LaPierre plans to push ahead with Senate study of media cross ownership

Liberal Senator Laurier LaPierre says a Senate committee study of ownership concentration in the media would prevent the issue from getting lost in a wide-ranging study by a House of Commons committee. Included in the mandate of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage’s current review of the relevance of the Broadcasting Act is the effect of media cross ownership. "I think that (the issue) needs to stand on its own as it were," LaPierre tells CCR. The senator plans to ask his Senate colleagues in March to undertake a study on the issue. Between now and then, however, he says he will rally support for the initiative. "Maybe the Senate will decide we should wait (to see what the House of Commons committee recommends on the issue)," says LaPierre. "That’s fine with me as long as someone is doing something about it. There is no culprit here. I’m not after anybody’s skin. All I’m after is to find out what the people of Canada feel of this concentration." However, LaPierre has expressed displeasure with a decision by Izzy Asper’s CanWest Global Communications to require its dailies to run national editorials. "It is a sad day for journalism and the freedom of information in Canada when an owner can dictate editorials in the press," he said during debate in the Senate on Dec. 18. "…at the same time (Global) insists that editorial writers who work for the Ottawa Citizen must follow the national line dictated from Winnipeg and the Asper household. I find this despicable and it is the price that we must pay for the concentration of ownership of the means of information." LaPierre points out that a Senate study is warranted because the marketplace of ideas is as important as the marketplace of equipment and utilities. "There is such a thing as a market of ideas. If the market of ideas is controlled by very few people, then only a few ideas are going to penetrate. I think there’s a possibility of abuse, and this concentration of ownership equals power," he tells CCR. LaPierre notes that when he was working in broadcasting there were only two TV networks. Today, four national networks and a slew of specialty services have emerged. "Now, we have a great diversity of channels," he says. "But in the final analysis, there are some basic channels upon which ordinary Canadians depend… And the question can be raised as to whether a communications company that owns a television network and at the same time a newspaper affects freedom of information." LaPierre isn’t the only Liberal seeking a study on this matter. Liberal backbencher MP Dan McTeague wants Industry Canada to support his motion that the Commons Industry Committee begin an investigation into the newspaper .

LaPierre plans to push ahead with Senate study of media cross ownership

Broadcast | January 31, 2002

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