Wendy Lill, NDP member of parliament, playwright, thinker, you know the drill; yeah, Wendy.

[Denis Salter]

      [CPBF]

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      For our democracy to survive, there has to be a free exchange of many views in our newspapers and over our airwaves. Our national identity can never be reflected from a single newsroom, be it in Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver or Halifax. 

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       
      Media Chaos Reigns in Canada 

      by Wendy Lill

      December 20, 2001

      In the last six weeks we've continued to see the fallout from the wrongheaded, ill-conceived federal approach to broadcasting and media concentration in Canada.

      CanWest Global's head office in Winnipeg has started to directly dictate editorial policy in 12 local newspapers, and Global TV documentary producers are told what slants are acceptable.  This has resulted in over seventy Southam journalists setting up their own web site to condemn their employer for "narrowing debate and corrupting both news coverage and commentary to
      suit corporate interests." 

      Local TV news has moved up the endangered species list.  After CBC's shameful killing of 17 local shows last year, we now see CTV has closed three newsrooms in northern Ontario, depriving over 200,000 Canadians of any local TV news.

      Over at the CBC, journalists are doggedly trying to work in the midst of a management lock-out of their 1,600 technicians. During the lock-out, local
      noon hour and drive home shows (the most popular shows in the CBC stable) have been replaced by new national shows based in Toronto and Halifax.
      People driving home in Sydney and Saskatoon have to listen to Toronto chatter and hosts who don't know the names of our provincial premiers.

      It also appears that CBC is planning to cut the heart out of the radio line-up.  Saturday radio shows like The House, Basic Black, Quirks and
      Quarks and DNTO are all on the chopping block.  Thought provoking radio seems to be going the same way as CBC local TV news.  

      In the end, the federal government has to bear responsibility for this chaotic situation.  

      About six weeks ago, the Cabinet put its seal of approval on the CanWest Global and Bell Globemedia empires when they directly renewed broadcast licences and endorsed the principle of cross-media ownership. At the same time, the long term underfunding and indifferent approach to management at our public broadcaster have left them drifting into the mess they are in. 

      There are reasonable policy options open to the government to keep our presses free, and encourage real public debate on issues.  The Kent Royal Commission proposed a Newspaper Act that would guarantee local independence for editors from publishers. The Competition Act could also be changed to add "public interest" to the list of criteria the Competition Bureau examines when looking at a media market; similar to what is done in Britain.

      The government can re-direct the mandate of the CBC so it can continue to provide intelligent and informative service to Canadians, instead of allowing it to drift into under funded obscurity.

      For our democracy to survive, there has to be a free exchange of many views in our newspapers and over our airwaves. Our national identity can never be reflected from a single newsroom, be it in Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver or Halifax. We are a nation of local communities, and for our communities to be able to thrive, we need to have local reflections of ourselves.

      Without it, all the security in the world won't make a whit of difference.

      (Wendy Lill is the New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.  Before entering politics, she was a successful playwright and radio journalist.)

     


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© 2001

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'If we rule the world together then we can succeed in peace and let each other be different and have different opinions and different cultures. If there was no diversity then life would be boring. Imagine me looking exactly like you or acting the same way! LIFE NEEDS difference and until we realise it then we will not achieve our hope of world peace!"-Natasha Salter, written on the occasion of her 11th birthday (20 November 01).

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