CanWest Global Decides What Is In The News

CanWest Global Decides What Is In The News

FTLComm - Tisdale - Thursday, March 7, 2002 - By:Timothy W. Shire

logic
It just may be that most people do not suffer from the same affliction that seems to colour my mind and the opinions I hold. I can not really account for such a deeply held belief but suspect that it has something to do with the considerable amount of discourse and debate in which I was involved at an early age. What ever the case, I tend to see things in terms of logic and if something is misleading I am inclined to consider the validity of that material more than suspect.

input
costs
down
Several years ago Conrad Black purchased most of Canada's daily papers and immediately began laying off the reporters across the country. The system was simple, pump out a few stories and use them in all the papers, sometimes several days later. After all, the prime objective of the paper was to sell advertising and profits could be increased if the costs of input were reduced. At the time I recall telling people to drop their subscriptions because they were wasting their money.

Sifton
Many, including myself, thought that when Conrad Black ran short of cash and had to sell his newspaper chain to CanWest Global that this would be a good thing. After all, the major controlling interest of that company is the rather flamboyant Izzy Asper and his family from Winnipeg. For most of the past century the western daily newspapers had been owned by the Sifton family from Winnipeg and there was a hope that the good old days of individual community reflecting papers would return.

maximise
profits
Of course as you are aware the new owner, CanWest Global merely picked up where Conrad Black left off and move the anti up a bit. Conrad Black had exploited the newspapers to maximise profits which meant that the newspapers became less news and just advertising junk mail with cooked stories from central Canada.

party
line
The Aspers went much further they almost immediately ended the individual web sites for each paper and replaced them with a closely linked similar web site for each paper with virtually no local content. The local news for each city was even further curtailed but CanWest added a new wrinkle. Each paper was required to carry the same editorials nation wide and all other editorial content had to match the ideological bent of the Aspires. This meant that criticism of the Prime Minister was to be drastically curtailed and good things could be said of Israel and bad things must be said of Palestine

Cuthand
Initially there was some grumbling, but the executives at CanWest said "oh don't worry, we will be fair" then they began censoring editorials left and right. Doug Cuthand made a comparison between treatment of the Palestinians with treatment of Canada's aboriginals and the ax fell. Others in other cities got the immediate message and it was clear that all Canadian Newspapers would have a single view of the world.

editorial
bias
We complained of this because democracy is dependent upon a "free press" and having a single editorial bias is not freedom of speech. I warned, as did others, that this would directly lead to news reporters self censoring what they reported and that essentially, Canadian daily papers would no longer be printing news, but propaganda Clearly, from only minor observation this was the case already with the CanWest Global television network where its news is a carefully controlled strain of information reflecting only the view of the Aspire family and the political view they hold.

U of R
lecture
It wasn't until yesterday that the proof appeared illustrating that the news found in CanWest's Regina Leader Post was now no longer news, but had become propaganda A Toronto Star reporter was presenting a lecture at the University of Regina collage of journalism. A Leader Post reporter wrote a story on the lecture quoting the speaker's highly critical remarks of CanWest Global and its manipulation of the news. The story was altered by the Leader Post Editors to read that CanWest Global had the right to print what it wanted.

sucker
Now good citizens, if you plan to continuing doling out your money to purchase a paper produced by CanWest Global, or you are tuning in to watch the supposed news on a Global TV station you are a "sucker". By buying the Leader Post, the Star Phoenix, The Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Herald, the Winnipeg Free Press you are paying CanWest Global to tell you what they want to tell you. Not new,s or anything remotely related to the news. The Leader Post reporters took their names off of the bylines yesterday in protest, but clearly if they want to keep working, they will report only what is approved and any story that needs to be told will be ignored or modified to conform to the ideological dictates of Izzy Asper and his sons.

accomplice
Buying a paper from this company supports their political objectives, buying a paper from them makes you an accomplice in the subjugation of one of the most fundamental rights of a democratic society. Buying a paper from them puts you on the side of anti-democracy, of authoritarianism and your money is the enemy of the people. Oh, I realise this is an extreme position but buying a paper, putting money in the hands of bad guys, makes you also a bad guy and I would strongly urge you keep your money. You have no assurance that what you are buying is valid and there is now clear evidence that it is suspect. Don't waste your money.

the
company
you keep
If you are an advertiser, hoping to sell your products or services and you advertise in a CanWest Global publication, you have to seriously consider what you are doing and with whom you are becoming an ally. People and business are known by the company they keep. At some point there will be repercussions to this outrage and your business will get tarred with the same brush for you will be seen as a sponsor of ideology rather than a business.

allowed
to
know
This is an issue so fundamental that it simply begs for a response and your actions will have enormous consequences. With out readers, even a small decline, advertising revenue will drastically decline and the economic forces will clobber CanWest Global, forcing it to free its papers to allow them to become "newspapers" once more. The alternative, your continued purchasing of these papers, will result in affirmation of their policies and even more encroachment on what you and others will be allowed to know. Your vote, your political and financial support can be controlled effectively by controlling what you are given and lead to believe is the truth.

slavery
In an information age, information is power, controlling information is ultimate power. Being controlled by false information is slavery.

