Though I have issues with Quebecor's way of dealing with news about itself (particularly its apparently systematic refusal to speak to journalists from Gesca and Radio-Canada, and to a lesser extent all other media as well), I thought this was a good step forward, that maybe the company would start interacting more with people and present its side of disputes more often.

Then, a few days later came the news that Quebecor was laying off 400 people across the country. This is a cull on the level of triple-digit job cuts two to three years ago by the CBC, CTV, Canwest and Rogers. And it's about three years since an even larger cut at Sun Media decimated its workforce.

It's hard to think of a way Quebecor could spin this positively, but they could probably talk about how this will affect their business, where the cuts will be concentrated, and what will happen to the workers.

Instead, the official response from Quebecor spokesperson Serge Sasseville was "no comment". The "Quebecor vous informe" website is silent on the issue.

Canadian Press finally got he union to confirm the job cuts, half of which is through voluntary buyouts and another 100 through other forms of attrition, leaving only 100 people laid off. It's still a significant cut, but at least some will be leaving on their own terms.

Had Sasseville decided he did want to comment and answer journalists' questions, we might get an answer to why a company that just started up a 24-hour all-news network that depends heavily on the work produced by Quebecor's existing print journalists is now making significant cuts to them. We might know why a company that seems to have no trouble making money feels the need to make such significant cuts in its workforce. We might know why the previous cut of 600 jobs only three years ago wasn't good enough to bring efficiency to its operations.

But instead, we'll just have to guess what those answers are, and it's entirely possible those guesses will be wrong.

24 Heures cuts photo department

It's unclear if these cuts are part of the 400, but news came out earlier this month that Quebecor's free Montreal daily 24 Heures had fired its three photographers, eliminating its photo department, as well as a number of copy editors.

Quebecor wouldn't confirm the news initially, but news came via social media, resulting in a blog post by former 24 Heures photographer Rogerio Barbosa, who quit his job there because the paper refused to pay his expenses. He then went to the Journal de Montréal, where he was locked out along with 252 others in January 2009. The newspaper he left, meanwhile, hired three people to replace them, apparently at a higher pay.

Barbosa's blog post got picked up by Le Devoir's Stéphane Baillargeon, who put this into context: Three photographers hired to replace one months before a lockout at the Journal de Montréal. During the lockout, many photos originally taken for 24 Heures got republished in the Journal. And then months after the lockout ends, suddenly all three photographers are fired.

It makes for a pretty strong circumstantial case that the three photographers were hired for the sole purpose of replacing locked-out Journal de Montréal photographers.

Nowadays, much of the photography appearing in Quebecor papers is done by Agence QMI, wire services, provided publicity photos or writers taking photos for their own stories.

(Baillargeon's piece resulted in a reply from Quebecor's Serge Sasseville, pointing out that 24 Heures still has eight journalists, two "journalistes-pupitreurs", two editors and a designer. Sasseville said six people lost their jobs - three photographers and three editors (of whom four were permanent employees and two freelance).

Related Posts

• Le Réveil lockout ends with 80% losing jobs
• So Metro goes to the STM, 24 Heures goes to the AMT
• Quebecor shuts down ICI (UPDATED)
• Who needs press releases when you own the newspaper?
• Quebecor starts PR counterattack

Apparently frustrated by the misinformation being spread about Quebec's largest media company by its competitors, Quebecor Media is starting to defend itself directly to the public.

It recently started making use of its Twitter account, and has setup a new website called Quebecor vous informe, where it posts letters by the company responding to competitors and critics (all of them, somewhat annoyingly, as PDFs).

As an example, there's this letter, dated Tuesday, that responds to the recent episode of Radio-Canada's Enquête that reported on the Quebecor empire (well, actually, it's a letter in response to a lawyer's letter to the Journal de Montréal's editor-in-chief that criticized the report, but most of it deals with the Enquête episode itself).

The letter from Quebecor VP Marc Tremblay doesn't challenge any of the facts presented in the Enquête report, but takes exception to the way they are presented, by either accusing it of bias against Quebecor or explaining how the company's practices are perfectly justifiable.

It doesn't, for example, challenge the part about how the Journal de Montréal altered the results of a ranking of the most influential cultural figures in Quebec, but calls it an "isolated incident" and presents lots of documentation on why Julie Snyder is actually very influential (mostly clippings from Gesca papers that also rank her high). It also criticized Enquête for relying so much on people critical of Quebecor and bringing no one in who supports the company's positions.

Another example is this letter to Le Devoir criticizing a column by its media columnist Stéphane Baillargeon about the recent firings at 24 Heures. Le Devoir published it with a response from Baillargeon saying the writer, Serge Sasseville, refused to respond to his questions about 24 Heures when he wrote the piece.

This is the thing that annoys me most about this way of functioning: Quebecor systematically refuses interviews with journalists, particularly from Gesca or Radio-Canada, then complains that everyone's biased against them because news articles only present the other side.

It's like gagging yourself and then complaining that you never get a chance to speak.

That said, and though it might cause some Quebecor critics to pull their hair out, this is a step forward. Quebecor isn't being silent about criticisms and is taking them head-on. Or at least trying to deflect them instead of ignoring them.

Quebecor needs to go on a charm offensive to get the public back on its side. Opening the lines of communication is a start. But toning down the arrogance that seeps through every sentence of those letters would be a giant next step in making Quebecor Media sound more human.

Then maybe I might start having hope that the conflict between Quebecor and Gesca/Radio-Canada might be resolved before the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is.

Related Posts

• Quebecor doesn’t inform when it doesn’t feel like it
• Enquête sur Quebecor: Good, but I expected more (UPDATED)
• The CBC/Quebecor misinformation war
• Specialty channel war is screwing customers
• Be careful who you make fun of

"Il est aussi clair dans notre esprit qu'un groupe de presse rival peut poser un regard critique sur un autre," Enquête host Alain Gravel writes in a blog post published hours before his show's report on the Quebecor media empire (also viewable on tou.tv). "Ça se fait partout dans le monde. Sinon, qui pourrait le faire?"

It's a good question. There are few journalistic enterprises here with the resources to pull it off. Maybe La Presse, but it suffers from the same problem as Radio-Canada of being a perceived enemy of Quebecor. An anglophone media outlet like the Globe and Mail or Toronto Star or Maclean's might, but this story needed to be told in French.

Aside from La Presse and Radio-Canada, the only big media left in this province are all owned by Quebecor. And that's kind of the point. A study by Influence Communication done for Enquête shows that these three media companies produce 83% of the journalism that Quebecers consume. Though Quebecor is the largest of these three groups, the problem of media concentration concerns all three.

Gravel pointed out right off the bat how delicate the report would be, because Quebecor owns TVA, which competes directly with Radio-Canada. It's an important point to keep in mind, and certainly No. 1 on the list of issues Quebecor would bring up in response.

Fortunately for us, Enquête has pretty solid journalistic credentials, and isn't about to say something unless it's been verified.

A good summary

The hour-long report by former TVA journalist Guy Gendron, which has been on every journalist's must-watch list for the past week provides a good summary of the issues. It describes how Quebecor pulled its big two papers out of the Quebec Press Council (and has done the same in Ontario). It talks about its penchant for using its journalistic outlets for self-promotion, using the example of the launch of Videotron's wireless services, which was the top story on TVA's newscast.

Most of it is stuff that journalists in Quebec (and certainly those who have a keen interest in media, like myself) already know about.

An email from Journal de Montréal entertainment editor Michelle Coudé-Lord orders the replacement of a figure in a supposedly independent ranking of cultural figures.

The best part of the report, and the one that brings up something I hadn't already known, concerns a survey done of the most influential cultural figures in Quebec done in 2007. Emails obtained by Enquête show that entertainment editor Michelle Coudé-Lord, apparently under orders from editor-in-chief Dany Doucet, pushed for figures connected to Quebecor to be placed on this list, even though it was supposed to be drawn up by a committee of outside experts to ensure impartiality. Figures like Julie Snyder, René Angélil and Gillett Entertainment Group (now Evenko) boss Jacques Aubé were given more prominence, while 98.5 radio host Paul Arcand, Télé-Québec host and TV producer Marie-France Bazzo, author Michel Tremblay and MNBAQ chief John Porter were considered less so (in the case of the latter, Coudé-Lord apparently wrote "on s'en fout" - or "we don't care").

