"My own experience working with the Royal Commission on Newspapers revealed that the news media, even in coverage of their own field, are often guilty of sloppy reporting, bad judgement, and slapdash analysis"
Peter Desbarats, "Truth in journalism: A yawning matter?" an article within "The News: Inside The Canadian Media," page 13.
Are the media today searching for truth? Are they objective in their reporting? Are they really free? Most of the media in Canada are in trade unions and pay compulsory union dues. The Newspaper Guild is affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and some provincial labour federations. Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) which numbers broadcast journalists amongst its members, is also affiliated with the CLC. The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) is affiliated with the CLC and provincial labour federations. CEP has journalists amongst its members. One reads many articles from unionized journalists on a variety of issues, yet when it comes to trade unions they are strangely silent on the misuse of their own union dues. Why? Don’t they know? Are they that ignorant? And if they are, what does this say about the state of unionized journalism in Canada?
Over the last number of years trade unions in Canada have not been getting much financial scrutiny. Labour unions are supporters and financiers of a multitude of special interest groups across the country, and so-called "investigative" unionized journalists --whose union dues are helping finance these groups-- don’t know, don’t complain or don’t care. And if they do know and do care, why are they silent? After all, these same journalists can show corporate connections and conflicts of interest down to the smallest detail.
Surely our "fearless" watchdogs of a free society are not cowed by union intimidation? Or perhaps they agree with the trade unions’ socialist and special interest group agendas? The money connections between union dues and non-workplace issues is a story that cries out for investigative journalism. Who better to do it than the unionized journalists?
If any other organizations in Canada were doing what unions are doing with their memberships compulsory funds, the media would have it all over the front pages. And they would be swarming around these organizations like flies around a garbage can. Are unions a protected species? Are unionized journalists selective in their reporting? It would be nice to see a story from a unionized journalist with the headline, "My union dues are financing special interest groups" and calling for an inquiry into the misuse of trade union monies.
"We should remember that we seek the truth for the public, the essence of journalism."
quote from the introduction in "The News: Inside the Canadian Media"
The search for truth is a high ideal but are we getting it from the unionized media? Besides a few exceptions, I would argue that we are not. Journalist Terence Corcoran, who is one of the few who continues to expose the misuse of union money, had this to say in the National Post of April 20, 2001: " The inner workings of unions, and how they use union dues to push larger agendas, is one of the great unexplored wildernesses of Canada’s economy."
Diane Francis is another journalist who has written about the agendas of union bosses and wrote in The Province of June 10, 2001: "Labour codes in Canada should be revised to give [union] members a say over how their money is spent."
Surely unionized journalists must know what is going on with their union dues and the misuse thereof. Where is the "right of the public to know"? Where is investigative journalism? Have some of these unionized media watchdogs of freedom become toothless where unions are concerned? Are they on a tight leash, fastened to their union connection? And are they singing "Solidarity Forever" with the union bosses and special interest groups?
Stephen Gray