The truth about the news biz is it's hard to find the truth

Please see update below regarding CBC audience numbers

In the the fall of 1998, I was part of a relatively young group of journalists and editors that, with Conrad Black's money behind us, launched the National Post. As a journalist, it was a thrilling time — being on the inaugural staff of a start-up national newspaper, going up against the established market presence of The Globe and Mail.

Of course, given Black's well-known political sympathies, all the journalists on his staff — including the two top-ranking political writers at its launch Bob Fife (now with CTV) and Giles Gherson (now working for Dalton McGuinty's government) — were dismissed by our critics and competitors that we were about to wreck journalism in Canada — precisely because Black did not have the same kind of political views of the small-l liberal media establishment in Canada. We didn't wreck journalism in Canada, of course. In fact, I'd say we made it a whole lot better.

Still, on the eve of the launch of Sun News Network, here we are again. Same kind of critics; same kind of argument.

Personally: I'm always going to root for an initiative that, like the Post, creates more jobs for journalists and, in doing so, adds to the diversity of voices and opinions.

And I'll bet that, just as the Globe and the Toronto Star became better papers in response to the new competition from the Post, I think the added Canadian competition in the all-news TV business will force the existing entrants to respond with a new game. And, at the end of all of that, Canadians will be well served by more voices, smarter competition, and more choices.

That said: It disappoints me now, as it did back in the pre-launch days of the National Post, to read “reporting” from quality news organizations about their competitors that doesn't even attempt to do the basics. Such is the case with a piece moved on the Canadian Press wire — still thought of as the gold standard for some kinds of reporting — about the launch of our news network. It's written by Bill Brioux, “a freelance TV columnist based in Brampton, Ont.” and appears to be written in about 25 minutes after he watched one of our promos. By contrast, The Globe and Mail, assigned one of its most thorough staff reporters, Steve Chase, to do a similar piece. Over at PostMedia, my former colleague and veteran business writer Kim Covert delivered what I thought was, along with Chase's piece, the most straight-up piece on our network's launch (I may disagree with some of the people they interviewed but the reporting was bang-on).

But back to the CP piece. First of all: The Canadian Press makes much of its vaunted integrity, etc., etc., as if that organization employs nothing but high priests of objectivity. In fact, CP does employ many excellent, award-winning journalists who, like most of the excellent journalists I've worked with during my career at the National Post, Globe and Mail and CTV, love a story that upsets the status quo, that challenges authority, and that asks readers to re-assess commonly-held myths. CP reporters — again, like my present and past colleagues — work hard at fairness and accuracy. But CP journalists — like journalists at any organization — have no lock on objectivity and — again, just like journalists everywhere — must subject themselves to challenges of their work by readers, viewers and other journalists. In other words, CP has its blind spots and biases just like anyone else. Most of the time, CP's excellent reporters will acknowledge shortcomings in their reporting or possible bias in sources that could influence a readers opinion. (Great case in point: Joan Bryden's recent report on the leaked A-G report: There was no shortcoming in her reporting but she let readers know, as she reported on the contents of the leak, that it came from an opponent of the government. That was important information for a reader to be able to assess the reliability of the information passed on “anonymously” to Bryden. Inspired by her example, we did the same when we received a different leaked A-G report from a supporter of the government: Report the contents – report on the source)

But in reporting on its own industry, CP has been a big bust and that doesn't reflect well on the organization or its owners. Of course, you will never hear this criticism of CP in op-eds in The Globe and Mail or The Toronto Star and I suspec that the reason for that is because those organization are CP's owners. (Sun Media likely wouldn't run criticisms of CP either for the simple reason that most readers, like it or not, don't really care. But that's another story.)

And yet, despite this reluctance to criticize CP, I can't imagine any other news organization getting away with this howler on their Web site:  “The Canadian Press serves almost every daily newspaper in Canada”. Really? Let's think about that: My company, Quebecor, is the single-largest newspaper company by circulation in the country. In a given week, 6.5 million Canadians will read one of our newspapers. Our big titles include Le Journal de Montreal, the Toronto Sun, and the London Free Press. PostMedia is the number two newspaper chain in the country. It has the National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Vancouver Sun and others in its stable. (PostMedia claims it is the largest publisher of “paid” circulation in the country; Quebecor does not make that distinction about “paid” circulation as it publishes some 'give-away' 24 Hours titles. Either way: Quebecor and PostMedia are 1-2 or 2-1 when it comes to newspapers in Canada)

Neither Sun Media nor PostMedia run CP copy. In other words, CP does not serve either the number one circulation newspaper publisher in the country nor the number two publisher. Without National Post, Toronto Sun, the Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald, the Edmonton Journal and Edmonton Sun, the Vancouver Sun and Province, the Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Sun, the Montreal Gazette, Le Journal de Montreal , or Le Journal de Quebec (I could go on), how on earth can you claim to serve “amost every daily newspaper in Canada.”

I'd ask someone at CP corporate but it is one of the most opaque organizations in Canada's media industry when it comes to disclosing its financials or governance. Have you checked its Web site? Who runs the place? How are senior managers appointed? How much money does CP get from CBC every year? How much money does CP get from its corporate clients?

So back to Brioux's article that CP moved about Sun News Network. Sun Media left CP last summer, a departure that cost CP $7 million a year. No mention of that by Brioux.

Brioux talks about the post-debate ratings of CBC and CTV. First, CBC is one of CP's biggest clients and sources of cash. BellGlobeMedia, owner of CTV, is one of the shareholders in CP. Sun Media is not a shareholder or a customer. No mention of that by Brioux. Brioux cites great ratings CBC (and to a lesser degree CTV) got after the debates. But really, these are the relevent stats:

 

According to the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, between Aug. 31, 2009 and June 6, 2010 (almost a year):

• CNN & CNN Headline News reached 3.1 million Canadians (18+) per week with an average minute audience of 22,000.
• CBC News and CTV News Channel combined reached 3.3 million Canadians (18+) per week with an average minute audience of 21,000.
• CP24 reached 3.5 million Canadians (18+) per week with an average minute audience of 22,000.

UPDATE

CBC spokesperson Jeff Keay writes to provide more up-to-date numbers. From Keay:

…you appear to be using year-old and incorrect BBM data about CBC News Network.
In fact, CBC News Network is the most-watched news network in Canada, based on the latest BBM numbers (i.e. adults 18+ for the 2010/11 broadcast year Aug 30/10 – Apr 3/11):
CBC News Network had an average weekly reach of 6.2 milllion Canadians 18+. This is greater than CNN and CNN Headline News combined and greater than both CTV News Channel and CP24.

So let me emphasize: CP24, which broadcasts only in Toronto, gets more viewers that CBC's and CTV's all-news offering combined when one averages viewership out over year, which tends to smooth out one-time spikes in viewership that might come with a leaders debate or some other big news event.

So what should Brioux “the freelance TV columnist” and CP have done with this file? First, the file should have reported the corporate blindspots. Sun News Network is owned by Quebecor, which, last year, ceased purchasing Canadian Press copy which cost CP $7 million a year. Second, CP is partially owned by TorStar Corp. and BellGlobeMedia, which owns The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail, which competes with Quebecor titles such as The Toronto Sun. CP's other owner is Gesca Inc., whose chief newspaper property, La Presse, competes with Quebecor's Le Journal de Montreal.”

Then maybe Brioux, like Chase and Covert, might liked to have phoned someone — anyone! — up to ask them about Sun News Network.

Do that and then let the reader decide. Because at the end of the day, readers and viewers are always right. (And I have I mentioned that the Toronto Sun's readership is up 22% while readership of the Globe and the Star are down... topic for another day.)