2009 Bylaw & Policy Conference – April 25, 2009

Freedom of the Press - Presented by Harry Sutton

"Did you hear the news? Our Prime Minister was on a private flight with liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, a small boy and the pope. The plane developed some problems and there were only 3 parachutes. Liberal leader Ignatieff said, “I should get a parachute, the coalition needs me to be prime minister.” So he takes a parachute and jumps out of the plane. Our Prime Minister Steven Harper stands up and says: “I’m the Prime Minister, I have experience and make good decisions and Canada needs my leadership and expertise. He takes a parachute and jumps out of the plane. 2 people left, the Pope and the young boy. The Pope says, “I’ve lived a long time. I’ve seen a lot of things. You have your life to live, I will go to God. You take the last parachute young man.” The young boy then says, “it’s ok Holy Father, Mr. Leadership and Experience took my knapsack.

Over my years in the labour movement I have personally seen how the news media have used their power to confuse, direct and manipulate the general public. Journalism, they say is the oldest profession, but it’s not necessarily the most honorable. What does Freedom of the Press really mean? Is it truly free? Do advertisers and corporations have a say in what’s printed or televised? Who owns the media? Do the names Ken Thomson or Conrad Black come to mind?

My presentation today is not intended to sway your opinion, but rather to inform you about the media and the bias that exists and I will let you be the judge. I hope to leave you with my analysis that things are not always as they appear according to the news media. Slide 3 Firstly, I would like to discuss Reporters. A reporter doesn’t always have the best intentions. But even assuming they do, they still answer to an editor, who in turn answers to a CEO, who probably answers to another CEO of a company that has investments in many other companies – none of which they’d want to have suffer because of bad press.

Reporting the news is a multi-billion dollar industry. Even your local papers for the most part, are owned by huge conglomerates. How many of us take that into consideration when we watch or read the news?

As a union activist, I have witnessed a very unfortunate side to the news.My first exposure to the truth behind the media happened in 1984 while running for the Brampton City Council. A reporter interviewed me for well over an hour. He asked me my thoughts on the proposed City Hall, transit and planning issues and why I was running against the incumbent, who was a conservative. I said I felt he was not persuasive enough at council – that he didn’t have a strong voice. I gave an example to him of a recent city council meeting where I saw city councillors advocate an advanced green light at an intersection for our ward.

Out of that hour-long talk, he printed a small two-column article where he identified me as an active union and NDP member. The reporter went on to print the following and I quote: “He criticized him for what he said was a failure to convince city council to approve an advanced green at Elgin and Main Streets (in fact, Beisel was successful in getting the advanced green.)” Naturally, I was not happy; I called the reporter to challenge his story. He offered to print a retraction but I told him no and that I wouldn’t forget the incident.

In a moment of poetic justice, that same reporter came before the Brampton & Mississauga District Labour Council for help during their strike. I spoke to him and said I remembered him… he did too. He said to me that the Right Wing ran the paper and he printed what they told him. His bosses didn’t like my ties to Labour or the NDP. I understood at that point - the truth about the news – they are selective and will slant a story for political and financial reasons.

In 1993, I attended an OFL-sponsored presentation on Media Literacy by Professor James Winter at the University of Windsor. Professor Winter did an analysis of the media coverage of Bill C-40, which proposed changes to the labour relations act. This bill, put forth by the NDP in 1993, banned the use of replacement workers during a strike and made it easier to unionize. He talked about the headlines and the use of graphic pictures that were used to sway public opinion. For example: picketers fighting with police and headlines saying ‘labour bill will clearly destroy companies.’ At the time Professor Winter had no ties to any political party.

Professor Winter’s analyzed all print media relating to the introduction to Bill C-40. In all the headlines relating to Business Stories, he found: 76% were unfavourable to the new laws, 0% were in favour and 24% were neutral.

Professor Winter found that in actual news reporting 59% unfavourable. He found 32% to be neutral and in fact 9% to be in favour of Bill C-40. So Professor Winter went on to analyze public opinion versus editorial opinion on the subject. While public opinion was split on the issue, the media’s editorial content was 100% unfavourable. Letters to the editor were 67% favourable. Comparing all factors, Professor Winter found that 85% of business stories were unfavourable, 71% of news stories were unfavourable, opinions were 56% unfavourable and all editorials, 100% were unfavourable toward Bill C-40 being passed into law. The legislation passed and NO employers went out of business as a result.

After that presentation I began to notice more and more bias in the media.

The Toronto Sun put a cartoon picture of Bob Rae - the NDP Premier at the time - with the caption “Jerk” – on its cover page: A first in Ontario’s history. My frustration at the time caused me to write a letter to the editor of many Ontario newspapers. I wrote about the abuses that I saw in the media and the freedom of the press. The Burlington Post was the only paper to print the majority of my letter. All the other papers changed my letter or condensed it to the point the meaning was lost.

My dealings with the media weren’t all bad. In 1991-1992 UFCW Locals 175 had a labour dispute (strike) with Pizza Pizza members which lasted 10 months. The Strike was caused by the employer contracting work to home workers and terminating our members. At the end, Local 175 and its members won the strike. All workers were offered their jobs back or at the very least severance at 3 times the amount provided under the law and UFCW Local 175 had achieved the first home worker contract in the world! The Toronto Star gave us excellent coverage on the real story. Why though? Because of a dispute with the franchise owners who had relatives working at the paper.

Recently, I had the opportunity to revisit the 90’s via the newspaper archives; here are some of the things that were main sources of news amongst the local papers. There was a number of things that made the headlines. Among other things the media was – and is - notorious for slanting stories to fit their own political agendas. In particular, I’d like to take a look at the Toronto SUN. It is just one example of news coverage of course, but it is also one which is one of the most obviously anti-labour.

