CRTC okays newsroom convergence by Heather Scoffield

by Heather Scoffield

The federal broadcast regulator has ruled that television networks and newspapers owned by the same corporate parent can work together closely, as long as both media keep separate management structures.

But the regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, said yesterday that it will be watching to make sure convergence does not lead to fewer Canadian voices and points of view in the media.

To that end, the country's two English-language private sector television networks – CTV Inc. and Global Television Network Inc. – must set up independent monitoring committees that will take complaints from employees and the public about how the broadcasters work with their related newspapers.

CTV is owned by Bell Globemedia, which also owns The Globe and Mail.

Bell Globemedia is majority controlled by Montreal-based BCE Inc. Global Television is owned by CanWest Global Communications Corp., which also owns the Southam newspaper chain and half the National Post.

The monitoring bodies will have the power to investigate the inner workings of the companies' broadcast operations, and will report annually to the CRTC. In addition, each broadcaster must put $1-million a year toward promotion of the committees.

"The commission is concerned that cross-ownership of television stations and newspapers ... could potentially lead to the complete integration of the owner's television and news operations," the CRTC said in its ruling. "This integration could eventually result in a reduction of the diversity of the information presented to the public and of the diversity of distinct editorial voices."

The new rules on convergence were part of a larger licence-renewal package of requirements for CTV and Global Television, which the two networks must abide by for the next seven years as conditions of their licences.

"CTV is pleased with this decision, which we find comprehensive and fair," CTV president Trina McQueen said. "It's my entire belief that this is one of the best things that has ever happened to Canadian journalism," because the CRTC has given broadcasters the freedom and stability they need to work with newspapers and improve the quality of Canadian television.

Global was also "very pleased," although president Gerry Noble said the intrusiveness of the monitoring committees "does cause me some concern."

Still, he said Global would have no problem complying with the CRTC demand to maintain separate management structures for CanWest's newspapers. Global had initially strenuously opposed any attempt by the CRTC to impose restrictions on cross-media ownership, and vowed to launch a constitutional challenge against the CRTC if it tried to regulate newspapers.

Both networks said they were relieved the CRTC agreed to renew their licences for another seven years – rather than shortening the traditional term. They also said they were glad the regulators had not imposed a stricter code of conduct on them that would have prevented close co-operation of television and newspaper reporters.

The CRTC has already imposed such a code in Quebec, prohibiting any contact between television reporters at TVA and print reporters working for newspapers owned by Quebecor.

All the broadcasters, however, have been encouraged by the CRTC to write an industry-wide code of conduct for cross-media ownership that would be policed by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

But critics, including the union representing some employees at CanWest, CTV and The Globe, say the CRTC did not go far enough in protecting diversity in Canadian media.

The decision allows for the "erosion of the diversity of opinion and voice, and in a democracy, that's a dangerous thing," said Peter Murdoch, a vice-president at the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.

Merging television and newspaper newsrooms will lead to fewer reporters gathering the news, and inevitably fewer points of view in the Canadian media, he said.

The monitoring committees, he added, "are bought and paid for by the ownership. So what kind of monitoring is that?"

However, the CRTC's executive-director for broadcasting, Jean-Pierre Blais, countered that while the broadcasters are indeed selecting the committee members, they must make sure they are independent.

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, a lobby group that has urged strict rules for convergence, was relatively satisfied with the decision yesterday, mainly because it supports more Canadian content on television. On convergence, however, the CRTC has erred by only tackling the management of news organizations and not looking at the gathering of the news, group spokesman Ian Morrison said.

The news gatherers are the source of diversity in Canadian media, he said. "If the CRTC erred [yesterday], it was on the side of trusting [the broadcasters] too much."

© Globe Information Services