CanWest Global Bosspeak

Israel Asper | Leonard Asper | David Asper | Murdoch Davis

Interview

Jerusalem Post

August 15, 2003

Jerusalem Post staffer Melissa Radler (daughter of Conrad Black partner David Radler, then prez and COO of Hollinger International, owner of Jerusalem Post) interviewed Canada's most powerful (post-Black) media mogul. Ms. Radler provided Post readers with the following profile:

Without a hint of reproach, Radler describes Izzy as "a devoted Zionist who uses his newspapers to defend Israel and vent his frustrations at Canada's lack of support."

Asper goes on the record with:

"What we can do is demand an end to the dishonest reporting by our media... "

"I formed a Zionist club for young people, and instituted a media monitoring and response group to deal with the fact that the CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation] cannot bring itself to call Hamas a terrorist organization ..."

Do you have a pro-Israel policy at your media outlets?

"In all our newspapers, including the National Post, we have a very pro-Israel position. We are not soft on Israel, but our position is that we're not optimistic about the road map, and we are the strongest supporter of Israel in Canada – so much so that the Canadian Islamic Congress has declared a boycott of all of our newspapers and TV stations."

Do you think your policy has an effect on government action or public opinion?

"I'm told it has. Certainly, we've raised issues that no other media has, and obviously we are strongly, continually making the case on banning [fundraising for] Hizbullah."

You've come under a lot of criticism in the Canadian media for setting editorial policy, particularly when it comes to Israel. Is anti-Semitism an issue here?

"When you own a newspaper, the inmates of the asylum don't run the asylum. I'm the last guy to be paranoid; on the other hand, in almost every criticism of our 'interference,' every example they use it always comes back to Israel. If I were being pro-something that they liked, they might not be as tough with us. But the main thing is that with people who write for newspapers, the one thing they despise is the owners, and there's nothing they despise more than owners who say this is the position we want to take, and if you don't like these views, take yourself somewhere else."

Speech

Israel Bonds Gala Dinner

Montreal
Oct. 30, 2002

In this speech, entitled Dishonest Reporting — Media Bias Against Israel, the Asper family patriarch had these (contradictory) things to say:

"I denounce dishonest reporting... I am not here speaking for ... CanWest Global Communications, but only as a concerned Canadian and a long-time journalist myself...

"If any CanWest media outlets happen to fall within this indictment, then they, too, should take notice that I will always do all in my power to stamp out dishonest reporting, and biased reporting on any subject."

"There are accepted rules regarding the honour and obligation of media in a democratic society. The most elementary of these are: The responsibility to report everything that the public needs to know about a given matter and not just selectively, so that the public may be fully informed; to report everything honestly and not slant the news, biased toward their own point of view. ..."

"Dishonest reporting occurs in several forms. One is through the selection of terminology ... many biased media describe the Palestinian perpetrators of clear acts of terror against Israel merely as 'militants', 'resistance fighters', 'gunmen', extremists'."

"The CBC, along with the New York Times and other left-wing media, will still not label the Palestinian murderers as terrorists. ... the CBC, particularly in the person of Neil McDonald (sic), simply refers to them as 'militants'."

"... most coverage on the CBC is, in general, biased against Israel. The most irresponsible is its Middle East correspondent, the aforesaid Neil McDonald (sic), who refers to Israeli troops as 'assassins' when they pursue Palestinian terrorists who have killed innocent Israeli civilians in Israel. Palestinian suicide bombers are referred to as extremists or militants, never terrorists or assassins."

"... why is this happening? ... too many of the journalists are lazy, or sloppy, or stupid. They are ignorant of the history of the subject... Others are, plain and simple, biased, or anti-Semitic, or are taken captive by a simplistic ideology...

"Every one of us must do what we can to correct this travesty. It is time to say 'Enough!' The solution starts on the campus, and in the journalist schools, then it goes to the boardrooms of the media owners ..."

"if we cannot trust our media, democracy is profoundly threatened. You, the public, must be more vigilant and aggressive against media wrong-doers, by your e-mails, your letters to the editor, your phone calls, your cancellation of subscriptions, your refusal to patronize advertisers of offending media ... I strongly suggest that you should establish ... honest reporting response groups to call to account offending dishonest media."

Heck of an idea. Welcome to Your Media ! ;-}

Memo

to All Employees

June 21, 2002

Word from on high in Winnipeg that head office shares the pain that has been inflicted by the general public, readers and viewers infuriated by the firing of Ottawa Citizen publisher Russell Mills. Many of those who called or emailed "used intemperate or even abusive language to make their points," the boss notes ruefully.

"Hopefully, these issues will soon be behind us. We look forward to moving beyond the current controversy to re-focus on the essential business of our company, including the important consolidation and integration initiatives already underway, and other initiatives to increase newspaper circulation, television market-share and to develop and sell new advertising and other products to our clients."

