Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 21, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba News i advised Ott await would have been appropriate if the report of the Royal commission on newspapers had been delivered in a Stutz the commissioners certainly mourn for the Good old Days of Independent newspapers and keen newspaper they also acknowledge that the economics of newspaper publishing has changed in recent causing monopoly situations and Chain ship As a natural economic to halt the and to reverse the commissioners propose massive intervention into the newspaper business through a press rights there in the numerous inconsistencies and in the recommendations the Prospect of a cure that is much worse than the one can share with the commission a sense of the loss that economic realities have brought As the commission admits newspaper Competition As we used to know it or papers published at the same time of seeking the same readers virtually dead in the reason is television is taking half of Media revenues formerly enjoyed by newspapers count on advertising revenues for 80 per cent of their As television taken More and More newspapers have gone to the a year ago the Winnipeg Tribune and Ottawa journal stopped Publica it was a sad and tragic but it was probably both publications had been losing Money and had been sustained by their Chain owners for a Long there came a Point when the owners decided to end the tragic Days it was a similarly sad Day 10 years ago when the Toronto Telegram ceased and later when the Montreal Star wrote 30 to its Long there have been Many tragic Days for the the commission was appointed Fol lowing the closing of the Tribune and and brought in its report less than a year the commission Borden Spears and Laurent Picard to accept the inevitability of what has happened in the Industry and their report does not make any recommendations to restore the regrettable reality is that the imperatives of advertising economics Are too one As the commission sees is that in a monopoly situation the Quality of news and comment in a newspaper has very Little effect on there is an As sumption that the Quality of news and comment or it is a valid up to a generally do not provide As Good a product or service As is produced in a competitive what the commission tends to Over look is that there is powerful Competition for the newspaper albeit a substitute from the commission itself notes that a decade there was a daily newspaper published for every household in the there is now Only a daily newspaper for 60 per cent of the Competition is be even where there is a newspaper the second area of major concern for the commission is Chain the commission regrets the loss of Independent newspapers which took a More Active and influential role in political and Community Attar Thomson Ottawa editor the commission is dealing with a two edged which is better for the a Mission minded proprietor who co Erces editors and reporters to slant news so that it complements editorial policy or a Handoff approach by a Chain proprietor r among hundreds of print journalists who have toiled in newsrooms or parliamentary press the ones who become livid with anger because their Story has been changed to match the editorial line Are almost invariably the ones who have worked for if this is the commissions idea of producing balance news for an in formed it reflects a rather re Mote awareness of what happens at the working level of a the Toronto Star is notorious in the Trade for changing stories without re porters think but vote Liberal is the one Star reporter complained editorial View this writer recalls two occasions when he was requested to slant a Story to match the editorial View once by the selfsame Tom Kent when he was editor of the free press on the subject of Grain the other occasion probably does not deserve As the Exchange took place through an the news Story in question concerned favourable tax treatment Given to the Montreal expos when that franchise went into the editor advised me that John Bas publisher of the Toronto Tele had suggested that a sentence be inserted saying that the same tax treatment should apply to Canadian football Bassett owned the Toronto Argos at the i suggested that the editor Tell Bassett that he could write an editorial if he but not to stick his business interests into my Story on the there was no the editor later advised me that Bassett had he wrote his my news Story was not before branding chains As news manipulators and extolling the virtue of independents the commission should have investigated More deeply at the working unbalanced the especially in its recon provides no such balanced assessment of chains versus ind Epen it takes the position that concentration of ownership is All and it proposes that Thomson newspapers divest itself of either its nation Al the Globe and or its 40odd other it pro poses divestment for other chains As Well without giving due consideration to the fact that chains have come about because they can afford to provide advertising and news service for the whole group which would be beyond the financial capability of a smaller the commission is on More solid ground when it Points to the risk in having or of the Media in a certain area radio and television under the same pro for such an arrangement deed provides scope for censoring of by Murray Goldblatt Ottawa lets give the Royal commission on newspapers a Salute for Good laudable goals and a dash of fiery but some of the Kent commissions key proposals Are open to there Are recommendations that Are confusing some could prove Ineffie Tom Kent Laurent Picard Centre and Borden Spears conducted in Quiry into Canadian to cover too much whether this concern need require Southam to divest itself of a 30 per cent interest in Selkirk