09 March 2004

Media concentration 'starves' freelancers, Senate told

Canadian Media Guild | TNG Canada Local 30213

Concentration of ownership in Canada's media has led to "economic starvation" for the country's freelance writers, two representatives of the Periodical Writers Association of Canada told a Senate committee examining media ownership issues, in a joint presentation with the Canadian Media Guild today.

Michael O'Reilly, the president of PWAC, told the committee that media companies buy articles and re-use them throughout their chains, in all media forms, for less money than they would have paid for the article 10 years ago.

The Senate committee, chaired by Senator Joan Fraser, a former editor-in-chief of The Montreal Gazette, also heard from CMG's national president Lise Lareau and Scott Edmonds, the vice-president of the Canadian Press/Broadcast News branch of the Guild.

Edmonds recalled the 1996 "near death experience" of The Canadian Press, when the Hollinger-controlled Southam newspaper chain notified CP that it was pulling 18 newspapers out of the news co-operative. The Guild and others waged a national campaign, and the Southam-Hollinger group backed down.

"Then and now, the Guild viewed this as a striking example of why too much concentration of ownership can be bad," Edmonds said.

Now, eight years later, Edmonds told the committee the National Post has served notice that it could pull out of CP June 30, with a potential cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

Lareau told the committee the impact of media concentration on freelance rates has brought CMG and PWAC together to work on possible solutions.

The Senate committee on transport and communications has been studying the ownership of media in Canada, and particularly such issues as "cross-ownership" where one media company owns a newspaper, TV station and possibly radio station in the same market.

CMG and PWAC suggested to the committee that a Centre of Excellence in the Media be established in Canada, housed at a university and funded by industry, government, with other contributions from unions and associations of journalists. Lareau said the goal would be to provide ongoing research on how the media is serving Canada, to showcase success and point out failures.

"We need ongoing research into such difficult-to-quantify issues as changes in quality of media services and whether diversity of views has been affected by ownership changes," Lareau said. "Many industries have centres of excellence, and they serve as a positive force for them."

CMG is the largest of 30 locals of TNG Canada, whose officials are appearing before the same Senate committee March 11.