Speech

Canadian Club

Canadian Press
Dec. 17, 2002

The boss takes to a public podium to lash out at CanWest's critics and vehemently denies that his company censors its writers. Maria Babbage, writing for the Canadian Press, puts Leonard's attack on the record:

"... Asper first attacked the 'lies, misrepresentations and incorrect assertions' from CanWest's critics ... rivals like the CBC, the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, denying accusations that CanWest dominates the Canadian media and censors its writers."

"A few disgruntled and opportunistic journalists who have been the subject of editing for many years – long before CanWest ever came along – will, no doubt, continue to abuse the word 'censorship' and thereby gain their 15 minutes of fame, largely brought about by their colleagues," he said.

Speech / Commentary

National Post

Oct. 1, 2003

Reaction

Neil Macdonald

Chris Dornan

Re-reaction

Leonard Asper

Is that an echo we hear? A year earlier, Izzy Asper railed on about nefarious anti-Israel journalists and the CBC's Neil Macdonald in particular. Now Leonard is parroting his father in a Winnipeg speech. Just for good measure, the National Post and Montreal Gazette published excerpts.

Warning! Many readers, especially journalists, will find much of this offensive. Samples:

"Many news journalists are either doctrinaire socialists or hold political views left of centre." ... "The Marxist journalist has a romanticized need for a cause."

" ... anti-Semitism is part of the reason for the anti-Israel bias of the media..."

"But hints of anti-Semitism are there in the Canadian media too. When Hezbollah, the well-known terrorist group, was finally banned in Canada, Neil Macdonald of the CBC pompously, but dangerously, suggested Hezbollah was a 'national liberation movement victimized by unfair smears cast around by supporters of the Jewish state.' No reference to Israel, just 'the Jewish state.'

"There are fair-minded journalists who are neither Marxists nor anti-Semites. But they have little help. ..."

Commentary

Southam papers, National Post

March 6-7, 2001

Reaction
roundup in Chronicle

The CanWest executive vice-president writes an opinion piece headlined "Put up or shut up" that appears in all of the company's daily newspapers. It is a lecture to those who insist on disparaging his Dad's pal and prime minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien.

The article is quoted extensively by Mark Steyn, who put up a spirited defence in the National Post:

"One's first reaction, on opening up the National Post and finding a column headlined "Put Up Or Shut Up," is to congratulate CanWest Global, the Post's new co-owners, for following in the admirable tradition of Mr. Black. One's second reaction, after reading on and discovering that Mr. Asper is not dissatisfied with one writer or one title but pretty much the whole bunch, is to wonder whether some things aren't better dealt with by a couple of calls and mass sackings after all. The column... began, "This newspaper [insert name here] and others across Canada, including other forms of media, have had a remarkably unfair 'go' at the Prime Minister over alleged financial misdealings in Shawinigan." It concluded that we have "crossed a line that delineates solid investigative reporting from adjective-driven innuendo." If this is true, I think Mr. Asper, as chairman of CanWest Global's publications committee, should do more than write a column about it." ...

"(It is time) for Mr. Asper to put up or shut up – with facts and hard evidence, not just 'adjective-driven innuendo.' I quote at random: 'unfounded ... ill-founded ... scandal-hungry ... unsubstantiated ... irresponsible ... mischievous, unfair scandal-mongering ... ' To which I say to learned counsel: in what way, exactly? Are you saying Mr. Chrétien didn't phone the bank guy? Are you saying he didn't mislead Parliament and change his story on the point? Are you saying the bank didn't reject Mr. Duhaime and then, following Mr. Chrétien's intervention, turn around and give him 615,000 bucks? In other words, what specifically did the National Post and the Charlottetown Guardian and the rest of your newspapers get wrong? C'mon, Mr. Asper. Put up or shut up."

Speech

Oakville Mayor's Business Breakfast

Dec. 13, 2001

Reaction / Coverage

Toronto Star

Globe and Mail

Toronto Sun

The chairman of CanWest's publications committee spells out for the business crowd what he thinks of his journalists ... uh, make that "riff-raff" ... who object to the company's national editorial policy:

"Since when do reporters at the Montreal Gazette have a right of free speech that is greater than that of anyone else? They have launched a childish protest, with all of the usual self-righteousness ..."

"... civil disobedience is fine so long as the perpetrator is prepared to accept the consequences of his or her actions. Our courageous Gazette leaks remain underground, and this is part of the ongoing pathetic politics of the Canadian left. If those people in Montreal are so committed, why don't they just quit and have the courage of their convictions?"