Confronted with the emails during an interview (the only one in the report in which anyone representing a Quebecor media outlet participates), Coudé-Lord didn't deny they were hers or what was said in them, but said she didn't remember. She also said something about not wanting to implicate her boss.

It's telling because it shows just how far Quebecor will apparently go to manipulate its journalism to suit its own ends, how these orders seem to filter down the chain of command, but above all how petty it all seems to be. This was over what was essentially a popularity contest.

(Besides the emails, Enquête provides evidence in the pages of the newspaper itself. It shows that the list differed between the Journal de Montréal and the Journal de Québec, apparently because of last-minute changes made to the former, giving Snyder her own spot on the list at the expense of Arcand. It's worth pointing out that this happened in the middle of the Journal de Québec lockout, which may help explain partly how this happened. The Journal de Québec version isn't online, but the Journal de Montréal version is still on the Canoe.ca site.)

Journal de Montréal entertainment editor Michelle Coudé-Lord confronted with her emails during Enquête. Some former Journal employees particularly enjoyed seeing this.

But that was about it in terms of big revelations during the show. And though it makes Quebecor look like dicks (or, at least, the management of the Journal de Montréal - no one has really put these supposed incidents of interference any higher than the office of editor Dany Doucet), it doesn't quite reach the level of scandal that you'd expect politicians to get up in arms about.

Politicians will have to answer for some of what was said here (at least I hope they will). It's been alleged that the Liberals and Parti Québécois are too afraid to confront the Quebecor empire, which is why the government agreed that the public health care system should fund in vitro fertilization (a pet cause of Snyder, the conjoint of Quebecor boss Pierre Karl Péladeau), and why both parties supported using taxpayer money to fund a new sports arena in Quebec City that would be managed by Quebecor under a deal that would get special legal protection from the National Assembly.

(Incidentally, one of the scheduled interviews of PQ leader Pauline Marois on Friday is with LCN's Jean-Luc Mongrain. Somehow I don't expect she'll be asked much about it there.)

A history lesson

The rest of the show focuses on explaining the nature of the Quebecor empire, talking about the News of the World scandal and Rupert Murdoch's media empire, about the creation of the Sun News Network in Canada, and other stuff we already know.

That's not to say such things aren't useful (though I don't see how this relates to Murdoch, other than Kory Teneycke wanting to model Sun News after Fox News). Looking back at the creation of Quebecor Media a decade ago reminds us about some of the things Quebecor said at the time. (For those who need a refresher: Quebecor was asked to purchase Videotron, which also owned TVA, by people who wanted to stop a planned purchase by Rogers Media and keep control of the telecom giant in Quebec. The Caisse de dépôt et placement threw in $2.2 billion so Quebecor could make the deal, and now it owns 45% of the $3-billion company.)

A hearing in front of the National Assembly looking into the Quebecor-Videotron deal has some statements from Quebecor VP Luc Lavoie that will make you laugh nowadays (emphasis mine):

Quebecor a toujours diffusé une grande diversité d'opinions dans ses publications et entend continuer à le faire dans le cadre de la création et du développement de sa nouvelle filiale Quebecor Média. Il ne serait pas dans l'intérêt de Quebecor Média qu'il en soit autrement, puisque la crédibilité de nos différents médias est à la base de leur succès.

...

En 1997, Quebecor s'est porté acquéreur de TQS et a pris l'engagement auprès du CRTC de respecter l'indépendance de sa salle des nouvelles. Un code de déontologie et un comité de surveillance ont été proposés et approuvés par le CRTC, et jusqu'à maintenant, l'indépendance de la salle des nouvelles de TQS a scrupuleusement été respectée.

En octobre 2000, le CRTC a renouvelé la licence de TQS, reconnaissant de ce fait que le maintien de l'indépendance de la salle des nouvelles de TQS, dont il avait fait une condition en 1997, avait été respecté.

Dans sa demande au CRTC, Quebecor Média propose d'appliquer le même modèle à TVA et au réseau LCN. Soyons clairs: la haute direction de Quebecor Média ne se mêle pas des choix d'éditoriaux et de ses propriétés. Nous n'en voyons pas l'intérêt. Notre stratégie de convergence n'implique pas une uniformisation des contenus éditoriaux de nos différentes propriétés, au contraire. Nos quotidiens sont entre les mains de professionnels de l'information tant au niveau des cadres qu'au niveau des travailleurs syndiqués. Les choix d'éditoriaux sont faits par ces professionnels et le résultat est que nos quotidiens québécois occupent les premiers rangs dans les deux marchés qu'ils desservent.

...

Quebecor Média continuera de respecter les engagements pris dans les contrats de travail, les engagements pris auprès du CRTC, les lois en vigueur dans le domaine de la concurrence et, surtout, elle poursuivra sa tradition de respect de la liberté d'expression.

Vous savez, on pourrait y voir quelque chose de rassurant parce que la haute direction de Quebecor, qui est une compagnie publique, est imputable à ses actionnaires de ses gestes et elle se conduit comme une entreprise commerciale qui ne se met pas les mains dans la gestion de l'information. La haute direction de Quebecor n'a pas impliquée dans les choix éditoriaux qui sont faits au quotidien, sur une base hebdomadaire ou même sur une base annuelle.

...

Donc, un code interentreprise, comme vous le décrivez, nous apparaît essentiellement excessif, parce que vous savez, vous avez, je crois, Mme la ministre, souligné que nous avons pris un engagement de devenir plus actifs au Conseil de presse. Donc, voilà une forme de contrôle ou, si on veut, d'examen de notre comportement.

And from others at the Quebecor table:

Or, au Journal de Montréal, nous avons les syndicats, les employés sont syndiqués pour la majeure partie et, dans leur convention collective et celle surtout avec le syndicat des journalistes, il y a les clauses corporatives qu'on appelle où il est assez clairement indiqué que ça n'est pas à l'autorité du Journal de Montréal de dicter ni plus ni moins ce que les journalistes vont faire d'une nouvelle ou d'une information quelconque. C'est déjà régi, ça.

[Note: It's funny to see Quebecor point out the protections in the Journal de Montréal's collective agreement, considering it was these protections that were attacked when the Journal's employees were locked out and have since been removed from that collective agreement]

...

Et les journaux Quebecor vont continuer de supporter La Presse canadienne, parce que c'est notre intérêt et c'est également l'intérêt des publications au Québec, parce que, vu que c'est une coopérative, nous fournissons énormément de nouvelles à La Presse canadienne dont les petits joueurs dans les petits marchés peuvent bénéficier des nouvelles que nous fabriquons nous-mêmes. C'est un échange coopératif. Donc, c'est tout à fait clair que nous allons continuer dans cette direction.

[Note: Quebecor has, of course, pulled out of Canadian Press. But, just as important, Canadian Press is no longer a cooperative, having been privatized and now owned by a consortium controlled by Torstar, Gesca and the Globe and Mail]

...

le syndicat et Le Journal de Montréal ... considèrent essentiel d'assurer, de préserver leur indépendance. Ils s'assureront que les informations et commentaires publiés soient exempts de pressions interne ou externe, ne soient pas influencés par ces dernières. Dans la rédaction et le choix des informations, aucun fait ne sera exagéré ou intentionnellement omis dans l'intérêt d'une personne, d'un groupe ou d'une institution. C'est l'article 7.02 de la convention qui garantit l'indépendance de la salle de rédaction.

Et le deuxième point que vous souleviez, l'échange de textes, il n'y a pas d'échange de textes entre les autres composantes du groupe. Les seuls échanges de textes qu'il y a, c'est entre Le Journal de Montréal et Le Journal de Québec. C'est garanti dans la convention collective, et ça nous permet justement de faire circuler les articles de Montréal à Québec et de Québec à Montréal. Ça a donné naissance au Journal de Québec. Ça a donné naissance à un autre journal qui, sans cette possibilité-là, n'aurait pas eu les ressources nécessaires pour le faire.

Similarly, from the CRTC hearing about Quebecor buying Videotron:

Luc Lavoie: "with the pace of the news business today and the 24-hour news channels, it would be essentially silly to ask a journalist to cover for LCN and then write a piece for the Journal de Montréal, and then write another one for a Canoe portal. It just would not work. It would turn out to be a bad product, and it would turn out to be to our disadvantage to do something like this, and we certainly won't do it."

