Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 27, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free october 1981 7 Kent evidence did not convince the following commentary on the Kent commission of inquiry into the Canadian newspaper Industry is written by the chairman of the British Royal commission on newspapers conducted Between 1974 and lord Mcgregor of a University professor who is widely known As a sociologist and social today is chairman of the British newspaper Council arid chairman of the British advertising standards by lord Mcgregor since the end of the second world newspapers have been the subject of regular official inquiries in most of the democratic Sweden and Britain have each appointed three Royal commissions and investigations have been conducted in the Federal Republic of Ger Switzerland and else recurring themes of anxiety have been the reduction in the number of newspapers and the growth of concentration of ownership Ooth themes have stimulated fears that the Freedom of press is being the fundamental for democracies is that a looked at from the economic Point of is a business like any other looked at from the Point of View of the transmission of political and other sorts of information and opinion to citizens who also constitute an a newspaper is a business like none the Liberal theory is that Freedom of entry into the newspaper and the absence of governmental control Over will guarantee the availability of diverse views and wide ranging criticisms of the policies pursued by All concentrations of but most newspapers in the West Are dependent upon advertising and the general experience has been that the tendency of newspapers which Are successful in obtaining advertising is to drive out of business those which Are leaving the survivors As profitable monopolists in their this lies at the Root of the reduction in number of papers everywhere during the last 30 years and the apparent falsification of the Liberal against this it is instructive to compare the procedures and conclusions of the British Royal commission on the press which reported in 1977 with those of the Canadian Royal commission of both had similar the British was set up at a time of acute fears for Caribbean Basin Aid drive is on by to Thomas new York times Miami on a modest the Effort by developed nations to help underdeveloped nations called for at the North South Cancun has been under Way in the Caribbean and Central America since with the predictable Misander and contradict the United and vowed at a july 11 meeting in the Bahamas to help their poorer neighbors who vary greatly in politics and culture but share unemployment and a need to the impetus for what the Reagan administration Calls the Caribbean Basin initiative appears to be Geo Graphy rather than any inclination to Lay the Cornerstone for a new world economic geographical neigh As Hatuey the presi Dent of the chamber of deputies in the dominican told Vic Epresi Dent George Bush in Santo Domingo this Are locked in a marriage where there can be no the ghosts of Many Well intentioned but unsuccessful american predecessors still haunt the and a Basic premise has been to steer Clear of proposing a Madei Washington although prime minister Edward Seaga of Jamaica had suggested the desirability of a min Marshall plan for the the Reagan administration has said emphatically that this is not to the emphasis will be on Trade and investment not on government reconstruction in Europe was much simpler than the problem of said a official who has working on the Caribbean those people in Europe had All they needed was in the Caribbean the problem is More Many people think this program is about Money dropping from we ask what they and they say even if we want to go that we Lack the re the Basic idea is the Builtin difficulties with this scenario were underscored Early this month at a meeting Caribbean coun tries in Santo just As delegates were expounding on Trade their House of representatives was considering a sugar Bill that could deliver a crushing blow to dominican sugar who sell 98 per cent of their crop in the United it undercut our psychological and our moral conceded a Ramon Martinez the Cabinet minister who oversaw the dominican conceded that the sugar accepted by the Senate but ultimately rejected by the could harm his but he we question the Good will of the United there Are internal con such As the new budget re and external constraints such As inflation and we Hope the United states will be Able to supersede these the venezuelans and who each give million in annual Aid to the Region through a joint Oil have said they will continue the Effort even though they Are suffering from the Slack Market caused by the world glut of the canadians had announced shortly before the Bahamas a meeting that they would double their annual foreign Aid to the Region to a and a High ranking Canadian Delegate said afterwards people expect us to double the the question now is what the United which already gives million a year in foreign Aid to the will we Haven got time to ambassador William the representative if were going to do something with last ing behave to do it weve been Over this route so Many times in the last 50 i think its dangerous to raise expectations and do an and jury rigged options under consideration include lowering Tariff barriers to products such As tobacco and bilateral tax and investment and Multila teral insurance coverage to encourage the overseas private in vestment which insures Ameri can investments in foreign countries and has million loan guarantees and million in direct Loans in the is leading investment missions to Jamaica and Haiti in the near and has 118 applications from potential Many options have met with Strong Domestic and the team is taking pains to find out what is wanted and