Source : Toronto Star

But management of newspaper and TV operations must be separate

A landmark decision by the CRTC is expected to change the face of journalism in Canada by virtually knocking down the walls between the country's major television and newspaper newsrooms.

Reporters at CTV and Global Television will now be allowed to gather and exchange information freely with sister newspapers – respectively, The Globe and Mail, and the Southam chain and National Post.

But the management of all their news operations must be kept separate, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission said yesterday.

Critics say the decision will lead to job cuts and homogenize what many Canadians watch and read by drastically reducing the number of reporters and, as a result, the diversity of approaches and opinions.

But executives with the Canadian media giants say they will be able to put fewer reporters on some stories, freeing up staff to do others, including more in-depth pieces.

"It is inevitable. The technology is just driving (news organizations) in this direction, and you can't build artificial walls to try to keep newsrooms separate,'' said Peter Desbarats, former dean of journalism at the University of Western Ontario.

The green light for convergence came with a seven-year license renewal for Global, whose parent company, Winnipeg-based CanWest Global Communications Corp., also owns the Southam newspapers and half the National Post.

CTV's licence also was renewed for seven years. Communications giant BCE Inc. is majority owner of Bell Globemedia, which runs the network and The Globe and Mail.

"I think over the next seven years this will strengthen Canadian journalism,'' said CTV president Trina McQueen. "The deficit that we have (in newsrooms) is a not a diversity deficit. It's a quality deficit.''

The CRTC was criticized for in essence allowing the two companies to police themselves. They will be allowed to appoint members of an independent committee to handle convergence complaints.

Others accused it of simply rubber-stamping the "statement of principles and practices'' for converged newsrooms – a document drafted largely by the networks themselves.

"The CRTC has abdicated its role as a regulator,'' said Peter Murdoch, vice-president of media for the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, which represents 20,000 media workers.

The union will fight for stronger contract language to protect members.

The decision's impact may be weak in Toronto, where a wealth of news outlets ensures diversity of coverage, said Ian Morrison of the advocacy group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

But residents may suffer in cities such as Vancouver, where CanWest owns two major newspapers and two television stations serving the area.

Diversity will be protected by keeping management separate and by the CRTC's monitoring committee, which the corporations are prohibited from stacking with supporters, said Jean Pierre Blais, executive director of broadcasting for the CRTC.

"We think that we've struck the proper balance to make sure that, whilst the corporations can reach their strategic objectives of building more synergies within their corporate groups, we're still ensuring there's diversity.''

Bell Globemedia has just hired its first "convergence reporter'' to work for both The Globe and CTV. Global is set to launch its first major convergence projects in September: a national news show out of Vancouver and a public affairs show out of Calgary.

"The last thing we want to do is homogenize our product,'' said Global president Gerry Noble. "This is about freeing up resources to expand on the major and important issues of the day.''

© The Toronto Star