Péladeau: "le fait d'avoir des conventions collectives qui existent depuis de nombreuses années au niveau des clauses professionnelles assure que le travail des journalistes doit être un travail qui va être correctement effectué"

Lavoie: "On ne veut pas se faire marginaliser. Par ailleurs, on n'a aucun espèce d'intérêt à ce que il y ait une standardisation chez nos médias parce que très souvent ils sont en -- pas très souvent, pratiquement toujours, ils sont en concurrence les uns avec les autres. C'est le contenu de nos publications, c'est le contenu de notre réseau de télévision, c'est nos contenus qui fait notre force. C'est ça qui attire notre clientèle. C'est ce qui fait de nous un leader. C'est ce qui fait qu'on est le journal numéro un à Montréal et le journal numéro un à Québec. C'est ce qui fait que le réseau TVA est le numéro un et on a aucune espèce d'intention, je vous prie de me croire, de devenir numéro deux ou trois."

Critics don't like them, I get it

Far too much of the report, I think, is spent talking to people who wring their hands about the dangers of Quebecor. There's Brian Myles, a Le Devoir journalist and head of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec, who was elected to the post during the Journal de Montréal lockout and is seen as more supportive of the workers' side. There's John Gomery, head of the Quebec Press Council, which Quebecor pulled out of. There's David Patry, the former Journal de Montréal reporter who worked under Coudé-Lord (and now, incidentally, works for the NDP). And there's Raynald Leblanc, a former Journal photographer who was president of the workers' union during the lockout.

Add to that some experts in media, and those who think they've been wronged by Quebecor's media machine.

The investigation does also bring up repeated complaints at TVA (which is still a union shop), where a committee of employees said many times that coverage was being skewed to look more favourable to Quebecor's interests. But these too can be dismissed as merely opinions (albeit of Quebecor's own employees), not as hard evidence.

Quebecor responds, kinda

Predicting that there would be a lot of scrutiny following this report, Enquête wisely posted some documents to its website, including a response from Quebecor spokesperson Serge Sasseville (dated Feb. 21, to give an idea of how long Enquête has been working on this file) to various themes brought up in the Enquête reporting.

In it, Sasseville points out that there are other companies that are also moving in the same direction. Companies like Rogers, Bell and Shaw are creating media empires of their own. He even argues that Quebecor's convergence model is a good thing, because it means individual voices can be saved from bankruptcy. (Of course, that argument only works if you assume Quebecor is in fact saving media that would otherwise go under).

Besides, Sasseville says, the Internet makes the whole concentration of media ownership debate moot.

Sasseville also defends the kinds of things that journalists and others deplore. He says it's perfectly normal for management to dictate what gets published in a newspaper. He defends the withdrawal from the Quebec Press Council (though he notes that Quebecor's weeklies are still members through Hebdos Québec) by arguing that its decisions are arbitrary and don't respect previous precedents, and Quebecor's attempts to change the way the council functions has failed.

And he defends the creation of QMI Agency by pointing out that the large newspaper chain Postmedia (which owns my employer, The Gazette) also pulled out of Canadian Press and created its own wire service. He argues that sharing content frees journalists to work on valuable original reporting instead of duplicating the work of others working for the same company.

You can read the full response here. It doesn't address some of the specific allegations made in the Enquête report, so it will be interesting to see if there's a public statement coming on the matter.

In the meantime, some commenters on Gravel's blog asked if they plan to look into the "secret deal" between Radio-Canada and La Presse owner Gesca. I certainly wouldn't discourage them from doing so, but unless they come up with something really scandalous, any report will be dismissed by Quebecor's defenders as biased journalism.

Besides, one would think Quebecor Media would be best placed to investigate such a thing. As soon as they find something, I have no doubt it'll get lots of coverage in their various media.

Worries from TVA

Another thing posted to Enquête's website are the minutes of committee meetings at TVA from 2009 and 2010. The Comité professionnel, as it's called, has representatives of the employees and management, and deals with issues of journalistic integrity, as well as other union issues. The minutes suggest serious concerns from the employees about interference from Quebecor, though many of these are up for debate.

Among their concerns, in 2009:

• Too much emphasis is placed on exclusives or special reports, even to the point of playing them ahead of more important news of the day (TVA management said they don't want to have the same news as their competitors)
• LCN reporters were forbidden from speaking about an ad from the Directeur général des élections that seemed to parody LCN host Jean-Luc Mongrain (TVA management said they didn't want to pour oil on the fire and were pursuing the matter legally)
• TVA reporters were forbidden from speaking about Guy Laliberté's show from space, which aired on Radio-Canada. (TVA management said it was Laliberté that didn't cooperate with its journalists because of the deal with Radio-Canada, and it was "normal" not to talk about such an event in that case.)
• Argent reporters were told that negotiations at the locked-out Journal de Montréal were not a story, while negotiations at La Presse (Gesca) were. (TVA management said the Gesca news was given prominence because it was an exclusive)
• Management dictated to the letter how LCN dealt with revelations of former Ville-Marie borough mayor Benoit Labonté were covered the day after they were made on Radio-Canada. (TVA management said they were worried about a lawsuit)
• The Agence QMI brand was taking over existing ones, even TVA, even though "Agence QMI" doesn't mean anything to the average person. (TVA management said Quebecor was building up the QMI brand, though credit should be properly attributed to TVA for stories coming out of the network.)
• Argent employees felt in general the business information network was being used as a conduit for pro-Quebecor news (and news against its competitors). (TVA management denied the claim.)
• Employees felt TVA gave undue attention in its news to products for sale, particularly those connected to Quebecor (like a DVD of the TVA show Dieu Merci)

And in 2010:

Will it change anything?

That's the big question. Will this result in any changes? I doubt Quebecor is going to change anything here. There's nothing in this report they didn't already know (though maybe someone will look into the Journal de Montréal situation described above). They believe they're in the right here, and none of the academics or disgruntled former journalists interviewed by Enquête are going to change their minds.

Quebecor is probably going to respond to this either by ignoring it or by attacking hard. Either way, there won't be changes.

Politicians might take some heat, and some might even decide that going to war with Quebecor is a necessary evil, assuming the public supports them in the battle and is willing to look past the Quebecor backlash.

The public certainly isn't going to change. Those who hated Quebecor before will continue to do so. Those who apologize for Quebecor because they hate Radio-Canada will continue to do so. And those who subscribe to Videotron for their telecom services won't care about how Quebecor's journalism works, so long as they get their à la carte HD channels.

In the words of Coudé-Lord: On s'en fout.

Enquête reaction:

• Richard Therrien, Le Soleil: "le reportage de Guy Gendron ne ressemblait pas à un règlement de comptes"
• Hugo Dumas, La Presse: "Une question, maintenant: de quelle façon Quebecor va-t-il contre-attaquer? L'empire n'a pas l'habitude de se laisser administrer des taloches publiquement."
• Clique du Plateau: "Si c’était pas un règlement de compte, on se demande bien ce que c’était"
• Renart Léveillé: "Cette émission était très attendue et elle ne semble pas avoir déçu beaucoup de monde : les commentaires que j’ai pu lire étaient tous très positifs "
• Cassandra Brisebois, ComMédia: Le slogan de Quebecor devrait être : « Tu es avec nous ou contre nous. Tu es notre ami ou notre ennemi ».
• Grégoire F.W.: "Nous ne sommes plus informés, nous sommes manipulés ; nous sommes à la merci de puissants groupes qui contrôlent l’information"
• ProjetJ (written before the show aired)
• Rue Frontenac (under its new management): "Loin de moi de faire ici l’apologie de Pierre-Karl Péladeau. Mais je me suis interrogé sur les reproches constants que l’on dirige à l’endroit de la notion de convergence. La convergence en elle-même n’est pas mauvaise en soi."
• Martin Lavallée (in a letter to Le Devoir): "Cette émission ne possédait pas vraiment d'intérêt public, contrairement à la prétention de la SRC et d'Alain Gravel. Par contre, il serait sans doute d'intérêt public d'enquêter sur l'empire Power Corporation et sur son influence sur la politique du Québec"

The journalist Guy Gendron was also interviewed Friday morning on Radio-Canada radio, where naturally he was treated with kid gloves and wasn't challenged on anything.

