Earlier, we noted the Canadian mainstream media has yet to report on the controversial axing of Times Colonist columnist Vivian Smith - although the story was picked up by the British press yesterday. But we may have spoken to soon. Today, former Globe and Mail and Maclean's managing editor Geoffrey Stevens, a columnist with The Record and the Guelph Mercury weighed in on the issue. After canvassing the facts of the case - which have been covered at length by this organ - he notes "although the bloggers are having a field day, none of this was reported in the 'TC' or the Vancouver Sun or Vancouver Province. All three are owned by bottom-feeding CanWest Global. As they say, freedom of the press is reserved to those who own it." Mr. Stevens, a friend of Ms. Smith's, is one of Canada's most respected journalists.
Talk of the town
July 17, 2006
I don't mean to be unkind, but I have found in the past that journalists, like doctors and lawyers, and reluctant to criticize others in their profession, let alone their employing companies.
Think back to the days of the late Doug Collins. Can you think of any reporter who ever took issue with the material Collins was writing? Neither can I. But I can think of some, like Alan Fotheringham, who vigorously defended Collins right to pen his viscious material.
There's a column about Smith's firing in this week's Monday Magazine (http://web.bcnewsgroup.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=117&cat=48&id=692969&more=, or access through http://www.mondaymag.com, click on "editorials" and click on the story titled "Composting Columnists").
The author, who's described as a Victoria journalist writing under a pseudonym, suggests that there's considerable dissension in the T-C newsroom about Smith's firing -- that the writers there have considered a byline strike (although they haven't carried one out). The author gives Public Eye Online credit for being the main media outlet to run with the story, albeit as an outlet that is "still relatively obscure."
I think the chances of a byline strike in support of Ms. Smith are zero. The majority of TC writers sold out years ago and are hardly likely to stick their necks out now. I guess in fairness they are not the only ones who show bias towards advertisers, it is just a little more obvious.
The real kick however was the outright threat to others by the media rep for the Butchart Gardens by stating definitively that the firing was related to the article.
If Ms. Smiths wants to get even all she needs to do is sit in front of the BC "lack of experience" with a sign that states "I was fired by the TC for telling you that this attraction is a waste of money".
I'd like to address Budd Campbell's comment about journalists not criticizing the companies they work for.
Given the state of media concentration, criticizing your company can mean a long period of unemployment, a move to another community or a career change if they don't like what you're saying when you stand up for what you believe. It's not a good situation.
In private, they complain a lot, but what can they really do? Lousy pay, lousy working conditions, but great work.
And if the T-C really did fire Vivian Smith for that reason, what would the readers really think? That the T-C is just an advertising rag ready to sell out its newsroom and the quality of its content just to please its advertisers? It's a classic j-school debate.
Are people not reading newspapers because they don't care or is it because they don't trust the media these days? I think people are getting more of their news online because they realize, consciously or not, they're being fed a lot of junk from the big media players.
What's the answer? Well, I've been thinking a lot about that one, and I think I've hit on it. Journalism could learn a lesson from open-source software and go the direction of something like ohmynews in Korea, or start working on a co-op model.
Give the readers something they can trust.