Ottawa Citizen - Canwest Media - RIP

The Ottawa Citizen newspaper arrived this morning. Normally I know what time it gets here because I can hear it hit the front door of the house. This morning? Not a clue. Why? The entire paper is about 30 pages long, including the ads!

That is about the same size as an average EMC-News, a free newspaper in our area. Compare that to $22/month for the Citizen! And the content of the Citizen is equally light... and getting lighter. Why?

Welcome to the real world of media concentration and control. As much as everyone's favourite chubby talk-show host, L. Green, likes to point out the the mainstream media is left leaning; the reality is that the majority of newspapers and radio and TV stations are owned by two right-wing companies in Canada. Canwest and CTVglobemedia are the bees knees when it comes to censoring the news and the providing central control over editorials in their empires.

Canwest has got to be the worst. In January of 2008 they imposed a new agreement on freelance journalists who work for them. The salient piece of the agreement, and the one that is causing the CAJ members to burn up the Internet forums, is in the preamble wherein it states, and you have no recourse to this: for a meagre pittance, you can write for us, but we hold the right to alter anything you submit, plus we have the right to use the piece in any publication, print or otherwise, we own, without having to pay you any royalties for further such use.

That has caused many fine journalists and columnists to tell Canwest to take a hike.

Just take a look at what passes for editorial and argument in todays newspaper. Fluff piece on dog ticks, a aged born-again Catholic telling us that his crap don't stink and an over the hill sports guy who still thinks that the Toronto Make-Me-Laffs are in the running for the 2008 Stanley Cup.

Welcome to the 21st Century, where, if information is King, then we are all Surfs.

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