CanWest’s owners, Winnipeg’s Asper family, which made its fortune in the television business, appear to consider their newspapers not only as profit centers and promotional vehicles for their television network but also as private, personal pulpits from which to express their views.
The Aspers support the federal Liberal Party. They're pro-Israel. They think rich people like themselves deserve tax breaks. They support privatizing healthcare delivery. And they believe their newspapers...should agree with them.
"I think that they could have gotten away with the ‘national editorials’ policy," Kimber told the Toronto Star (1/12/02). "But it’s clear now that what they really wanted to do was stifle other people's opinions."
Stephanie Domet, another freelance columnist for the Halifax Sunday Daily News, resigned a few days later after writing a column in support of Kimber for the Coast, a Halifax weekly, that was later posted on the CBC’s website (1/7/02).
Four reporters at CanWest’s Regina Leader Post were suspended for five days in early March, for talking to outside media, and another six were given letters of reprimand after they withdrew their bylines in protest over an incident of censorship at the newspaper. Management at the Leader Post had censored a story by reporter Michelle Lang about a speech critical of CanWest by the Toronto Star’s Haroon Siddiqui.
In March, the International Federation of Journalists accused CanWest of corporate censorship and victimizing journalists who are trying to defend professional standards. "If this had happened in Eastern Europe 15 years ago there would have been widespread protests from media owners and journalists' groups," the IFJ said in a press release March 14. "The issues today are no different--the fight for editorial freedom and protection from censorship."
In 1991, after acquiring a 20 percent stake in New Zealand's TV3, Izzy Asper gathered 200 employees of the station in the cafeteria and astounded them by asking a journalist, "You. What business do you think you're in?"
The journalist replied that "the business we're in is to make sure our audience gets the most carefully researched news and information possible." Asper asked the same questions of the drama and entertainment departments and got similar answers.
"You're all wrong," he told them. "You're in the business of selling soap."