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11 March 2004
Journalists say quality down,
corporate
control up
at large
newspaper chains, Senate probe told
Poll finds employees want restrictions
on media concentration, foreign ownership
OTTAWA | TNG
Canada/CWA
Senators studying media concentration in Canada were today
given a rare glimpse inside the newsrooms of the nation and
heard the views of journalists who work for five of the empires.
TNG Canada/CWA presented to the Transport and Communications
Committee the results of a poll taken last week.
The survey found that more than 68 per cent of journalists
at some of Canada's large media companies believe the quality
of journalism at all chain-owned newspapers has decreased
under the massive media concentration of the past few years.
About two-thirds of the editorial workers surveyed also
say their workload and stress on the job are up while morale
in their department is down.
The survey was conducted at 14 newspapers owned by either
CanWest Global, Irving, Osprey, Sun Media or Transcontinental.
All but one of the newspapers has been sold at least three
times in the past eight years.
The last change in ownership definitely led to a change
in editorial content, say 79.8 per cent of survey respondents.
And where editorial change has occurred, 71.3 per cent say
it has resulted in a decrease in quality while only 6.9 per
cent believe it has improved their newspapers.
In analysing the quality of their newspaper since the latest
change in ownership, the journalists say it was adversely
affected in the following ways:
- 86.4 per cent by understaffing;
- 74.4 per cent because of not enough time and resources;
- 60 per cent due to the shrinking volume of news content;
and
- 57.6 per cent because editorial policy is controlled
from outside their city.
Concerning how large chain ownership affected the reduction
in the diversity of opinions published in their newspapers,
67.2 per cent say they believe it was very or somewhat serious.
The poll was commissioned by TNG Canada/CWA. It was conducted
by Viewpoints Research of Winnipeg by telephone between March
2 and 4. The poll surveyed 125 randomly selected editorial
workers represented by TNG Canada/CWA. Poll results are considered
accurate to within 7.5 percentage points, 19 times out of
20.
"What we have discovered is that our members are happy
to be journalists and are satisfied with their jobs, but
they are very concerned about how media concentration has
affected their newspapers' editorial performance," says
Arnold Amber, Director of TNG Canada/CWA.
Further, he says, the poll "overwhelmingly
confirms anecdotal evidence collected in recent years by
the Guild that the ill effects of these takeovers and mergers
are common to most of the chains."
In answer to the survey's question about whether there should
be limits on media concentration in Canada, 77.6 per cent
say yes while only 17.6 per cent say no. Asked what would
be the best way to limit concentration, 27.8 per cent say
not allowing cross-media ownership of newspapers and broadcast
interests; 14.4 per cent say restricting the number of newspapers
any one chain can own; and 30.9 per cent opt for the establishment
of guarantees of local editorial control.
The journalists do not want more
foreign ownership of the media to be allowed. A large majority — 64.9 per cent — oppose
or strongly oppose the idea while only 18.6 per cent support
or strongly support more foreign ownership.
The respondents had some of the following views on what
would happen if media concentration in Canada continues:
- 89.6 per cent believe control over news and programming
decisions will be concentrated in too few corporate hands;
- 82.4 per cent say it will lead to increased commercialization
of news and programming;
- 83.2 per cent predict there will be fewer points of view
offered by local media in each community;
- 86.4 per cent say there will be a loss of credibility
with the public; and
- 82.4 per cent believe the quality of news coverage will
decline.
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