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Pa ge 1 6 T hu rs da y, N ov em be r 1 9, 2 01 5 - T he IF P - H al to n H ill s - w w w .th ei fp .c a Proudly Serving Georgetown since 1994 Please drop off your donation at our office located in the Georgetown Marketplace Mall 905-877-CARE (2273) Proudly Serving Georgetown since 1994 DR. ANOOP SAYAL & ASSOCIATES Family and Cosmetic Dentistry Than k you for y our supp ort o ver th e yea rs. Dr. A. S ayal We are currently accepting donations for our in support of the 18th Annual Food Drive Georgetown Bread Basket 222 Mountainview Rd. N., Georgetown This 82 Suite Retirement Residence offers planned social activities, home-cooked meals served in our lovely dining room, housekeeping and laundry services, nursing staff on site providing healthcare and assistance to enable residents to enjoy a more carefree lifestyle on our 5.6 acre beautifully landscaped site! We offer a variety of private suites for couples and singles. Thank you Halton Hills! #1 Retirement Home Mountainview Terrace owned & operated by the Summer family 60 apartment style suites for cognitive self-sufficient seniors. Mountainview Residence For more information or to enjoy a personal tour - simply call 905-877-1800. www.mountainviewresidence.com COMMENT Never before in a federal election, in my memory, have newspaper endorsements become so controversial. Topping the list unquestionably was Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey's dramatic order to all 16 major Postmedia papers across Canada to support Stephen Harper. Each paper was allowed to write its own editorial, but the conclusion was preor- dained. "Since God made babies, I think (en- dorsement editorials) were always made that way," longtime Conservative Godfrey explained later, reacting to the uproar. "If anyone thinks otherwise, I think they were dreaming in technicolour." Really, Mr. Godfrey? You might want to examine the poli- cies of other newspaper chains that tell an entirely different bedtime story of the so- called "proprietor's prerogative." No one can dispute the tradition of an individual publisher or owner calling the election shots for their local paper. God- frey did that regularly when he was pub- lisher of the Toronto Sun. But to dictate the choice across an en- tire chain-- and nation. That is an entirely different tale. Consider the previous owners of Post- media papers, the venerable Southam family. It went to great lengths to emphasize individual publishers in each city were re- sponsible for all editorial content, includ- ing election endorsements. "It was even in my letter of engage- ment," remembers veteran Southam Pub- lisher Clark Davey. "It said what appeared in the (Vancouver) Sun rested on my con- science." The reason, of course, was self-evident. What was important or relevant to readers in Vancouver might not be so in Montreal, Ottawa or Windsor. Owning a newspaper, in my view, is a privilege, not a right. Nor is it the same as owning a pizzeria or car wash. Newspa- pers are an essential informing part of the democratic process and their first respon- sibility must be to the local readers they serve. The old Thomson chain in Canada, owned by the richest family in the land, had a similar practice of non-interference in local editorial issues. South of the border a similar tradition has existed for decades. In the last presi- dential election, America was a patchwork quilt of competing newspaper endorse- ments. The huge Gannett chain states that "di- versity is strength. By encouraging and ex- pressing a mix of opinions, backgrounds, stories and ideas, Gannett improves re- sults." An executive for the large Knight-Rid- der chain put it more pithily: "We bought them (newspapers). But we don't own them." In the interests of transparency, it must also be declared that editorial indepen- dence has always been the official policy of the Torstar newspaper group. While the proprietors and publisher of the Toronto Star are involved in the Star's election endorsements, Torstar's Metro- land Media, which includes the Hamilton Spectator, Waterloo Region Record and more than 120 community papers (includ- ing this one), can all decide for themselves. So in the 2011 federal election, The Star supported Jack Layton's NDP, while virtu- ally all other Torstar papers endorsed Ste- phen Harper. In 2015, all the dailies came out for the Liberals under Justin Trudeau, while this paper chose not to endorse (a stance adopted two years ago). These aren't dreams. They are black and white realities reflecting a long-held com- mon tradition among North America's ma- jor newspaper groups. Godfrey, soon to be installed in the Ca- nadian News Hall of Fame for his contri- bution to Canadian journalism, clearly has a different perspective. Yet, the firestorm of criticism on social media, the rumours of discontent in Post- media newsrooms and even a damning story in Britain's Guardian newspaper all reflect a pervasive discontent. Even more worrisome is the negative impact this affair is having on the newspa- per industry in general. At a time when the relevance and impact of newspapers are under attack, this doesn't help. Ultimately, though, it is readers who matter most. And surely those in Postme- dia communities deserved far, far better. John Honderich is a former Publisher of the Toronto Star, and is Chair of Torstar's Board of Directors. Postmedia let down readers by dictating election endorsements By John Honderich Chair of Torstar's Board of Directors