Thursday, June 10, 2010

 

Will the new CanWest owners allow editorial policy changes significant enough to insure in-depth, open and wide reporting of the BC Rail political corruption trial and the events surrounding it?

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Editor Jim Scott asks that big question about media in BC. Thursday, June 10, 2010. And remembers when:

Stop the Sale of BC Rail signs were common along the route, with a great many people expressing their opposition to the sale - including crews!

Some views, and two great photos HERE.

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Comments:
Don't get your hopes up about the new CanWest ownership being any different; I'd say potentially worse. Note this passage in the Willis article linked on the SaltSpring News:


CanWest is contemplating a dual share structure, with multiple votes for Canadian investors and single votes for foreign investors, as a way to finesse federal ownership rules, according to sources working on the restructuring. The decision to seek a stock listing this summer is also meant to ensure CanWest is viewed as a Canadian company by regulators, as that status ensures favourable tax treatment for all-important advertisers. Sources working with the new owners said while hedge funds that own CanWest will likely sell down their positions over time, the money managers will not head for the exits the moment the company lists on the TSX.


Hedge funds rarely have the public interest in mind, and catering to the "all-important advertisers" will be the agenda, as will the sham that the Canadian-registered company (which hints that the majority ownership isn't, maybe, Canadian any longer) will be Canadian, other than for tax purposes.

The banks own CanWest now, and it's not like we can expect them to want all the facts aired. Especially if one of those banks is CIBC.....
 
Further to previous, and from the same article:

As the U.S. banks take the stage, Canadian lenders are heading for the exits. Senior lenders, led by Bank of Nova Scotia, have controlled CanWest since the company filed for creditor protection in January.

Anyone got any idea what ScotiaBank's political alignment/connections are?
 
Exactly Skookum! Thanks for putting it into words.

Godfrey is about pleasing advertisers (he said as much), not those who actually buy his papers. I sincerely doubt there will be one iota of change for the better.

Let's watch and see.
 
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