no More than one third of its Gross Revenue from one newspaper owner or associated Clark up president and pub Lisher of the Vancouver said in an interview he has a gut feeling the Board of publishers who run up would not accept government Grants because the news service has to be seen by readers As being totally at arms length from the 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 ceding that there cer Tain indications from head office that ours is a troubled depicting the illustrators View of the present situation in the per 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 Lance he will continue his series of Gal Lery caricatures of major news tonalities each saturday in the free press 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 notable because the trend in journalism has been in the direction of accepting the business in the ant establishment 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 and so on Are employed by Canadian new spa one reason simply is that the newspapers Are unwilling to pay for this kind of by Law Eborg Boreni the Public have most of i say in How newspapers Are fun if Faith in the press is to be says the report of the Kent commission released without More Kubite newspapers could Suiter the fatal effects of alienating their warns commission chairman Tom a Survey of canadians conducted for the inquiry shows newspapers seem to 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 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 Stilt in about 90 per cent of canadians read at least one newspaper in a last newspapers were sold each week for every woman and child in the average Canadian spends s3 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 i competitive newspaper markets rate their papers performance most people interviewed said they feel their local papers had improved Over the past three i readers said they Are most interested in health and consumer yet Survey results show today Reader 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 question 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 Iri Atter 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 the commission report says per officials smugly assume readers Are satisfied with their paper simply because opinion polls May have been the commissions report says papers remain the primary instruments for the dissemination of news and opinion despite the proliferation of and so they have a crucial responsibility to maintain their integrity and their so Cial the commission recommends formalized Public involvement in toe atoms of g newspaper through an Edito rial advisory committee under the proposed Canada newspaper three members of the two newsroom journalists and two by representatives would be ref Teml de on the seven mail Fht three Public representatives could not have financial interests in a newspaper and would be picked by the four inhouse members if they could otherwise the chief Justice of the prov Ince would choose 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 news by the Canadian press following is a selection of excerpts from editorials in Canadian newspapers concerning the report of the Kent Royal commission on concentration of newspaper papers owned by one of the major newspaper groups Are so Toronto Globe and mail Thom the National edition of the Globe and mail is not something de Vised 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 news paper available wherever interested readers might be first by Spe Cial later by the first airmail the Globe pursued the slogan that went on its Masthead just after the turn of the Century Canadas National of All the commissions recommendations idiots Delight in interference in the ownership and operation 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 Nave believed that a truly National newspaper would i serve this Unity it must find if it is to Vancouver province a suit of shackles the Senate commit tee on mass Media made that assess ment of the Canadian scene 11 years the Kent Royal commission seems to have had the same Days of Yore but not the same under standing that too often when one sets out to banish the Devil one May create a new kind of the difficulty in dealing with an interventionist report of this kind is that no matter what we say it can be interpreted As special Howe any reasonable assessment of the reports contents shows that it deals with two Southam which owns this and Southam winds up wearing a White referred to As a company with a journalistic conscience that spends millions More on editorial Content than strict business needs and one that is not involved in a arranging conglomeration of other Thomson is portrayed As wearing a very Black taking no particular editorial interest in its papers and spending the minimum budget on while paying most attention to department Oil and other t the whole newspaper business would wind on the basis of this in a straitjacket that would take the heart out of and subject it to a 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 to any Western videotex called danger to future press Freedom by Ingeborg Boyens to prevent concentration with a few companies of news outlets in the fun newspapers should be prevented from owning videotex the Royal commission on newspapers said in its final report the 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 provide information for the system there is still the Opportunity in this Field to head off concentration before it said the Canadas largest newspaper chains have already invested heavily in the new technology which uses Telephone coaxial or Fibre optics to t transmit two Way information to Home television the Toronto through its Parent company to Star is a partner with Southam in the info Mart info Mart is giant in the Canadian electronic pub Lishing info a division of Thomson Globe and has put the papers archives and Library files on a item Tom publisher of the Wini Peg said the commissions recommendations totally ignored the natural Maspn Between newspapers and com Puter they Are flying in the face of the realities of publishing in the he Winnipeg free press publisher Dow Nicol agreed videotex systems were supposed to be the newspaper of the he said Prim newspapers will continue to although they May thinner and More Nicol said the newspaper business is the Only Industry currently in the Posi Tion to further research in the videotex Field newspapers have been attracted to videotex because it seemed at first to be adj electronic Extension it is a medium that to do with that news the Man to rvs and proof Abov not my if half develop j info Mart to 3 lesser info Wui have weakened their Basic Industry to no purpose by Samreng in vestment away from the commission Ltd if the technology they May be in position to the comm smms report said there must be Between the car Rier and the Content of news to if Carrier systems operate bows ser vices themselves result could be twp who wife w m vow bump v services by us Eatoe to she i tint my raft Tiitso by newspaper groups involved newspapers already ing from the effects of Tough Competition with other electronic the report said daily newspapers they now exist will be Able to maintain circulation and advertising revenues for at least five gut there is m guarantee they can outlive the dec the crts stated 1879 that ship and control of broadcast should be separate from the ownership and control of newspapers except in one Cha presentations of the commission warned that news to the he by those who control a Jive Fere Ned that the fair have my jmj effect on newspaper i ;