what will the delay has caused scepticism and Imp Peter administrator of the Agency for International devel said his Agency would turn away from Large scale development projects such As and other administration officials admit that these almost never financed by the private Are important to the and so they Are hoping for a bigger share of Aid which will mean a cutback in some other part of the the said one state department has been an in House guerrilla War among experts to see How the pie will be sliced every time we sit we expect the americans to announce something tangible and said a member of the Canadian Ive told my amerian colleagues that Secre tary of state Haig needs to be Able to stand up and heres what we can the next meet ing will look the profitability of National newspapers and widespread political dissatisfaction and Public concern with Many aspects of the policies and sense of responsibility of newspapers in the commis Sions the chairman of the newspaper publishers association explained to the government that the newspaper Industry is currently facing a crisis of unprecedented dimensions and in the first sentence of the foreword of the report observes this commission was born out of Shock and if the circumstances of their appointment were their proce dures differed in one in the commission was appointed in the summer of 1974 the final report appeared three years with an interim report coming out Early in in from appointment to the publication of the final report took Only 10 in another the bodies followed a similar the British body and itself extensive research which was published three years later in six separate volumes with the addition of four working this research included an extensive and detailed inquiry into readers attitudes to the press and a study of concentration of ownership in the provincial the Canadian report lists 33 separate re search the findings of which have been incorporated into the though none has yet become available in social research is conducted with greater despatch in Canada than can be achieved in Brit the Pace at which the Canad an commission worked is within two senior staff Mem Bers were appointed an extensive research programme was designed and contracted for Public hearings were arranged and took up nearly half the commissions life and 760 written submissions were read and assimilate on any this demonstrates remarkable Industry on the part of the commissioners and their i and mire the intellectual and physical stamina which enabled the commission to do All this in 10 months and still have time for among themselves about the matters of High policy contained in their to Frame their recommendations and to agree and Hammer out a report containing Well Over a Quarter of a million Speed May have been easier to achieve in a commission which contained Only a chairman and two Mem Bers As the report contains no indication of May be presumed to share a similar the British commission contained 14 two of whom wrote a minority the membership reflected a very much wider arc of experience and opinion from outside the newspaper Industry than seems to have been pres ent on the Canadian one further difference Between the reports is a Little the Brit ish was written in a detached manner and was Neutral in tone when dealing with matters of the Cana Dian report does not conceal the views of its members it goes out of its Way to Nail a number of flags to its it is not a document from which a Reader must extract the meaning by peering Between the i have space to comment on Only two of the main themes in the As is the Case canadians Are worried about the extent of concentration among newspapers and the erosion of it was the same in the statistical data show an uncomfortably High level of concentration in both though nothing like such As that experienced in most other everyone agrees that concentration is potentially harmful and dangerous the Central question for policymakers must be whether concentration has in fact led to a deterioration in the Quality of news papers owned by chains and whether there is evidence of a reduction in the variety of opinions being expressed in such the Canadian commission answers both questions in the it is for the Reader to pinpoint the evidence on which the commis Sions clearcut View has been based because its description of the performance of the though wide rang ing and highly seems to rely a great Deal on unstructured conversations with journalists acid other news paper it is to compare the Canadian conclusion with the oppo site opinion voiced by the British com Mission which was unable to find Evi Dence that concentration had led to the evils on the British commissioners found that the chains were at pains to ensure that their editors were free of Central the Survey of readers attitudes to the press provided no evidence on this Chain ownership was seen to offer the advantages of a career pattern in Large organizations for journalists and other staff and to give readers better service by putting the resources of Money and newspaper skills behind local there seems rather too much of opinion and Hension and too Little of factual discus Sion in the Canadian report to enable the Reader to understand what is actually happening in Canada to newspapers As a result of the most important of the Canadian recommendations would require the setting up under statute by each news paper not being narrowly defined As an Independent newspaper of an advisory committee constituted by nominations from the the journalists and the local these committees would be enabled to request guidance from a press rights panel in association with the human rights would be an Independent Agency reporting to parliament through the minister of the panel of three presumably to be appointed by the would have the right and duty