news ser vice deserves further the main recommendation in the report is for legislation which would prohibit significant further concentration of ownership and control of daily newspapers and of common ownership of daily newspapers and other Media would Force some divesting by existing chains would provide an incentive for wider ownership of newspapers that change the Canada newspaper act would establish a press rights panel which would Monitor implementation and effectiveness of the the act would provide tax credits and sur taxes to encourage newspapers to devote More of their resources to the provision of owners of newspapers who have other business interests would be required to appoint editors chief under a written contract providing for editorial performance would later be reviewed against standards set out in the the act would also require the Crea by newspapers which represent less than 50 per cent of the total Busi Ness assets of the ultimate of an adviser committee including journalistic staff and members from the Community at a press rights panel would be created to oversee application of the and would apparently have the Power of a court to enforce the commission recommends that tax credits be provided to assist news papers that spend More than the National Industry average on editorial tax incentives have been used for Many and perhaps this is one that should be considered by the gov on the it appears to be a proposal that would help the reasonably Rich get and Force the poor newspapers to even lower the Kent at a Cost of some has served its Politi Cal purpose of giving the appearance of government action in the Wake of Clos ing of the Tribune and the government would now be Wise to thank the take a fur ther look at the potential danger of Cross Media and perhaps the idea of tax and ignore the rest of the report or refer it to King Tiye of even some might be debated on constitutional and most few seem bound for Early implementation by the pres ent Federal commissioner Tom Kent and leagues Borden Spears and Laurent Picard assured the assembled Media that the Cabinet is expected to give prompt and serious consideration to their other observers Felt they May have been whistling in that special heaven reserved for Royal com on Kent insisted the actions proposed in his report were within the Federal they were based on protecting Freedom of the press from restraint by influences out Side in its the commission rejected any attempt to break up newspaper it opted for propos als aimed at barring further concentration of ownership and control of Canad an daily and of common ownership of these newspapers and other Media i certain More it proposed a Rollback of owner ship concentration in the commission indicted the conglomerates whose domains Span Media enterprises and other major business in a country that has allowed so Many newspapers to be owned by a few Freedom of the press in Only that enormous influence without responsibility is conferred on a handful of people most of the commissions goals Are wrapped up in an omnibus Canada newspaper act substantial piece of government intervention that is not quite so mild As the commissioners require changes some recommendations seek to re quire changes in current ownership one would Rule out common ownership or control of a daily newspaper and a broadcasting outlet in the same another would pre vent a National this the Globe and mail from being owned by a company Thomson newspapers that owns other daily papers in a third proposal would prohibit extreme concentration in a geographic this would Force the Irving interests to divest them selves of papers either in Saint John or Moncton in it would compel the Armadale company to shed either its Saskatoon or Regina beyond these the act envisaged by the Kent would attempt to govern future acquisitions of existing the act would not bar any Corpora Tion from starting a truly new news paper in any but it would prohibit Purchase of an existing paper that had other business interests greater in value than the newspaper this would work against the Thomson an amalgam of news real trucking and other limits set another provision would permit a newspaper owner to acquire additional papers Only if the total number of papers owned thereby did not exceed five with an aggregate circulation not exceeding five per cent of total Canad an daily the provisions dealing with future acquisitions might work in some but the ones covering the divesting of current interests turning Back the clock present in the Globe and mail if Thomson is compelled to what viable firm cot Iid Purchase it under the commis Sions rules most would be barred and the commission belatedly seemed to recognize that Compromise might be the provision barring a conglomerates proposed Purchase of a paper could run into a morass of tangled claims Over respective assets of the the most realistic among this group of proposals is the one designed to prevent a newspaper proprietor own ing or controlling a to or radio station or Cable system in the same geographic this would compel Southam to dispose of its interest in Selkirk communications in Western Canada and could require a number of newspapers the London free for example to divest themselves of radio and to the Cana Dian climate is probably conducive at present to this curb on Cross Media of the commission set out other More innovative one is a Complex and troublesome system designed to shield the editorial Independence of newspaper editors from conglomerate newspaper other suggestions seem More Palat an investment incentive Aims at making ownership of new newspaper firms More widely it proposed that special capital Cost allowances be provided for Pur Chase of shares in companies which acquire papers through operation of the this would be limited to