Mario Dumont, who as a host on V is somewhat neutral ground, gave him a bit harder time, saying that Radio-Canada was biased against him when he was leader of the ADQ. Gendron responded to most of his questions by saying he's not a spokesperson for Radio-Canada and can't answer for anything outside his report.

CIBL 101.5 interviewed Guy Amyot of the Conseil de presse, who said we have to look at questions surrounding concentration of media ownership.

Quebecor's own media has been completely mostly silent on the matter (which suggests to me that they have nothing obvious to challenge about the reporting), aside from an article from Guy Fournier in the Journal de Montréal pre-attacking the show before the report aired. Fournier followed up in the next week's column, correcting an error he made (Gendron worked for TVA before it was bought by Quebecor, so Gendron never actually worked for Quebecor), and possibly sarcastically correcting another error that was more exaggerated hyperbole about how Radio-Canada never apologizes. He also suggests that Enquête spent too long discussing the phone hacking scandal in Britain, something that other TV critics also panned in their criticisms of the report.

Doucet responds

UPDATE (Nov. 8): Sunday's Journal de Montréal contains a letter from Doucet. It's not online, but I hope he doesn't mind if I reproduce it here in its entirety:

Enquête : danger ignoré

Nous n'aimons pas donner des leçons de journalisme aux autres, contrairement à nos confrères de la société d'État Radio-Canada, mais l'un des pires dangers dans ce métier, c'est d'échafauder une hypothèse et de trouver des témoignages pour l'appuyer, tout en fermant les yeux sur ceux qui pourraient la démolir.

L'émission Enquête, diffusée sur les ondes de Radio-Canada jeudi dernier, consacrée à Quebecor, a utilisé les pires subterfuges pour étayer sa théorie sur la trop forte influence de Quebecor, incluant de piéger notre collègue Michelle Coudé-Lord avec de vieux courriels. L'idée était simple : provoquer la surprise, l'hésitation et ainsi obtenir des images qui viennent appuyer le propos. Mais qui peut se souvenir à brûle-pour-point d'un courriel vieux de quatre ans ?

C'est ce même journaliste de la SRC, Guy Gendron, qui avait déjà déclaré, le 15 février 2007, qu'il existe "une stratégie de l'empire Quebecor visant à jeter le discrédit sur Radio-Canada". Nous avions prévenu la direction de la société d'État que son journaliste avait déjà une opinion personnelle bien arrêtée, qu'il y avait donc un danger de partialité.

Nos avertissements ont été ignorés et c'est donc sans surprise que nous avons assisté, jeudi soir, à un reportage tellement orienté, si loin de la réalité, qu'il est inutile d'en rajouter.

Dany Doucet,

Vice-président Information, Sun Media Québec

You'll note that Doucet doesn't challenge a single fact in the Enquête report, preferring an ad hominem attack.

Why not investigate Power Corp.?

His letter was beneath another one from Léo-Paul Lauzon attacking Power Corp., saying Enquête should do an investigation on how they prevent their media outlets (La Presse and other Gesca papers) from reporting on Alberta oilsands, which Power Corp. has an interest in, and how the majority of opinions printed in the papers are in favour of privatization of public companies.

I can't speak for opinions, people are allowed to have them, and it's true that columnists will tend to have political views in line with their employers (how many liberal and social-democratic columnists does Sun Media employ compared to their conservative ones?). As for their reporting on oilsands, I'll point you to the La Presse dossier on the subject and let you judge for yourself whether it's biased in favour of the industry.

The only thing I would say is that, while I don't have tons of friends at La Presse, I haven't heard a story, even on the grapevine, of a journalist feeling they had to adjust or spin their reporting to reflect the wishes or financial interests of Power Corp.

A reference to oilsands is also kind of ironic in that it was the same journalist, Guy Gendron, who did a report for Zone Libre Enquêtes in 2007 about the Alberta oilsands. That report was slammed by the Journal de Montréal's Dany Bouchard for being a vengeful hit piece against the Harper government, resulting in Gendron filing a complaint against Bouchard at the Quebec Press Council. Despite Bouchard's protests (this was back when the Journal was a cooperating member), the complaint was upheld in its entirety.

Monday's paper had another letter, from Benoît Élie, condemning the Enquête report because it was only negative against Quebecor and didn't mention any positive things they had done, like giving financial aid to Le Devoir to keep it afloat.

Sophie Durocher responds, too

Another response to the Enquête piece in the Quebecor empire came from Sophie Durocher, the columnist for the Journal de Montréal, Journal de Québec, Clin d'Oeil and 7 Jours, and host of her own show on Videotron community channel Vox. (All of these are Quebecor-owned media.) She writes in Monday's JdeM and JdeQ that it's Power Corp. that has the worrisome media ownership issues, and suggests that Radio-Canada is intentionally avoiding talking about it, using as proof an author who wrote a book about Power Corp. but wasn't invited to talk about it on any Radio-Canada shows.

Durocher also repeats the Richard Martineau talking point that Gesca owns 7 of 10 daily newspapers in Quebec. I've already discredited that before, but to resummarize: There are 14 daily newspapers in Quebec, if you include Ottawa's Le Droit but exclude the Ottawa Citizen. Durocher and Martineau exclude the two anglophone dailies and (inexplicably) the two free newspapers in Montreal. And the Enquête report addresses relative size when it points out the Influence Communication study, showing Quebecor with a much higher influence than either Gesca or Radio-Canada.

And Durocher suggests the FPJQ has been bought by saying Gesca and Radio-Canada are sponsors of their upcoming conference. That's true, but it's perfectly normal for a journalism conference to be sponsored by organizations that do journalism. And Reader's Digest, Astral, Rogers and Transcontinental Media are also sponsors, on the same level as Radio-Canada. Quebecor chose not to co-sponsor the event, and now one of its journalists is using that as a talking point.

Éric Duhaime weighs in

On Thursday, a week after the Enquête report, Sun Media's resident Quebec expert Éric Duhaime devoted his national newspaper column to attacking it. Like his fellow columnists, Duhaime doesn't challenge a single fact in the report, but says it's a reason the CBC should be defunded by the government.

Duhaime's column also contains factual errors:

1. Like Durocher, Duhaime says Gesca owns seven of 10 daily newspapers in Quebec. This is not true.
2. Duhaime repeats the "secret deal" talking point, saying it was revealed through an access-to-information request. The "secret deal" between CBC and Gesca is actually a 2001 agreement that focuses mainly on marketing and specifically says that editorial content will remain separate. The deal expired long ago and has never been renewed. And to call it secret is ridiculous because it was announced in a press release when it was signed.
3. Duhaime says the "provincial celebrity" list (it was actually a list of the most influential people in the cultural realm) was first published in the Journal de Québec. It was actually published simultaneously in the Journal de Québec and Journal de Montréal.
4. Duhaime says the order was to replace "a radio host" (Paul Arcand) by Céline Dion. Actually, the email Coudé-Lord sent said to replace Arcand by Jacques Aubé of Gillett Entertainment Group. The differences between the Journal de Montréal version and Journal de Québec version is that the JdM deletes Arcand (No. 7), inserts Julie Snyder separately at No. 6, bumping the rest of the list down (Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes over No. 7, from No. 6 in the JdQ), and Jacques Aubé becomes No. 8 in the JdM. The rest of the list shifts by one, knocking off the last name, Marie Chouinard, from the Journal de Montréal list.

Investigate everyone

That said, a lot of people not under the employ of Quebecor are also asking why Enquête doesn't do a report on Gesca, Bell, Rogers or other large media companies. I say: Go ahead and investigate. I'm sure there are plenty of skeletons in the closets of these companies that should come out. And don't leave it to Enquête. There are other investigative journalists out there (some even work for Quebecor), and nobody is stopping them from pursuing their own investigations. Frankly, I'd be shocked if there wasn't a journalist for Quebecor somewhere already investigating Power Corp., and we know from their hundreds of access-to-information requests that they're investigating Radio-Canada.

But suggesting that Enquête shouldn't talk about Quebecor unless it investigates other media is like suggesting a journalist shouldn't release details of wrongdoing in the Charest government without first finding evidence of wrongdoing in all the opposition parties.

I spoke to Gendron, and asked him if Enquête plans an investigation into Gesca or Power Corp. He said Enquête doesn't comment on or confirm its investigations before they air, but there's nothing stopping them from doing such an investigation.

