The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9,1982, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby wfzm Voice of the County Town Pub Michael lan Burgess, Publisher - Managing Editor The only Whitby newspaper independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. IL blished every Wednesday by M.B.M. Publishing and Photography Inc. Phone 668-6111 The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whitby, Ont. MICHAEL J. KNELL Community Editor MARJORIE A. BURGESS Advertising Manager Second Clas Mail Reglstration No. 5351 Government regulation could be an infringement of the freedom of the press in this country It seems as though the report of the Kent Royal Commission on Newspapers will not go the same way asother reports filed by such bodies. ,.The federal government recently took its first step by imposing a freeze on the country's two largest newspaper chains - forbidding them to expand. This action has many good and bad points. Its major advantage is that it could (though not necessarily ·would) provide an atmosphere for greater competition in the newspaper industry - one that is already dominated by too many cor- porate giants. It is agreed that some of the corporate entities owning newspapers in this country are not overly concerned with maintaining, strengthening and improving the journalism standards practised in this country. The statement that these corpora- tions are more interested in the profit and loss sheet can be easily demonstrated. However, before any government action is taken (and it certainly looks like they want to take action) there are a few points to be raised. Firstly, ail newspapers are businesses. They must function like businesses to keep publishing. Newspapers (including this one) need that ail- One of the few bonuses that derives from having opi- nions and expressing them on television, is the mail you get, from people who agree and disagree. It gives you a cram course on Canada, very quickly. It multiplies what the average guy gets to know about his countrymen and how they're feeling, through the usual daily contacts, by perhaps a hundred times. But the mail can also be something of a liability. Since I began this job more than eight years ago, i have tried to answer all the mail, faithful- ly. i feel very strongly that anyone who takes the time to write, expresses his views in a reasonably considerate way, and has the courage to sign his name, deserves a piece of my time. I keep forgetting however, that there are a lot of you, and only one of me. Many's the weekend I have taken a stack of mail with me to the country, and have spent most of it writing replies to 50 or 60 letters. But I haven't been able to do that lately, for a variety of reasons and the result is such a huge pile of unanswered mail on my desk that I'm finding it difficult to find a place to put down a coffee. So if you've written us lately, and you haven't had a reply, please don't think your letter hasn't been read and appreciated. For those of you who have asked me to do something, or say something, let me assure you I'm trying. i have always deplored the idea of having an assistant deal with mail, or going the form letter route - it seems such an impersonal and bureaucratic way to deal with what are often heartfelt messages and appeals. No one is fooled by them, and a cold form letter, it seems to me, has a capacity to wound that is unforgiveable. i am sorry to burden the people who have not written with this, but I could think of no other way to reach the people who have, and who have the right to expect some sort of response. I hope that they'Il be patient. I hope that they'll forgive me. And, in future, I hope that some of them will write Jan Tennant as well. That's not news, but that too is reality. mighty advertising dollar. Therefore, criticizing newspapers for being businesses is extremely foolish. Functioning as a business allows newspapers to fulfill the rights accorded to them under the newly established Charter of Rights and Free- doms which clearly states that ail Canadians have "freedom of thought, belief, opinion and express- ion, including the freedom of the press and other media of information." To be free, we must be indepéndent, not only to write the news as we see fit and to give our opinions, but financially independent as well. The government is already talking about esta- blishing something called the "Canadian Press Council", a body that would probably function in a similar manner to the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission. This council would be made up of government appointees and would probably serve as the government's handmaiden. If it is the desire of the government to have some form of self-governing agency to regulate this~industry they should look to the British ex- perience. The British Press Council is made up of people with experience in the business not only as reporters and writers, but as editors and senior executives as well. While this body has no legislative authority it has a lot of moral power because the British news- paper community see it as a neutral body in which to air complaints and resolve problems. However, the federal government's proposai would see this Canadian council administer government policy regarding the newspaper in- dustry. This is something that must not happen. Newspapers should be entirely divorced from 'the governmental process. Standing on the out- side, we have the right to criticize and to seek the truth. These two functions are inherent to the freedom of expression, thought, bellef and opinion that is guaranteed to all Canadians. Most people in this country use newspapers as their primary source of in-depth information. In turn, they are allowed to voice their views in news- papers. It should be incumbent on the Canadian newspaper industry to be self regulating. We should establish our own press council, it should not be part of the bureaucratic octopus fed by Ot- tawa. It is fair to say that this industry is at fault for not doing this sooner. The individual members of the industry have never banded together to solve our problems as have other members of the pri- vate sector. (Examples would be the Canadian Manufacturing Association and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, both of whom speak as one voice for their members.) Newspapers do not need governments telling them how to operate. We have the ability (and probably even the constitutional responsibility) to be self-regulating. The federal government's proposed legislation has serious implications for ail Canadians not just those working for your local newspaper.