Timothy W. Shire



CanWest Global Decides What Is In The News

FTLComm - Tisdale - Thursday, March 7, 2002 - By:Timothy W. Shire
logic	It just may be that most people do not suffer from the same affliction that seems to colour my mind and the opinions I hold. I can not really account for such a deeply held belief but suspect that it has something to do with the considerable amount of discourse and debate in which I was involved at an early age. What ever the case, I tend to see things in terms of logic and if something is misleading I am inclined to consider the validity of that material more than suspect.

input costs down	Several years ago Conrad Black purchased most of Canada's daily papers and immediately began laying off the reporters across the country. The system was simple, pump out a few stories and use them in all the papers, sometimes several days later. After all, the prime objective of the paper was to sell advertising and profits could be increased if the costs of input were reduced. At the time I recall telling people to drop their subscriptions because they were wasting their money.

Sifton	Many, including myself, thought that when Conrad Black ran short of cash and had to sell his newspaper chain to CanWest Global that this would be a good thing. After all, the major controlling interest of that company is the rather flamboyant Izzy Asper and his family from Winnipeg. For most of the past century the western daily newspapers had been owned by the Sifton family from Winnipeg and there was a hope that the good old days of individual community reflecting papers would return.

maximise profits	Of course as you are aware the new owner, CanWest Global merely picked up where Conrad Black left off and move the anti up a bit. Conrad Black had exploited the newspapers to maximise profits which meant that the newspapers became less news and just advertising junk mail with cooked stories from central Canada.

party line	The Aspers went much further they almost immediately ended the individual web sites for each paper and replaced them with a closely linked similar web site for each paper with virtually no local content. The local news for each city was even further curtailed but CanWest added a new wrinkle. Each paper was required to carry the same editorials nation wide and all other editorial content had to match the ideological bent of the Aspires. This meant that criticism of the Prime Minister was to be drastically curtailed and good things could be said of Israel and bad things must be said of Palestine

Cuthand	Initially there was some grumbling, but the executives at CanWest said "oh don't worry, we will be fair" then they began censoring editorials left and right. Doug Cuthand made a comparison between treatment of the Palestinians with treatment of Canada's aboriginals and the ax fell. Others in other cities got the immediate message and it was clear that all Canadian Newspapers would have a single view of the world.

editorial bias	We complained of this because democracy is dependent upon a "free press" and having a single editorial bias is not freedom of speech. I warned, as did others, that this would directly lead to news reporters self censoring what they reported and that essentially, Canadian daily papers would no longer be printing news, but propaganda Clearly, from only minor observation this was the case already with the CanWest Global television network where its news is a carefully controlled strain of information reflecting only the view of the Aspire family and the political view they hold.

U of R lecture	It wasn't until yesterday that the proof appeared illustrating that the news found in CanWest's Regina Leader Post was now no longer news, but had become propaganda A Toronto Star reporter was presenting a lecture at the University of Regina collage of journalism. A Leader Post reporter wrote a story on the lecture quoting the speaker's highly critical remarks of CanWest Global and its manipulation of the news. The story was altered by the Leader Post Editors to read that CanWest Global had the right to print what it wanted.

sucker	Now good citizens, if you plan to continuing doling out your money to purchase a paper produced by CanWest Global, or you are tuning in to watch the supposed news on a Global TV station you are a "sucker". By buying the Leader Post, the Star Phoenix, The Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Herald, the Winnipeg Free Press you are paying CanWest Global to tell you what they want to tell you. Not new,s or anything remotely related to the news. The Leader Post reporters took their names off of the bylines yesterday in protest, but clearly if they want to keep working, they will report only what is approved and any story that needs to be told will be ignored or modified to conform to the ideological dictates of Izzy Asper and his sons.

accomplice	Buying a paper from this company supports their political objectives, buying a paper from them makes you an accomplice in the subjugation of one of the most fundamental rights of a democratic society. Buying a paper from them puts you on the side of anti-democracy, of authoritarianism and your money is the enemy of the people. Oh, I realise this is an extreme position but buying a paper, putting money in the hands of bad guys, makes you also a bad guy and I would strongly urge you keep your money. You have no assurance that what you are buying is valid and there is now clear evidence that it is suspect. Don't waste your money.

the company you keep	If you are an advertiser, hoping to sell your products or services and you advertise in a CanWest Global publication, you have to seriously consider what you are doing and with whom you are becoming an ally. People and business are known by the company they keep. At some point there will be repercussions to this outrage and your business will get tarred with the same brush for you will be seen as a sponsor of ideology rather than a business.

allowed to know	This is an issue so fundamental that it simply begs for a response and your actions will have enormous consequences. With out readers, even a small decline, advertising revenue will drastically decline and the economic forces will clobber CanWest Global, forcing it to free its papers to allow them to become "newspapers" once more. The alternative, your continued purchasing of these papers, will result in affirmation of their policies and even more encroachment on what you and others will be allowed to know. Your vote, your political and financial support can be controlled effectively by controlling what you are given and lead to believe is the truth.

slavery	In an information age, information is power, controlling information is ultimate power. Being controlled by false information is slavery.

	Timothy W. Shire