Report was ready in spring

Incidentally, I asked Gendron why there was so much time between the interview with former Journal de Montréal journalist David Patry and the response from Quebecor, in February, and the airing of the report.

Gendron said the report had been ready to air in spring, but was held because of a defamation suit by Quebecor boss Pierre Karl Péladeau against Radio-Canada boss Sylvain Lafrance. By the time that had resolved itself, it was too late for that season of Enquête. The report was held until fall, and updated with information about the News of the World scandal, the launch of Sun News Network and the pullout of Sun Media from the Ontario Press Council.

The updates lengthened the report, Gendron said, so it filled the full hour when it was eventually aired.

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In English Canada, the conventional television networks make money by buying popular American series, running them during prime time and selling commercials. It takes little effort, and brings in a lot of reward. The CBC, meanwhile, does its best to produce original series, but few of them have a chance competing against the big American shows, so CBC falls significantly behind in the ratings. (Actually, overall CBC is No. 2 in prime-time behind CTV, thanks to powerhouses like Hockey Night in Canada.)

In Quebec, things are different. Francophones here like to watch things in their own language, so American shows aren't as popular as home-grown ones. (Generous government subsidies helps here too.) While the networks do bring in American shows, have them dubbed and aired during prime time, the big shows are original productions. So Radio-Canada television can be commercially competitive and very Canadian at the same time.

In Quebec, the two big players in television are Radio-Canada and Quebecor's TVA network. Télé-Québec and V, the other conventional networks, fall in with specialty channels like RDS, Canal Vie, Canal D, etc. in a secondary tier.

So when TVA looks at the competition, it looks at Radio-Canada. And there's this annoying little fact at the back of its mind when it takes that look: Radio-Canada has a competitive advantage given to it directly by the government.

Billion-dollar leg-up

Radio-Canada, along with the CBC, gets $1.1 billion annually from the Canadian government, as the public broadcaster. That money is spent on all sorts of things, but particularly radio and television programming. Because both CBC and Radio-Canada sell advertising for their television stations, the giant subsidy effectively covers the loss they incur by spending much more on production than they get in ad revenue.

Imagine being in any other business where your biggest competitor is handed a truckload of money from the government every week. Imagine that business then lowered its prices to below cost, and had the government cover that loss.

I'm not saying I agree with the organized campaign against CBC and Radio-Canada being put together by Quebecor's media outlets. For one thing, I'm not crazy about a bunch of journalists working for one company engaging in a campaign against their employer's competitor.

But I do understand the basics of the argument: The CBC is at an unfair competitive advantage compared to private television networks. It's an argument that doesn't really work in the rest of Canada because the CBC doesn't really compete with CTV and Global. But it does work in Quebec, because Radio-Canada and TVA compete directly with each other.

The "CBC sucks" Network

In case you've been living under a rock for the past year or so, Quebecor has been targetting the CBC. Journalists at Sun Media file tons of access to information requests against the public broadcaster - an average of more than one a day in 2007, so much that the CBC asked the government to step in because so many requests were coming from the same source. Columnists attack the CBC at the slightest whim, while staying silent on anything negative about Quebecor.

Sun News Network has been particularly vicious. "CBC Money Drain" appears in the generic opening of one of its prime-time shows, and segments about media criticism focus mostly on the CBC, which it refers to as the "state broadcaster", despite how ridiculous that comparison is. Sun News has repeatedly called for privatization or shutdown of the CBC and Radio-Canada.

The public broadcaster has so far reacted in kind of a mixed way. It defends itself, but politely. It calmly explains its role as a public broadcaster to those who ask. It responds to a flood of access-to-information requests from Quebecor media outlets by posting all the documents online. It sends letters to the editor correcting bad facts and incorrect assumptions.

In recent months, there has been a bit more directed directly at Quebecor. Sarcasm, for one. Or taking its case to third parties, like this letter sent to The Gazette, which the CBC accused of falling for Quebecor's misinformation. (UPDATE: Quebecor's Serge Sasseville emails me to point out his response to that letter, also published in The Gazette)

The gloves come off

It's only this week that the CBC has, in the words of some of its defenders, taken the gloves off and fought back hard against the Quebecor machine. It released a statement on Wednesday attacking their anti-CBC talking points. That got attention from such news outlets as the Globe and Mail, and lots of play on social media.

It also prompted an angry response hours later from Quebecor, taking on the anti-talking-points point by point. (UPDATE Oct. 21: A second press release from Quebecor, threatening legal action if the CBC page isn't taken down)

This was a day before Quebecor boss Pierre Karl Péladeau appeared before a committee looking into the CBC's refusal to disclose information requested by Quebecor journalists. There, Péladeau denies waging a war against the CBC, but says it has to be accountable. (See coverage from Globe and Mail, Canadian Press, Ottawa Citizen)

So who's right?

While many people who instinctually love the CBC and hate Quebecor cheer at the Mother Corp fighting back, I find myself a bit disappointed. It feels like the CBC is sinking down to Quebecor's level, and many of the facts they put out have the same problems when it comes to lack of context or oversimplification.

Let's take a look at the arguments from each side individually:

Quebecor Media is waging a coordinated war against the CBC: Péladeau denies this. But he does so in sort of a self-contradictory way. Péladeau claims that his journalists work independently, without anyone telling them what to do. But then he says his journalists have never sought journalistic sources. How does he know this? How can he pretend to speak for his media empire if he says his journalists act independently?

It's obvious that Quebecor's outlets, particularly Sun News, Sun papers and the Journals, have a beef with the CBC. Whether that's because of corporate edict or just because those outlets hire like-minded people as journalists is up to the public to decide.

Quebecor's access-to-information requests seek journalistic sources: I've yet to see a proper accounting of exactly what requests Quebecor have filed that have been denied, so I can't answer this question. I suspect it's more subtle than this, and the problem comes down to a matter of interpretation. The CBC can deny requests for information about its "programming activities", for example, but how far does that go? Is Rick Mercer's expense account fair game? Don Cherry's employment contract? The CBC's deal with the NHL? Quebecor denies it is asking for the identities of the CBC's Deep Throats, but compares its requests to asking for lunch receipts of senior executives, information which is already posted online.

The CBC is using taxpayer money to hire lawyers to fight transparency: Well, yes. Specifically, they're fighting the access-to-information commissioner, arguing that only a judge should be able to determine what information should be released. I don't agree with this, but the argument that the CBC shouldn't use lawyers because they're taxpayer-funded is ridiculous. The alternative would be to cave in to every demand, no matter how damaging.

CRTC chair Konrad von Finkenstein has called for the access-to-information law to be clarified. The CBC also says it is trying to clarify the rules, rather than admit they're fighting them.

"Quebecor has received more than half a billion dollars in direct and indirect subsidies and benefits from Canadian taxpayers over the past three years, yet it is not accountable to them." The CBC links this statement to a presentation (PDF) that breaks down that figure. By the CBC's own numbers, more than half of that "half a billion dollars" is their calculation of how much Quebecor "saved" in the last spectrum auction because it bid on frequencies that were set aside to new entrants into the wireless market. The figure is based on the assumption that if Bell, Telus and Rogers were not prevented form bidding for those frequencies, that they would have gone for as much as the frequencies not set aside for new entrants were sold for. That's a big assumption. And even if we accept that, calling this a "subsidy", even an "indirect" one, is a big stretch.

The rest of those subsidies are things like the Canada Media Fund, the Local Programming Improvement Fund, and government tax credits for TV production. All of these are things that CBC programming is also eligible for, and is above the $1.1 billion annual subsidy from the Canadian government.

Plus, the CMF and LPIF are funded primarily by cable and satellite companies like Videotron, not by the federal government. Quebecor points out that Videotron pays slightly more into the media fund than TVA takes out of it, which means Quebecor is subsidizing the CMF, not the other way around.

I get the point that Quebecor receives public money too, but the CBC's figures are exaggerated.

Quebecor complained to the prime minister that CBC wasn't taking out ads in its newspapers. Quebecor said it was "false" to say they've complained about the lack of advertising, then proceeded to complain about the lack of advertising. Péladeau testifed on Thursday that in fact a letter was sent to the prime minister complaining about the lack of newspaper ads. (UPDATE Oct. 21: A similar strange reasoning appears in the legal letter Quebecor sent CBC: Saying the statement is false and then repeating it in different words. Maybe there's a difference I don't understand?)

