Canadian Newspaper Ownership in the Era of Convergence: Rediscovering Social ResponsibilityWalter C. Soderlund, Kai Hildebrandt Canadian Newspaper Ownership in the Era of Convergence investigates the current state of Canada's newspaper industry in light of recent developments-increasing concentration of ownership, multi-media convergence, and controversy over the actions of proprietors. Case studies examine how Conrad Black's acquisition of newspapers in the mid-1990s, bringing his total ownership to over half of the country's dailies, followed by the subsequent purchase of the most important of these by CanWest Global, has actually influenced the content of newspapers. Canadian Newspaper Ownership revisits "social responsibility" in the context of the changed media landscape as a means of prescribing how newspaper owners and employees might conduct themselves in the public interest. |
Contents
Introduction The Relationship between the Press and Democratic Politics | 1 |
One Failed Attempts at Regulation of Newspaper Ownership | 11 |
Two Chain Ownership | 31 |
Three The Impact of Conrad Blacks Ownership on Thomson | 45 |
Four An Assessment of Conrad Blacks Ownership | 75 |
Five Media Convergence and CanWest Global | 89 |
Six CanWest Globals National Editorial Policy | 109 |
Seven The Firing of Russell Mills Round Two of National Editorials | 125 |
Conclusion Ownership Rights Vs Social Responsibility | 137 |
Notes | 151 |
| 167 | |
| 183 | |
Common terms and phrases
advertising appeared Armadale Aspers attention Black's ownership Canada Canadian media Canadian newspapers CanWest Global CanWest News Service chain ownership Chrétien communication Conrad Black control paper convergence corporate Coverage and evaluation critical daily newspapers Davey Committee decline democratic Edmonton Journal ex-Armadale papers ex-Southam papers ex-Thomson papers Financial Post free trade freedom Globe and Mail Hollinger Inc Hollinger International Hollinger ownership hypothesis impact increased influence Internet issues journalists June Kent Commission Leonard Asper letters Liberal libertarian Lord Black mass media media owners media ownership national editorial policy National Post newspaper content newspaper industry newspaper owners newspaper ownership opinion Ottawa Citizen ownership concentration Papers Control positive evaluation post-acquisition differences significant provincial publisher reported Romanow and Soderlund Russell Mills Southam newspapers statistically significant TABLE television Thomson tion Toronto Star types of content views Wagenberg West Global Windsor Star Winnipeg Free Press