I went off on a wee bit of a rant tonight on CAJ-L. The trigger was a posting on the timidity of the Canadian media.

John Miller wrote:
> This is precisely the problem. Journalists in Canada have
> become a meek lot. The corporate culture of, say, CanWest
> Global Communications (to name the most obvious nightmare
> example) seems to breed meekness and sucking up to head office.

I've worked in many different corporate journalism environments in this business, including a nine-month stint as a casual at CBC Toronto, that bastion of intellectual and cultural diversity.

I heard, from multiple people, some variation on this: "Mark Steyn is a fine writer, although *of course* I disagree with everything he says."

I would guess if you were a CBC staffer and wanted to bring a conversation with a halt, try saying something like this to your colleagues: "You know what: I think Mark Steyn is a fine writer, AND I agree with *everything* he says," or alternatively: "Stephen Harper has got the prime ministerial jelly. I think he should be this country's next leader."

My sense was you're in a union-protected gig there, you wouldn't be fired for wildly going either off-message, veering from groupthink or pissing off someone powerful. But you might find yourself suddenly sitting in a corner for a few years, doing nothing particularly interesting, until you've been judged sufficiently rehabilitated.

Two people quite active in the CAJ, both CBC lifers, told me this just over a year ago: "The CBC isn't so bad. You just have to learn to keep your head down."

And another person who had once held a very senior editorial job at the Corpse once told me: "The CBC is the kind of place where, to understand why something crazy has happened, you have to know that someone screwed another person 15 years ago, and that person has been waiting for revenge ever since, and the crazy thing that just happened was payback."

(Note: Not an exact quote, but pretty much the gist of what was said).

That isn't to demonize the CBC on this front because I don't think it's necessarily worse than other places of similar size (and there are some fine people there who do great work). And I'm sure there are impolitic things one could say at CTV, my current employer, that would make people there look at you funny.

But in any large, hierarchical organization, if you aspire to rise, you're not making it easier for yourself by being an independent thinker who challenges those above you. It might make you a good person and a principled journalist, but in most circumstances, it'll make you a less successful ladder-climber (there was once a night editor who eventually became an EiC at a metro daily who, when called upon to make a decision, would pace, put her hand on her forehead, and mutter out loud about what her boss would want her to think).

Once, after one high-profile, large-outlet journalist won a few CAJ awards and gave a boilerplate acceptance speech, I went up to him and said with a grin: "Didn't you just feel like saying up there: 'This just proves what I've always believed: That I'm the best damned journalist in this country!'"

The multiple-award-winner grimaced, sucked air through his teeth, shook his head slightly and said: "That wouldn't be a good career move."

And in big newsrooms, as with any corporate environment, many people live in mortal fear of making bad career moves.

John wrote:

"No wonder this is eroding public trust in what we do as journalists."

That may well be true. If it isn't, it probably should be true. But the thing is, most of the general public is even more conformist and fearful of power. As one former co-worker of mine who had once worked at a trust company put it, our paper of the time was a hotbed of intellectual ferment compared to the trust company.

I repeat: In my experience, as timid as some of them are, most journalists are still less deferential towards power that the average office worker bee.

John wrote:

"No one has ever been fired (to my knowledge) for standing up for the highest principles of journalism and the public's right to know. So why don't more of us speak for journalism?"

Take the Sue Montgomery case. I forget the details, but she wrote a column in 2002 for the Gazette asking questions about whether massive concentration of media ownership was good for Canadian society. Gazette management had acid indigestion about it. I believe Izzy himself was in town and said publish it -- and it was, with a few changes that softened the message.

Anyway, some time goes by, Montgomery screws up on something and is hit with (I believe) a two-week suspension without pay. The last time a Gazette reporter was suspended that long was in the 1970s, when a reporter got caught with cocaine in his luggage on the election campaign trail. I believe the Gazette's ME took pains to say this wasn't delayed punishment.

You know what? I believe him! :)

(If my recollection on the Montgomery incident is incorrect, I hope someone will set the record straight. If anything is inaccurate, my apologies.)

As another example, Linda Goyette, an NNA winner, got the unionization bug at the Edmonton Journal about shortly after the Calgary Herald types did. The Journal had some management problems of its own. The unionization drive failed, but some of the Journal's problem issues were resolved.

As for the highly respected writer Goyette? As I understand the story, her job description changed somewhat after the union threat abated. Some of those rumours had her basically doing glorified file clerk work.

She eventually left the paper. Other ringleaders also drifted away.

But they weren't fired!

John may recall I had a few tough questions for David Radler of Hollinger fame at the 1999 CAJ convention in Vancouver.

The next day, I heard a very high-ranking editor of a very large metro daily speak at some session. I forget why he said it, but at one point he shook his head and said, "Boy, if you're going to take on Radler ..."

I wonder what that was supposed to mean? If I'm not going to meekly sit there and let Radler spout outrageous bullshit without challenging him, I might not let *him* spout outrageous bullshit?

Wow. Being a team player is more important than I thought.