The truth is that both Quebecor and the CBC are engaged in a boycott of each other. There are no ads for the Journal de Montréal on Radio-Canada either. It's not absolute, but there's a big difference in advertising buys when you compare TVA to Radio-Canada, or La Presse to the Journal de Montréal.

Quebecor Media is also owned by the government. This logic is based on the fact that the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, the government's investment arm, has a 45% stake in Quebecor Media, dating back to when Quebecor bought Videotron. This is a big stake, but still a minority one, with Quebecor Inc. having the rest. The big distinction here is that the Caisse is an investment organization that puts money in companies expecting a healthy return. The government isn't funding Quebecor Media as much as Quebecor Media is funding the government through its profits.

The Quebecor war machine

It's funny how all the big public media wars in Canada involve Quebecor. It's at war with the CBC over access to information. It's at war with Bell over specialty channel carriage (even though Bell has gotten a major competitor to vouch for its fairness). It's at war with La Presse over the secret deal it imagines Gesca has with the CBC. It's at war with Transcontinental over community newspapers.

If I was paranoid, I'd think Quebecor just likes picking fights.

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This fall, two new all-sports networks are being launched. One, RDS2, is owned by Bell Media. The other, TVA Sports, is owned by Quebecor's Groupe TVA.

Personally, I think this is good news. Competition for viewers will do good things, like bring Montreal Impact games to the TV screen. And the CRTC has determined that sports channels - currently the most profitable format - are healthy enough that they shouldn't be restricted from competition. (Not healthy enough for Radio-Canada and Rogers to jump in the fray, but still healthy).

But you can't get TVA Sports if you're a subscriber to Bell TV. And it's not clear if you'll be able to get RDS2 if you subscribe to Videotron (it has deals with only Bell and Shaw so far). That may change (RDS2 is most likely doomed to failure if it can't get Videotron carriage), but even if it's just a delay, this is yet another example of two companies whose affiliated television distribution services are giving undue preference to their affiliated specialty channels.

Another example in the sports sphere is TSN Habs, a part-time regional offshoot of the TSN channel that has regional English-language broadcast rights to some Canadiens games. It's available on Bell TV, but not on Videotron, despite Videotron's huge subscriber base in Quebec, where I understand the Canadiens are popular - even among anglophones.

Sports isn't the only type of channel where this problem exists. In the past few years, broadcasters have applied for and received dozens of licenses for unregulated specialty channels - the so-called "Category 2" channels that aren't protected from competition and have low requirements for Canadian and original content. In exchange for some liberties in programming, the channels have no guaranteed carriage, so cable and satellite companies can choose whether or not to include them in their lineups, and the broadcasters can choose to charge whatever they would like.

Quebecor has been particularly active in this field, launching a bunch of new channels (including TVA Sports), many of them in high definition. In all cases, those channels are immediately carried on Quebecor-owned Videotron's cable system, but few of them are on Bell TV.

To give you an idea of what's going on here, I've compiled a table below of specialty channels owned by the big cable and satellite companies (Cogeco is included for reference, but doesn't own any specialty channels). I've limited the list to those channels that are either Category 2 (unregulated, with no guaranteed carriage) or that have high-definition feeds available.

I've marked in bold where a service is offered by the affiliated distributor that is not offered by at least two of its competitors, suggesting undue preference. I've marked in red where the opposite is true, where a service is not offered by the affiliated company but is offered by at least one competitor.

(Q)/(O): Denotes channels that Cogeco carries in Quebec or Ontario only.

*Discovery World HD, a separately licensed channel, is available on Videotron.

**The situation with Sun News is complicated by the fact that a conventional TV station was broadcasting its content. Rogers, Cogeco and Bell carried the conventional signal, but Sun News asked Bell to pull the channel or start paying for it.

You can see in the chart 12 instances among the 37 channels where there is evidence of undue preference. This does not necessarily prove such a thing - there could be all sorts of reasons to choose whether or not to carry a channel - but it's annoying nonetheless for customers who want a certain channel and can't get it for no apparent reason other than it's owned by the wrong cable company.

You'll also see four (UPDATE: five) instances where a service isn't offered by the affiliated company. It's worth noting that all of those services predate their ownership by the affiliated cable/satellite company.

The CRTC actually has a rule against this sort of thing. It's called "undue preference", and it is supposed to prevent just this sort of thing. The problem is that it's hard to prove. Negotiations between broadcasters and distributors are secret, and we don't know how much each distributor is paying for each channel.

Still, this may come to a head soon. Sun News has filed a complaint with the CRTC alleging undue preference on the part of Bell when it pulled the station's signal and refused to pay for it.

Hopefully the CRTC will take a close look at this issue and do something about it before the flood of new channels makes the problem - and viewers' frustrations - even worse.

Quebecor begins hypocritical outrage campaign

UPDATE (Sept. 20): QMI Agency has published a joke of a news article by Raphaël Gendron-Martin. It quotes only TVA's Pierre Dion bashing Bell and Cogeco for not carrying TVA Sports, and makes no apparent attempt to contact Cogeco or Bell for comment. The hit piece appears in the Journal de Montréal (on the front page), 24 Heures, TVA Nouvelles and Argent (twice). Dion also appeared on LCN and TVA's Salut Bonjour, where again no apparent attempt was made to contact Cogeco or Bell for comment, no mention was made of RDS2 or TSN's Habs channel not being on Videotron, and Dion went unchallenged on anything he said. (In the case of Salut Bonjour, it's clear host Gino Chouinard is being fed his questions and even refers to Dion as "boss" at the end.)

Despite what I am unfortunately forced to conclude (to use Dion's logic) was an organized misinformation campaign from Quebecor that abused its media power, Cogeco did respond by way of an open letter (PDF) that was also published on Facebook. Cogeco said it was interested in carrying TVA Sports and even made an offer that TVA refused.

No (public) word yet from Bell.

I sent an email to Gendron-Martin asking him about his article. He responded by pointing to full-page piece in Tuesday's paper by Danny Joncas, which quotes representatives of Bell and Cogeco. Gendron-Martin did not respond to questions about why he didn't contact Bell or Cogeco before writing his piece, nor why he didn't mention Videotron not carrying RDS2, nor whether he was ordered by his employer to write this article in this way.

Joncas's reaction piece was not posted online, either by the Journal or by any other QMI website. The original article from Gendron-Martin still appears on those websites unaltered, with no indication that there has since been a response.

Joncas's piece quotes both Bell and Cogeco saying these negotiations should be conducted privately instead of in the media, and that both are negotiating with TVA. It also says TVA rejected Cogeco's offer because it wanted better placement in Cogeco's specialty channel packages.

UPDATE (Sept. 23): The CRTC has released new rules concerning this issue (press release, decision, Globe and Mail story). It offers some specific rules (no mobile/Internet exclusivity deals for TV programs), but also includes a lot of rules barring things that are "unreasonable" or "excessive", which leaves a lot of room for disagreement over what qualifies as unreasonable.

It also pushes off a lot of decisions until later, including whether cable and satellite companies should be required to offer à la carte subscriptions (though they seem to be moving in that direction).

Whether those new rules will change how these big telecom companies deal with each other is to be seen.

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The ad was by Matthew Dubé, the former president of the McGill NDP club who had to quit because he got elected as an MP on May 2 in the riding of Chambly-Borduas (that's the riding Jean-François Mercier ran in as an independent).

Politicians are always putting ads in community newspapers wishing them well during all sorts of holidays. But this one contained some errors. Specifically, two verbs were improperly conjugated, and the ad referred to the riding of Quebec (as in Quebec City), even though his constituency is just east of Montreal.

The Journal de Montréal printed the article on Page 2 on Wednesday (PDF), complete with a reproduction of the ad that circled its errors. At the end, it asks readers to weigh in on whether these kinds of mistakes will affect Jack Layton's credibility.

McEvoy apparently made no effort to contact Dubé or the NDP for comment. They quickly responded after the story was published, saying it was the newspaper that was responsible. The NDP had not approved the final text of the ad, he says.

The party acted quickly, and got l'Oeil Régional to publish an apology on its website. The Journal and Canoë also published a follow-up piece.

But McEvoy didn't back down. Despite the paper's apology, he insists the error was still the NDP's, that it was the party - not the paper - that drafted the erroneous text in the first place. He has also posted images of another NDP MP's similar mistakes, and another ad that uses the logo for the NDP (in English, instead of NPD in French).