Shelly Martel was a favourite target. The Toronto SUN made headlines of any and every mistake she made and all articles appeared on pages 1-4. Shelley Martel made a comment to a doctor who was trying to remove the $400,000 cap on MDs salaries. She told him she had seen his billings to OHIP and later she admitted she lied to him. This relatively little lie was plastered across the front page of the Toronto Sun. Shelley, in addition, wrote a letter to the college of physicians and surgeons requesting that a doctor, convicted of sexually assaulting some teenage patients, have his license revoked. The Toronto Sun said this caused embarrassment to the doctor and damaged his privacy – yet they reported it in full front page coverage.

Then there is the story of Peter North, Former Tourism Minister. Another public figure bashed by the media over allegations that he offered a woman a government job who says she had an affair with him. The complaint came from a woman who was a supporter of the Conservative party. The article quotes North as saying, “This isn’t about whether I’m innocent or guilty or whether I did it or didn’t do this, this is just to sell newspapers.” Obviously North saw the media in the same light as I have. Just a quick note on the story, the allegations towards North appeared in pages 1 – 4, but the story about him being cleared by police appeared on page 20.

Another thing that I’ve noticed about the Toronto SUN is that anything negative about the NDP or labour appeared next to the SUNshine Girl. Yet another tactic that the media uses to slant public opinion. Some headlines that ran next to the Sunshine girls include: Labour Reform a Job Killer Student Grants halted by NDP… shouldn’t that say ‘Ontario government’ Transit strike looms tonight Government ready if unions strike 3,500 union folk rip Rae … among many others.

The papers also used their front pages effectively in slanting stories about unions or the NDP. Any protest that was against the NDP was front page news.

In 1993, the Labour Day parade made the front page due to Bob Rae not being invited. Slide 16 On Thursday September 9, 1993 the Toronto Sun ran a page 1 article which clearly favored Kim Campbell and her Conservative government. They believed that she had the election wrapped up. Unfortunately for her on Election Day, the conservative government was decimated to 2 seats.

Now, a bit of how your Local Union has struggled with the media.

When Maple Leaf Pork in Burlington – formerly Local 1227 – transferred their membership to Local 175 they had a social fund of approximately $20,000. They decided to donate the money to three charities: Childhood Leukemia; a local area women’s shelter and McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton. The Union sent out a news release advising the media of this commendable decision.

No one reported it.

I contacted the Burlington Post, and asked why they didn’t run the story. Their answer was that they had a policy that the donation had to be over $1,000 – he obviously didn’t realize the amount. I told him the amount and he changed his position to say that the donation had to be made to a charity in Burlington.

Don’t children in Burlington use McMaster Children’s Hospital, I asked? But I knew the story didn’t make the paper because it was the Union that was doing something good for the community. But what they DID print was a story on Cam Jackson – the then conservative MPP for Burlington… remember, he was the one who brought the WSIB into being to help injured workers… Cam got front page coverage for raising $1,500 for the Optimist Club and for donating a book each year to the Canadian Legion. The Burlington Post explained that he’s the MPP, that’s why he gets coverage. I spoke with the editor, who said that’s just the way it is. So I told the paper who we represented in the city of Burlington and that they should forget about contacting us ever in the future for any news stories.

Approximately one month later, Maple Leaf announced the Burlington facility was for sale… and guess who called? I said ‘I think it’s a great thing, what the Maple Leaf workers and their Union did for local charities.’ The reporter interrupted me to ask about the sale of Maple Leaf. I responded with “Oh I thought you were calling about the great thing our members did.” I told them I would not give them any information until I saw fairness in the media. The next week, the Burlington Post ran a front page story showing Maple Leaf management helping at a local food drive – no mention of the union.

Union Rep Matt Davenport and I dealt with closures at Amity Goodwill in Hamilton and we discussed what to say to the media about it. We told the Hamilton Spectator that “The closure was due to mismanagement of the company and we would do everything including training etc, to help the affected workers.” The reporter tried to get other info out of Matt who stayed the course with the Union’s message. The Hamilton Spec then ran an article which was had NO mention of the Union…

As you know, UFCW Locals 175 & 633 has had a hockey tournament every year for the past 12 years to raise money for childhood leukemia. We now raise over $20,000 each year for that cause. I almost had CHCH TV in Hamilton give us some publicity on the tournament… but CHCH told me we were knocked off by a school shooting, which was more newsworthy.

The news of the 90s is no different than the news today. The 90s had plant closures due to the economy and free trade too. We had Rae days – today called downsizing without layoffs. We have the news media doing the same thing.

We live in a society that the media helps shape. A society that makes celebrities out of criminals. The prostitute that a New York governor had an affair with is now a millionaire and her picture appeared in every newspaper and newscast. Someone kills people at a school … his or her name is known. Everyday there is a shooting or other violent act. Who doesn’t know Paul Bernardo, Karla Homolka, Charles Manson or Lee Harvey Oswald? Movies are made about them, their photos and videos published by members of the media. It’s a shame that the victim’s families are reminded of their losses by a caring media that puts profit before responsibility.

Yet again, I ask, has anyone ever read anything good about the union? Millions to childhood leukemia? No. Helping workers during closures? No. Community Involvement? No.

Certainly everyone is entitled to their own opinion, reporters, editors and CEOs included… but I ask each of you to take on a challenge. Demand more of your news. Really listen to what is being reported. Watch the images they use and hear the words they use.

We all rely on the media to keep us informed on current events, but freedom of the press is a responsibility that the media should not take lightly. I want to thank President Haggerty and Secretary Treasurer Magee for allowing me to share my thoughts with you today.

I will leave you with this quote, which says it all. “The media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” – Malcolm X

Thank you."