Journalists, speaking engagements and other errata

Earlier today, I wrote that journalist Andrew Coyne is among the 22 invitees to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's off-the-record two-day “summer policy retreat”. My friend, Paul (Coyne's colleague), thought this was laughable, that this was the pot calling the kettle black: Coyne is advising the finance minister; I gave some presentations to the campaign schools organized by the Manning Centre for Democracy.

Some readers and some of my Twitter followers also chimed in suggesting that, at the very least, I had some questions to answer.

I am happy to oblige.

And, at the end of this you will have to come to one of three conclusions:

1. Both Coyne and I are in danger of violating a journalistic bond or trust.

2. You shrug your shoulders because you see no foul in either instance.

3. You concede that there is a difference between's Coyne's circumstance and mine and assess each one accordingly.

I think the two circumstances are different but I'll present what I see as the facts of the matter here and trust that you will provide your judgement (or further questions) in the comment section.

On Coyne:

Coyne, the national editor for Maclean's, is the only journalist to attend this year's event but not the only only journalist to attend one of Flaherty's annual summer retreats. There was one other: business journalist Andrea Mandel-Campbell was among the invitees in Year 1. The Finance Department says that while academics are provided financial assistance to cover their travel costs, everyone else is there on their own dime. The sessions are off-the-record or, to be more precise, held under the Chatham House Rule: You can talk about what was said but you just can't attribute what was said to a participant.

I sent a note to Coyne telling him I was covering this meeting and asking him what his role might be.

He wrote back to say, “I imagine my role is the same as everyone else's: to listen to the other participants, and to offer my own views. Plus I might write about it, if it seems worth it.”

I followed up with this question: “Is it not a little problematic that a journalist who writes and reports on federal fiscal policy — and who plays a significant role in shaping federal government coverage for a national newsmagazine — is participating in an off-the-record roundtable designed to provide policy advice to the finance minister?”

To which Coyne replied: “I thought about it, but I don't think so. Journalists are briefed off the record all the time, by department officials. In this case, the “off the record” sources aren't even department people, but academics and business people. I can quote them, I just can't name them. My “advice,” on the other hand, is not off the record. Whatever I say at the roundtable will be exactly the same advice I would offer in my column, and I'm happy to share it with anyone who asks. (I'll give you a hint: cut spending.) And it will, I trust, have exactly the same influence on policy as it always does, ie none whatever. (See, for example, my last five budget screeds.)”

I wished him luck in changing Flaherty's mind and that's all I know about Coyne's circumstances with the policy retreat.

Me and the Manning Centre:

I am often invited — and often accept — invitations to give presentations to any number of groups. Sometimes I solicit an invitation, if it's a group I'd like to speak to. I invariably speak about my business, that is, the business of being a journalist. I talk about how we're using social media, how the news business is changing, how decisions get made in a newsroom, and so on. About two years ago, when I noticed the Manning Centre for Democracy was putting on a series of campaign manager schools across the country, I pitched them on the idea of making a presentation at these events. My presentation would describe how reporters at outlets large and small, at broadcast and at print outlets, view politicians and reporting on politics and how we go about our job. The Manning Centre agreed with the idea. We agreed upon an appearance fee and that the Centre would cover my travel expenses to these events, which happened in Edmonton, Toronto, Victoria and Ottawa.

There is certainly no doubt that the Manning Centre is a philosophical home to small-c conservatives. It's founded by Preston Manning, after all. And many of its staff take leaves of absence during any number of election campaigns to work for Conservative, Progressive Conservative, and Wild Rose candidates.

But there was no political litmus test for attendance at these schools. Anyone who wanted to pay the fee (a few hundred bucks) was welcome to attend the whole weekend-long school. (My presentation lasted about two hours). And if a reporter wanted to attend my presentation and report on the proceedings, they were free to do so. Indeed, at the Ottawa event, Kady O'Malley, then with Maclean's and now with CBC and Julie Van Dusen, (I believe), now and always with CBC, attended my presentation. Kady live-blogged it and you can review her reportage on what I said here.

What Kady and Julie saw was the same presentation used elsewhere.

The whole thing, at my insistence, was on the record.

Who attended these events? The Ottawa one had a good turnout — about 150? — but the others had 30-50 people. Certainly, people who identified themselves as federal Conservatives were there but no elected federal politician attended any of my sessions. Based on discussions with the organizers and with participants, the majority were campaign managers, organizers, and the odd candidate for municipal councils or provincial elections. There were Green Party candidates, independent mayoral candidates, Wild Rose candidates and, in the B.C. session, some provincial NDP campaign managers. If there were any members of a provincial or federal Liberal party present they did not identify themselves as such to me. But Liberals, like any person, were certainly welcome to attend.

So why do this? This is from Kady's live-blog:

“i'm independent,” David assures the crowd — he's not advocating for any particular party, but he *does* think that Manning Centre is doing something worthwhile in its efforts to get more people interested in politics. (An opinion I share, by the way…

I'll expand on that point. One thing which Manning gets credit for, across all party lines, was his ability to mobilize grassroots voters, to get people who had often never been interested in politics, interested in politics. As I say at that outset of these presentations, politicians and political reporters have the same problem: Fewer and fewer Canadians are interested in politics — lowest voter turnout ever in the last federal election — and stories on TV or in the newspaper about politics are generally shunned by news consumers — I've seen the minute-by-minute ratings.

So if I can explain to political organizers what it is journalists do, I'm hopeful (and probably a bit naive) that we may find ways to do a better job of telling political stories that news consumers find compelling and interesting. So my presentation consisted of discussing who does what in a TV newsroom, in wire agency, in a large print newsroom and in a small print newsroom. I walk through a scrum on Parliament Hill (a Helena Guergis, scrum as it turns out, held in front of Parliament the day after her husband Rahim Jaffer was arrested) and explain why the journalists do what they do in a scrum. I talk about how stories get selected. I answer questions.

This presentation was not, I should point out, a discussion of how any one particular party ought to get elected nor, in any presentation I give, do I advocate for any particular policy position. Indeed, as my friend Paul also said once, I am “politically hard to pin down” and I'm rather proud of that reputation.

And I have given this presentation or a variant of it to public relations firms, industry associations, lobbyists, universities and colleges and to groups of government bureaucrats. Last year, for example, the communications bureaucrats at Industry Canada held a professional development day and I made a variant of this presentation to them, talking to them about the shifting media landscape, the rise of social media and who these changes were affecting the way we were reporting on the federal government in the hope (again, perhaps naive) that these government communicators would do a better job responding to journalists and helping us find information for our stories. (Kady O'Malley, incidentally, also made a presentation to this group after mine though I was unable to stay and listen to hers.)

I am a believer that journalists ought to do more to 'drop the veil', if you will, which often shrouds our profession and causes some readers and viewers to be frustrated about what they see and don't see in the news. Telling those who want to know how the sausage is made is good for the state of journalism. And whether your business is selling computers, campaigning for a rainforest, or volunteering on a political campaign, I would be pleased to give you, too, some insight into the minds of the journalists you will inevitably meet while engaging in those activites. The phone lines are open …

So there you have it. Judge away.