Perhaps this is why the original articles online have not been corrected or updated. Neither has this article, which erroneously refers to it as a card sent through the mail.

I shouldn't need to explain why erroneous articles online need to be corrected. The mistake gets passed around a lot more than the correction. And people aren't going to search the website of every article they read to see if a corrected article was published the next day.

Other articles posted online that used the QMI piece (without attribution or links) also sit uncorrected, including this blog post and this piece on CJAD's website.

Whether you believe the paper or the NDP is ultimately at fault here (I'm more inclined to believe the latter, though I also think newspapers should proofread all their ads), there are some unfortunate implications of this story. It's clear that the Journal and Quebecor have an agenda here and are pushing it. They feel the NDP MPs are incompetent and want to expose their troubles with the French language. This story is being fuelled as much by the usual sensationalist bias of the media (and particularly the Journal) as it is by Quebecor's growing right-wing bias that puts the NDP in its sights.

There's the fact that McEvoy appears to have made no attempt to contact a politician before publishing a piece designed to smear him. Whether or not such a smear is justified, basic journalistic ethics require at least an attempt to seek comment before publishing it. Had McEvoy done so, he would have learned of the NDP's response and there would have been little need for a follow-up piece.

And then there's the simple fact that L'Oeil Régional is now owned by Quebecor. Which brings up the question: Why were Quebecor newspaper employees not able to spot basic grammatical errors in an ad before it was published?

I'd ask these questions to McEvoy, but apparently the new rules of journalism say I don't have to.

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N.B.: Une version française de ce billet a été publié dans Trente, le journal du Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec.

I've always liked to think of myself as open-minded. It's a good quality for a journalist, and one that I don't think enough of them have.

For most of this blog's existence, there has been a major labour conflict at a Quebecor-owned newspaper - the Journal de Québec in 2007 and 2008, and the Journal de Montréal in 2009 and 2010. In between there have been all sorts of depressing news for journalists in general as the media industry seems to be in a state of slow collapse.

Like many of my journalist colleagues, my first reaction to Quebecor's lockout of its two largest newspapers was to take the side of the workers. Whether or not I agreed with what they wrote when they were employed by Quebecor, they are mere pawns in the media game being played by the great Quebecor Empire. They are the Luke Skywalkers to Pierre Karl Péladeau's Darth Vader.

But in my admittedly limited experience as a journalist, I've learned that situations aren't nearly as black and white as they may seem to be. Society's villains aren't all Hitler-like caricatures of pure cartoonish evil, motivated solely by greed and hatred of puppies. And its heroes aren't all pure good.

So while some may throw it out as a given, I sit here and ask myself a question that requires a lot of thought before I can answer:

Is Quebecor evil?

Two years

Since just after midnight on Jan. 24, 2009, 253 journalists, editors, salespeople, office workers and other members of the Syndicat des travailleurs de l'information du Journal de Montréal have been locked out of their offices at 4545 Frontenac St. Since then, they've lived this second job, honing their journalistic skills (and enjoying some freedoms they didn't have before) while waiting for this labour conflict to be resolved. They're in a state of suspended animation, The Gazette's Mike Boone describes. Though to many of the journalists, they might describe it more as a state of temporary freedom.

The first problem is that while the number 253 has been repeated enough to become a catchphrase for the union, and that is technically the number of employees who have been locked out, it comes with a lot of asterisks. It includes, according to the employer, 45 non-permanent employees and 29 people who have either retired (like Bertrand Raymond) or quit for other jobs (like Fabrice de Pierrebourg). A minor point, perhaps, and one that doesn't change the union's arguments, but to suggest that de Pierrebourg is among 253 people "walking the streets" is dishonest.

Since the lockout, the Journal de Montréal has used its own pages to explain its side of the conflict, saying the journalists are overpaid, underworked and unwilling to accept new technologies and the new business model that has to be followed to survive in this new media environment. The union counters that the Journal was profitable even with its large staff, and that the massive layoffs and unfettered rights to replace unionized journalists with non-unionized agency reporters was unacceptable.

A protester at the Journal de Montréal workers' march makes a point about Pierre Karl Péladeau's salary

When the union recently rejected a formal offer to end the conflict, the Journal again published its side, pointing out how much the workers would get paid and how generous the severance pay would be for those laid off. The union, however, objected to the even more massive layoffs (they would have kept only about 50 of the 253, including only 17 journalists), and provisions against continuing Rue Frontenac or working for La Presse (the Journal has since said they would be willing to let these drop if it got them closer to an agreement).

Considering how much hiring is going on at QMI Agency (more on that below), I can't fathom another explanation for this massive cut other than a desire to continue to operate the paper as it has run during the lockout: A few journalists doing hyped-up feature reports, and the rest being filled by internal and external wire copy.

The massive layoff plan is one that might backfire in the Mont Laurier area, where former Quebecor journalists have started an independent paper. A similar thing happened in the Saguenay region, where a lockout at Quebecor's Le Réveil ended similarly with massive layoffs. Lucky for Quebecor that the Montreal francophone market is so saturated it's hard to see a publication like Rue Frontenac becoming profitable on its own.

Orders from on high

At the annual conference of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec, there was a panel discussion specifically about Quebecor, the "elephant in the room," and whether its policy of convergence represents a threat to freedom of the press. The panel might have been a useful - if heated - discussion if only someone from Quebecor had been present. But as you can imagine, attending a discussion with locked-out workers and others that was more than likely going to turn into non-stop Quebecor-bashing wasn't high on Péladeau's list of things to do. And, because Quebecor didn't defend itself, Quebecor-bashing is exactly what happened.

Journal lock-outé David Patry recounted a few stories about what life was like while he still worked in the Journal's newsroom as an entertainment reporter. He said articles were dictated to him (he used an example about a conflict between Radio-Canada's Sylvain Lafrance and Péladeau, a case that is in the news today because it's before the courts). He says these articles had wording he didn't approve of, and he was forced to sign the articles even though he didn't write them or agree with their contents.

Patry also produced an email from his boss, forwarded from the editor-in-chief, which asked him to retaliate against a La Presse reporter for unfavourable coverage. He pretended to work on it to placate his angry superiors, and the issue eventually went away.

Even in his short time there, he says, he has plenty of similar stories, as do his colleagues. It was so bad, he said, that those colleagues advised him to pick his battles, otherwise he would be spending most of his days locking horns with management.

The story made some headlines (Le Devoir, La Presse, and of course Rue Frontenac), even getting the attention of the Globe and Mail's Norman Spector.

After the conference, Michelle Coudé-Lord, the arts section manager at the heart of Patry's accusations, spoke with Benoit Dutrizac on 98.5FM. She didn't deny sending the email he quotes from (she explained that it's normal in newsrooms for an editor to send an email that might not be considered "elegant"), but did say that Quebecor handing down orders from on high doesn't happen, and that she has never gotten phone calls from Péladeau telling her what he wants to see in the next day's paper.

She dismissed the union's complaints about the paper's coverage as "union propaganda" and said this was all about settling personal gripes between union members and the newspaper's managers.

I've never worked at the Journal de Montréal. I don't know any of its managers. I don't know whether these kinds of orders are given and where they come from. I suspect the non-managers who worked there don't even know for sure. (Patry's email could be traced back only to EIC Dany Doucet.)

But the end product - the content of the Journal de Montréal - speaks for itself. Not only is it populist (it always has been the populist newspaper, for better or for worse), but it's right-wing populist, and has gotten more so over the past few years (particularly since left-wing columnists refused to contribute to a locked-out publication). There's focus on gas prices, government waste, and CBC executive business expenses. I don't think it's a coincidence that Péladeau's opinions so clearly match those of the Journal.

I suspect the situation is much more subtle than what is being implied. While Péladeau does have a reputation as a micromanager (again, I don't know if this is actually true), I can't imagine he has the time on his hands to tell each of his media properties what they should report on on a daily basis.

So Quebecor has middle managers, just like any other large company. They're the ones who make the day-to-day decisions. But I've yet to see one get fired for publishing coverage too friendly to Quebecor and its assets. And they know that. This conditions them to hesitate before doing anything that might look poorly on the Quebecor empire, and encourages them to embellish when writing things that put Quebecor in a good light. It lessens the credibility of the newspaper in the eyes of its readers (at least, those who notice what's going on), but those managers don't have to worry about their jobs.

