Star and Globe? You’re all invited to my funeral

Ever since Friday morning, when the news of Bell Globemedia’s restructuring hit the wires and then the markets, many people have asked me what this means for journalism. The truth is, I don’t know. Does anybody?

I can tell you this: when the Star’s business editor Mike Babad roused me to apprise me of the fact that Torstar, which owns the Star, had paid $283 million to acquire 20 per cent of Bell Globemedia ( BGM), which is comprised of CTV and the Globe and Mail, my first reaction was to ask to change beats. My second was to contemplate suicide.

( Let’s get the numbers out of the way: BGM, owned 68.5 per cent by BCE Inc. and 31.5 per cent by the Thomson family’s Woodbridge Company Ltd., will, pending regulatory approval, end up being owned 40 per cent by Woodbridge, 20 per cent by BCE, 20 per cent by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and 20 per cent by Torstar.)

Regular readers know that since 1995, when Disney bought Capital Cities Corp., which owned ABC, for $ 19 billion ( U. S.) and Westinghouse bought CBS for $5.4 billion, I have railed against media concentration and its negative impact on democracy and discourse. More recently, I have been ranting about concentration in Canada, especially when it comes to CanWest Global, which owns the National Post, many big- city dailies such as the Vancouver Sun, Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette as well as Global TV. Now, with Torstar buying into BGM, media concentration has landed plop plop plop like a steaming pile of bad news on my very own front stoop. Which makes me worry that things might get very slippery for a media critic, if you get my drift.

Friday, I made some jokes about it on my blog and pointed to some of the financial reports on various news sites. But I didn’t have much to say.

Saturday, I pored over the voluminous coverage in the Star, the Globe and especially the Post, which went to town on the story, complete with a mock “ The Globe and Star” front page ( Blatchford and DiManno write about each other A3).

There was plenty of financial jawing, but nobody really discussed the journalistic implications of the two biggest newspapers in town being joined, if not at the hip, then certainly at the bums in the boardroom seats.

That said, many of the stories quoted Torstar president and CEO Rob Prichard, in interviews and from his note to staffers, promising that the papers would remain independent.

“ In newspapers, the Thomson family, through its steady ownership of the Globe and Mail, has long demonstrated a deep respect for editorial independence, journalistic freedoms and the importance of great newspapers to our nation,” wrote Prichard. “ More recently, BCE has also embraced these values as the majority owner of Bell Globemedia. Torstar shares these values and we have consistently demonstrated our commitment to them through our ownership of the Toronto Star and our other newspapers. Together, all the shareholders of Bell Globemedia are committed to extending this respect for the independence of the Globe and Mail while we at Torstar will continue to be equally vigilant with respect to the independence of the Toronto Star and all our other newspapers.” On Friday, I talked to BGM president and CEO Ivan Fecan, who echoed Prichard’s words.

“ All of the companies involved have a long track record and an active philosophy of believing in and protecting editorial integrity,” he said. “ If past is prologue, that should be great comfort. Over the five years that Bell Globemedia has owned the Globe, I think that pretty well everybody at the Globe that I’ve ever talked to has always pointed out to me how good they feel that editorial integrity has been protected and how they feel free to say what they like.” Fecan also emphasized how the deal helps remove the uncertainty for Globe and CTV staffers over rumours that BGM was up for sale. Now they’re in well- financed hands, all of which care about journalism.

“You’ve got an all-Canadian shareholder base, which is also a comfort,” he said. “ Culturally all of these shareholders endorse principles that I think make us successful — and fundamental among those is editorial integrity. And I actually believe it, too.” So now the question is: what next?

It’s a good bet Torstar wants to be positioned to grab any goodies that BCE can offer, such as hooking up to mobile phone technologies. Beyond that, what, if anything, is in the works is not clear. Just trust that if it’s something that makes me uncomfortable, you’ll know about it.

You’re all invited to my funeral. More at www.thestar.blogs.com.