Asper's speech triggers a Dec. 23 Toronto Star article by Bill Schiller, who is able to give readers a glimpse of the goings-on inside the Gazette, where the staff have now been officially muzzled by management. He notes that, across town at a French-language paper, a columnist has summarized the Asper philosophy as: 'Go CanWest young man or go to hell.'

"Collecting their newspapers from their porch steps one morning this month, employees of the Montreal Gazette found a little surprise waiting inside.

"There, for all to see, was a speech given the day before in Oakville by David Asper of CanWest Global Communications – the paper's owner – attacking his own employees as 'bleeding hearts' and 'riff-raff' ..."

"Terry Mosher, nationally acclaimed editorial cartoonist who goes by the pen name Aislin ... penned a cartoon of an apartment dweller anxiously waiting in the pre-dawn dark for his paper. 'Where's The Gazette?' he asks. 'I can't wait to read their enticing editorial view from Winnipeg.' It was axed." (see axed Aislin cartoon link below)

" 'For the time being, drawing anything on the subject of the Aspers and the whole business is strictly forbidden,' he says. 'Of course' it encroaches on his principles as a journalist, he says."

Two days earlier, the Globe and Mail published the axed Aislin cartoon as well as other Gazette scuttlebutt, including details of the suspension of a sports writer. Globe reporter Tu Thanh Ha writes:

"For several weeks, The Gazette has been at a centre of a bitter dispute over what staff see as their editorial independence being muzzled by the owners...

"In the most recent incident, sports columnist Jack Todd was suspended without pay for a week.

"Mr. Todd, who was short-listed this year for the Governor-General's non-fiction award, would not comment, but sources said he was recalled from assignment in Boston after sending a critical reply to a company-wide email announcing new appointments at CanWest."

Now, where were we? Oh yes .... Getting back to Dave's "riff-raff" speech ... He had some rather nasty things to say about rival media, too. It took a while – a month to the day, actually – but Peter Worthington, under the headline "Casting Asper-sions," reacts to certain statements of "fact" and opinions expressed in the Dec. 13 speech:

"In criticizing me, Asper said Brian Mulroney was on our board and dictated that the western Suns endorse Jean Charest in the 1997 federal election. Asper is wrong.

"Mulroney wasn't on the board then, and the Edmonton Sun backed Reform. Later, when Mulroney was on the Sun Media board, the western Suns backed the Canadian Alliance.

"If Asper had put that in a mandatory Southam chain editorial, all his newspapers would have been wrong. Doesn't that make the case for varying viewpoints?"

News story

CTV News

June 13, 2004

"I have a right to support whoever I want to support, or not support. That right has been taken away."

CanWest's Executive VP rails against a new campaign finance law that limits to $1,000 corporate donations to federal political parties and candidates. CanWest donated more than $100,000 to federal parties and candidates — mostly Liberals — in the 2000 federal election and 2001 and 2002 fiscal years.

Speech

Calgary Chamber of Commerce

October 14 , 2004

"The Premier seems to believe that the rest of us in Canada see you as a bunch of Alberta Beverly Hillbillies. Hey, wait a minute ... that is a stereotype I get up every day trying to dispel. We have fought like hell to project a positive image of Alberta to the rest of the country, and do so unlike other national media. "

David makes no bones about using his company's media outlets as shills for a Western province. He also has no compunction about pooping all over Alberta Premier Ralph Klein.

Download PDF file of speech

Interview
(link expired)

hour.ca
Web magazine

March 21, 2002

The scrappy CanWest/Southam editor-in-chief dismisses allegations that censorship has occurred at several of the Southam newspapers. He insists that writers' articles or columns were rewritten or spiked because they contained factual errors, albeit those regarding CanWest Global.

"Newspapers decide what to publish all the time," Davis asserts in this interview. "It's not fucking censorship, I'm sorry."

"If you want to be a newspaper editor, you've got to have some backbone," Davis tells the magazine. "If the critics are suggesting that editors are so easily cowed that they'll commit journalistically improper acts in order to preserve their employment... I'm sorry, I have more respect for our editors than that."

Apparently, Peter Stockland, editor of The Montreal Gazette, had heard something other than the "backbone" speech from Winnipeg. A staffer (who wants to remain employed and therefore is nameless in hour's article), recalls this revealing episode:

"Stockland had a meeting with us a few months back and he basically told us that he'd be gone in a puff of smoke if he stood up to Southam."

Interview

WNYC
radio station

March 1, 2002

While serving as CanWest's editorial vice-president of newspapers, Davis was the author of many national editorials and a staunch defender of same.

"We are not leaning on the editors to, you know, say what we want to have said," he tells On The Media, a program produced by a New York station.

Then he explains how things normally would work:

"Traditionally when a new (proprietor) took over a newspaper, if they wanted to influence what was said in the editorials they basically, you know, shot the editor and got a new one. I think we've taken a much more open and above-board approach."