Keeping it Real…

This week Vancouver’s Province newspaper turned 110 years old … normally an event worthy of great celebration, and not only by management and the public relations and marketing peons.

But there is really not much for the Province staff or readers to give thanks for, in terms of first quality journalistic service to the community. And I blame media concentration of ownership and convergence. 

When I joined the Vancouver Sun in 1971 as a reporter … the Province was our competitor … and a good one to boot: cheeky, aggressive, and entertaining.

Our two newsrooms, in the Pacific Press Building at Granville and Sixth, were separated by the Library … a kind of a demilitarized zone. And I can recall how careful we each were when talking to a librarian or waiting for research material at the library counter to make sure no one from “that other paper” heard us talk or found out what were working on … scoops ruled!

But in the past 15 years, Vancouver’s two largest daily newspapers have become journalistic  Wonder Bread … a mish-mash of bland similarity; in my view, clearly without the same degree of competition we used to relish; and often today, containing too many exact same stories appearing in both the Sun and the Province.

And the fierce competition that also used to exist between the newspapers and the top television station in the city, BCTV, now Global BC, has also gone by the wayside so much, newsroom managers from the Sun and Global BC often not only tell each other what stories they are working on,  but sometimes even work together on them. This is all part of convergence … the latest blow to good old private enterise competition. 

It has no doubt been  great … for management and the shareholders; but, in my view,  it has been awful for Vancouver (and BC) newspaper readers and television viewers. The era of “doing more with less”, has resulted in  ”giving less for more” to those who buy the papers or watch the news.

Too much concentration of ownership and its byproduct: convergence, has watered down the quality and competitiveness of news reporting and journalism in Vancouver and B.C.. 

 In their rush to help the millionaires become billionaires, I believe the Canadian, Radio, Television and Communications Bureau (and Canada’s Competition Bureau too)  have done a terrible disservice to both the news business and the people of Canada.

Most British Columbians are not even aware of the extent of one single company’s (CanWest Global) hold on the Vancouver media market.

CanWest Global not only owns BOTH the Vancouver Sun and The Province, it also publishes The National Post, circulated in Vancouver, and the company owns BCTV Vancouver (now called Global BC) as well as CH Television (Victoria ..but beamed into Vancouver on cable).

And if that isn’t enough to raise concerns about media concentration … and any avid readers’ blood pressure, Canwest’s VanNet division now also owns the Abbotsford/Mission Times, Burnaby Now, Chilliwack Times, Coquitlam Now, Delta Optimist, Langley Advance, Maple Ridge Times, New Westminster Record, North Shore News, Richmond News, Surrey Now and Vancouver Courier.

How can anyone believe this is healthy for Canadians! Or for journalism or for the free expression of widely divergent opinions.

For example, in April, the CRTC will hold hearings on a proposal by Canada’s major television networks (Global, CBC, CTV) that could see cable networks forced to PAY them a fee to carry their television station signals. The fee could add up to $10 a month to your cable bill … and would be worth milions of dollars to the networks.

The National Post carried a good Point-Counterpoint page on the issue ..but where else have you seen much about this? In the old days, at least some of  the local daily and/or community newspapers would have gone to bat and even roused their readers to campaign against this new “tax” on the public … but I have seen no campaign, no outcry, scant little mention in local papers.

I think free, independent or newspapers owned by competitors would have shouted out against this corporate ripoff of cable users; after all, where would the networks be if the cable companies dropped their signal … up the creek, without advertisers! Maybe they should pay the cable companies ..who could then lower our fees! (OK, I’m dreaming!)

However, after Courier publisher Peter Ballard was fired for reportedly not being “corporate enough” you can understand the reticence of the newspapers to stand up for their readers and take on their company’s own TV network in stories or editorials.

But are the public being well served?  I say NO!  And I believe anyone who seriously watches these media outlets should be concerned …. we are getting news and views I see as heavily weighted to a right-of-center point of view … offering not so much equally free multi-sided discussions for the   readers/viewers, but more often serving more the corporate interests behind them all.

Mike Bocking, President of Communications, Energy and Paperworkers’ Union Local 2000, says in the past 15 years, the newsrooms at the Sun and Province have lost 50 per cent of their staff!

Both newspapers still have some very fine reporters and columnists … but total content of the papers, I believe, doesn’t come close to the fiestiness, competitive nature and overall story and writing quality they used to deliver.   Not much for The Province  to celebrate.

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