Source : Globe & Mail

by James Adams

Kevin Newman, the Vancouver-based anchor of CanWest Global's nightly newscast, says he's "never been happier or more fulfilled" by a job. Newman is the Canuck who had a brief, unsuccessful stint in the fall of 1998 co-hosting ABC's Good Morning, America, before returning to the Canadian TV wars with great fanfare last year.

Despite his professed happiness, there are reliable reports that he was anything but when CanWest reportedly asked him last year if he would do a 90-second editorial at the conclusion of his newscast. He apparently refused, saying that editorials are generally a turnoff for viewers and that they would compromise the audience's perception of him as an unbiased newsreader. His masters agreed, but asked if he would at least introduce the "minitorial" if it was done by someone else. Again, Newman refused.

Eventually, the current format was agreed on: Newman would say "good night" at the conclusion of his newscast; a 10-second "bumper" of music would ensue; then the minitorial, called The Last Word, would begin, delivered by, say, a writer with the National Post. Newman seems satisfied: "It's not part of Global National," he said this week.

Originally conceived as a once-a-week event, The Last Word now runs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening and Peter Kent, the former news anchor who's overseeing the feature, anticipates it will run every weekday soon. "That's what Izzy [Asper] has always wanted," he said.

Meanwhile, the mills of justice grind exceedingly slowly in the realm of the media titans – if Izzy Asper's libel suit against former Alliance honcho Robert Lantos is any indication. This Monday marks the third anniversary of the CanWest Global chieftain's action against Lantos, filed with the Ontario Court (General Division) almost three months after Lantos delivered a speech Nov. 12, 1998, at Toronto's Ryerson Polytechnic University in which he sharply criticized, in part, CanWest's weak commitment to Canadian-made prime-time programming. Asper, claiming he was defamed, asked for $7-million in damages.

Since that time it's been bouncing back and forth between lawyers. Now it looks like all the preliminaries will end early next month, with an examination for discovery in the spring.

Ironically, what triggered Lantos's speech was a Nov. 4, 1998, editorial in the National Post critical of Canadian-content regulations. After hearing of Lantos's speech, the Post's editorialists asked Lantos if they could publish a revised, edited version. Publication duly ensued Nov. 25, 1998 – two years before Izzy Asper and company secured their initial stake in the Post.

In recent months CanWest Global has been attempting to find "the identity of the person or persons who assisted Mr. Lantos with the preparation of his speech." Last May a Post writer said that the assistant was Pauline Couture, wife of Ian Morrison, head of Friends of Canadian Broadcasting; a former vice-president of communications for Alliance; and, more recently, a CTV consultant.

According to court documents filed last July, Izzy Asper wrote a letter on May 11 to Ms. Couture "requesting the identity of anyone who assisted Mr. Lantos with the preparation of his speech." About two weeks later, Couture replied to Asper. In the last paragraph of this letter she asked the Winnipeg mogul: "Do I correctly understand that you will not involve me, as a witness or otherwise, in your lawsuit against Robert Lantos – thereby saving me considerable legal fees and court time – if I co-operate and answer the questions you have raised?"

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