to supervise the press in a variety of ways in would be charged to observe the performance of newspapers in Canada it is Here that we meet the mental difference Between the Canad an and the British the British commission was urged by several groups to recommend the creation by or through government of new agencies to control the it rejected All such proposals on the ground that government intervention would undermine the Independence of the press and soon involve persons who owed their position to acting in practice As despite All the criticisms which could properly be directed at private Enterprise the British commission preferred control by capitalists to control by especially As governments already exercise considerable Power Over Broad the alternative source of info the British commission would probably fear that the press rights panel devised by their Canadian col leagues might become the first step toward the establishment of a ministry of Canadian press More focus on Page 8 several familiar faces will vanish this time is As the nominations close it is evident that regardless of which party wins the provincial there is certain to be a number of new Mem Bers in the 31st legislative with the voluntary retirement of 11 collectively have More than 140 years of legislative expert the House will be losing a variety of talents and because of the fickleness of the sys Many of those people will be forgotten within a those who have managed to slide quietly and uneventfully through their terms in office May become Mere names on a yellowed on the other the members who have been involved in innovative measures or controversies Are Likely to be re Mem some with admiration and others with the length of time in office does not determine ones Norma for sat for Only four but As the first female Cabinet minister in almost a her presence was she gained attention because the Premier had placed her in charge of the labor department during a period when relationships Between government and labor left a great Deal to be for that first almost every thing she said and did was but despite the predominantly negative she survived and was eventually under the dome Arlene Billinkoff transferred to the less controversial portfolio of cultural in that there was a More positive mood and even though prices activities were More in the she has been and will be missed by numer Ous Cabinet ministers tend to attract More attention than people such As new democrats Tom Barrow and Bill Jenkins and tory Jim Ferguson served for 12 years but their names Are not generally recognized outside of their own constituent the voters in those Ridings were obviously satisfied with their having reelected them several new democrats Ron who was elected in and Harvey bos in also seem to have met the needs of their but despite their relative have decided it is time for a presumably after Mcbrides six years As Northern affairs minister and Bostrom four years in charge of renewable re they did not get sufficient satisfaction when they moved to the other Side of the others did wait a Long time before becoming part of a de elected in sat in opposition for eight years before tasting with responsibilities for con Sumer and corporate cooperative development and the Manitoba Telephone two years he announced his intention to retire but at the premiers remained As a minister without apparently he had a much needed calming influence on Warner Jorgenson began his Cabinet career without a but soon became responsible for consumer and corporate affairs and eventually government that culminated a Long career in Public first elected As a Federal member of Parlia ment in he worked in Ottawa until his defeat in he then won a provincial by election in and became Active in the Manitoba where he has been re cognized for his expertise in parliamentary rules and most members tend to concentrate on certain but Saul Miller has displayed an ability to Cope with prob lems of every a former school trustee and mayor of West he was first elected in during the nip time in he officially served As minister 6f Urban affairs and but was also responsible for most departments at one time or like his Saul he has been a respected member of the chamber and his absence will be regretted by Cherniack was elected in 1962 and like his fellow Retiree Morris Mcgregor who was elected in the same has lived through Many changes in the while Mcgregor remained relatively silent on the Back he served under four tory leaders and had no difficulty in getting reelected regardless of which party or person was in through those Cherniack was doonesbury More he began As a critic of the Roblin and Weir governments and was instrumental in convincing de Schreyer to return to Manitoba in during the nip years As minister of finance and Urban affairs and introduced legislation which set new directions for the City of while in the past four years he has been an elder when the writs were issued october the people who had served the Public for four years were no longer but these eleven were unique because they had voluntarily stepped aside for someone such As 15yearveteran Henry who was Defeated in his bid for have also but it May be a More painful in the the willing or unwilling departure of those members will create a new group of Sterling Lyon and Larry first elected in 1958 and 1959 respective May be in that but Lyon took a hiatus Between 1969 and while Desjardins was Defeated in 1973 and remained out of office until a 1974 the True veterans will be the people who have served continuously since 1966 provided they Are will while a Small number May be re Mem the majority will be Lucky if they Are even mentioned in the foot notes of a history j a Star oldsoon81tkapi ton v Case to Monike Soumi m can sup keep 4 county tin How frae Thomi pickups Rwjr ptpntgertfn6 tin ;