Pur chases by any one buyer of up to five per cent of equity shares of the Compa tax credits a new tax credit scheme would be introduced to assist newspapers that spend More than the National Industry average on editorial Content a percentage of their such papers get a 25 per cent tax while those that fell below the National average would be subject to a 25 per cent the commission also recommended that the government provide Matching Grants to help news services to expand and improve their coverage of Canad an and International the commission expressed aware Ness of the burgeoning influence of two Way electronic information sys tems videotex and their monopoly implications for the newspaper Indus but its proposals were apparently because of the commis Sions feeling that its mandate restricted it primarily to the newspaper the biggest problem for the Kent commission was one that has afflicted its including the singularly unsuccessful special Senate com Mittee on mass Media of the Kent commissioners Felt constrained to strike out strongly in Many Embr oiling the entire Batch of propos als in that kind of approach invites an already timid Federal administration to tiptoe around Many of the the commission might have been better advised to focus on a few propos als future acquisitions of for Cross Media ownership regulation of electronic journal ism and the package of tax and special allowance the reaction by the government would be swifter in the Long because it was functioning in the realm of the More Worth Murray Goldblatt teaches journalism at Carleton Lyon has Faith in Constitution negotiations Premier Sterling Lyon likes to use an experience taken from his Days As a Law student to explain Why he believes that the fight Over the Constitution will be around a ence table and not to in Parlia ment or in his experience Points out that the Laws that Are obeyed Are those that Are accepted As necessary by the people they and that the existence of ism 00 the statute books Little if the people who we supposed to obey them believe they Are unnecessary or the experience the Premier most often recalls a court Cise in a Bleb i Branch of the Royal Canadian legion hid been under uie criminal me Tor breaking a Law prohibiting the legion Branch had been charged because it operated a weekly Bingo because the charge had been Laid under the criminal the Branch had the option of selecting either atrial by judge or a trial by the defence whose tactics Lyon was had recommended a jury was a cuban dried the Law was written to such a Way that there was m doubt that a Bingo particularly a game organised to raise fell under the definition of Fred Cleverley and gambling was one of the Many sins the Law the defence lawyer admitted As much in when it came time for the judge to charge the he knew that it was impossible to say something to the effect that Bingo had since the Law was an acceptable raising vehicle for Many including a few what the judge told the jury was lie read them the appropriate part of the he pointed out that the defence bad admitted that it was in contravention of this lie then said based on these there was Only one possible verdict he see conning out of the he did not say what that verdict he Only Obj Wiy retired it was out of the courtroom for less than 30 minutest returned and the verdict of not guilty was what had simply was that the members of the jury were Ordinary citizens of they took less than 30 minutes to decide that Bingo was something that might have at one time been undesirable in Winni but that times changed and that Bingo was not Only it cow not be considered to be a criminal the jury saw the technicalities of the and delivered a just partly because he saw this demonstrated As a Law Sterling Lyon has been convinced for most of his life that the most effective government governs Best when the Laws that Are passed have the consent of the majority of people who will be ruled by them this belief makes it difficult for the Premier to think that Canada can have imposed on it a Constitution whose form is opposed by eight of the ten provincial Lyon and in sometimes the strategy used by the eight premiers to get their opposition to the Federal constitutional proposals across to the put he is convinced that with or without these the ultimate Constitution in Canada will be one that is and accepted by the majority of the eleven governments that will be con trolled by d d p most of the delegates to last weeks meeting of the ten provincial premiers held in Victoria had their own stories of amusing incidents involving them selves or their Saskatchewan Roy Romanow had some difficulty getting aboard the Ciai ferry that was to take the premiers and other delegates Back to Vancouver from Victoria when the con Ference he had to Call on Quebec Premier Rene Levesque to vouch for while most other delegates walked on Board with no identification at All the ferry ride will go Down to history As More spectacular by far than the entertainment usually available at such five and one half hours it included an impressive stration by the destroyer hocs which at times steamed within feet it the ferry while fighter aircraft and a Long Range Antisubmarine a flew Sill Bennett did not take too kindly to suggestions that the Federal Eserts were their to protect Ontario stand on the con took pains to Point out that such talk we symptomatic of what was wrong with that he is our d d 0 when Manitoba finance minister Brian Ransom accepted the offer to up Salmon he was a bit surprised to find that the boat assigned to him was named the he was just As a week when he had to admit pne of his children to Brandon he was asked about his and replied in the minister of finance for r replied the clerk who was filling to the is that your own firm doonesbury a w upon the us until iy5 ;