The head of the Journal de Montréal protest passes a TVA/LCN news van here to cover it.

The non-blackout

One thing that's been interesting to look at is the coverage Quebecor's media properties have given to the lockout itself. It's within Quebecor's business interests to downplay it, even hide it from its consumers. But doing so would go against journalistic principles.

On one hand, the words "Rue Frontenac" don't appear on the Journal de Montréal's website - except in articles about the conflict itself - and rarely appear in news stories from other Quebecor outlets, despite putting a lot of stories into the open that are later reported on by those newsrooms. Compared to other media, who regularly credit Rue Frontenac's journalistic scoops (as much as "professional" journalists are prepared to credit competitors for their scoops), Quebecor is clearly less willing to credit a union website for its stories - a problem that may have contributed to one case of plagiarism and a journalist being fired.

In one extreme case of self-censorship, a Rue Frontenac sticker on the laptop of blogger Cécile Gladel was blurred in a video profile of her for the Canoe website. I doubt there were high-level orders to do this, but it gives an indication of what the front lines think should be standard procedure at Quebecor - and their bosses aren't tripping over themselves to set these journalists straight.

On the other hand, coverage of the lockout has been pretty straight from Quebecor's properties. At the recent protest in favour of Journal de Montréal employees and calling for a change in the laws regarding strikebreakers, a TVA/LCN van and reporter were present and an Agence QMI story highlighted the size of the crowd and gave their demands a voice (while also giving space for a response by the Journal itself).

The naysayers

There are those who decide to use their star power to try to bring about change by boycotting Quebecor. But they are outnumbered by those who are far too dependent on the media Quebecor controls to commit career suicide by refusing to cooperate with them. Bernard Landry, for example, decided (though reluctantly) to give up his Journal column after the lockout began. But star columnists like Richard Martineau, Joseph Facal and Stéphane Gendron are still contributing. Flipping through the pages of the paper, the words "collaboration spéciale" appear next to a lot of smiling faces.

When Quebecor-owned Archambault announced its list of finalists for its Grand Prix littéraire, author Gil Courtemanche announced he didn't want to be a finalist and would refuse such an award, because of what Quebecor is doing to the locked-out Journal de Montréal workers. He also invited his fellow finalists to join him in his protest, putting them in an uncomfortable position.

One of them, Jean-Simon Desrochers, said that should he win, he would donate the $10,000 prize money to the STIJM union representing locked-out Journal workers. But as Steve Proulx points out, could that union accept money that comes out of the hands of Quebecor?

A coordinated campaign has been launched to boycott the Journal de Montréal

The boycott

The CSN and STIJM recently launched a campaign to boycott the Journal de Montréal, and the protest last weekend had that boycott as its primary message.

The purpose of a boycott is obvious: the Journal takes its strength from its readership and the advertising money that brings in. Convince everyone to stop reading it, and people stop placing ads, seriously hurting the Journal's bottom line.

But that's much easier said than done. The fact that the unions are launching this now, almost two years into the lockout, isn't because they didn't want people to boycott the Journal before, it's because their attempts to convince Journal readers to take their side have so far failed. In fact, despite having few journalists and lots of wire copy, the Journal's readership has actually gone up since the lockout.

The CSN and STIJM say this is because Quebecor is dumping the paper, handing it out for free to boost its reader numbers at the expense of subscription revenue (and hey, if they don't have to pay 253 workers, they probably don't need most of that money anyway).

It's true that lots of Journal de Montréal copies are being given away freely. But that happened before the lockout, and La Presse and The Gazette also regularly give out free copies.

The reality is that people who continue to read the Journal de Montréal don't care about the locked-out journalists and other workers. Some of them may have been convinced by management's argument that those workers are overpaid, spoiled brats who are unwilling to adapt to the new media reality. Others are disconnected with the issue, and see this conflict as being between the Journal and its union and having nothing to do with them.

The STIJM and boycott supporters can't fathom why people would continue to read a newspaper that has so little original content (essentially limited to reports from managers and columns by freelancers), but we're talking about a market that has two free daily newspapers, one of which (Metro) is the most read paper on the island.

There are people who support the boycott, but many of them didn't read the Journal in the first place, preferring more intellectual or pro-union fare like La Presse or Le Devoir.

Considering how long this lockout has been going, I find it hard to believe this boycott campaign will make enough inroads into the Journal's readership numbers to have any impact. And even if it did, Quebecor has more than enough money to keep the paper running through an extended lockout.

A union-sponsored survey suggests that Quebecers see Quebecor's journalists as the ones most likely to make their reporting follow the wishes of their corporate bosses. But clearly they're not so worried about this that they'll stop reading the paper.

CSN's Claudette Carbonneau hasn't shied away from taking negotiations to the media

Negotiation by blog post

The high-profile nature of this labour conflict has meant a lot of negotiation in public, even while talks with a mediator go on behind the scenes. And by "negotiation in public", I mean competing press releases, letters in Le Devoir, and now emails to L'Actualité blogger Jean-François Lisée.

Lisée's involvement started with a blog post dated Nov. 29 in which he openly suggested to Péladeau that he take the high road, dropping his defamation suit against Radio-Canada's Sylvain Lafrance, dropping any restriction against laid-off Journal workers going to the competition, and even financially supporting Rue Frontenac as a separate journalistic enterprise by advertising with them.

Péladeau himself responded a few days later, skirting Lisée's suggestions but saying they had withdrawn their anti-competition demans. Péladeau also released a draft agreement signed a few weeks before the lockout began that suggests the two sides had come to an agreement in principle before CSN pulled the plug.

CSN's Claudette Carbonneau responded, and in effect brought the discussion back to the claims from both sides that they both have offers on the table and are waiting for the other side to respond.

Péladeau responded again, in which he broke down that mystical 253 number (as I explained above), suggested that the CSN is pulling the strings and intentionally prolonging this conflict in order to serve its political purposes, and continued to list union demands that he considered entirely unrealistic.

The discussion has ended there for now. The mediator has asked both sides to cut it out and take their arguments to the bargaining table. Lisée, unencumbered by the mediator's demands, has put out five public questions for both Péladeau and Carbonneau, hoping to get answers to some tough questions they might not want to answer.

UPDATE: Péladeau has responded to Lisée, suggesting he doesn't want to talk directly about the conflict but also saying he would be willing to help distribute Rue Frontenac at competitive rates. He also takes irrelevant jabs at both Radio-Canada and La Presse, and points out that his father was the one who shut down the Montreal Daily News (a short-lived competitor to The Gazette), as a counterexample to those who saw Péladeau Sr. as the ultimate friend to the worker.

As for the independence of his newsrooms, I'll quote from Péladeau directly:

Quant à l’indépendance des journalistes, c’est un concept dont il faut bien comprendre l’application au sein d’une salle de rédaction. Un journaliste ne se loue pas un bureau dans une salle de rédaction comme un coiffeur loue une chaise dans un salon réputé où il reçoit librement sa propre clientèle, selon son humeur. Une salle de rédaction n’est pas un collectif de joueurs autonomes qui laissent libre cours à leurs envies du moment; elle possède une structure, un esprit de corps, et le journaliste y œuvre au sein d’une équipe.

L’éditeur, le rédacteur en chef ou le directeur de l’information font chaque jour des choix éditoriaux et livrent des affectations en conséquence. Il ne s’agit pas là de contrôle de l’information, comme cela s’est entendu lors d’une séance de défoulement collectif au dernier congrès de la FPJQ. Il ne s’agit là que de simples préceptes organisationnels auxquels n’échappe aucune entreprise.

Ces accusations de contrôle sont pourtant reprises à l’envi à l’endroit des médias de Quebecor et ce, depuis plusieurs années maintenant, comme si La Presse ou Le Devoir laissaient leurs propres journalistes entièrement libres de choisir les nouvelles à publier.

He also suggests that Quebecor has no need for an ombudsman or the Quebec Press Council, I guess because he thinks the readers can judge for themselves.

Not putting his journalists to any independent verification of their work is a big strike against Péladeau when it comes to his commitment to proper journalism.

14 lock-outs in 14 years

After a lock-out was called at Le Réveil in the Saguenay (a conflict that has since been resolved with 20 of 25 workers getting laid off), the union issued a press release saying that Quebecor had called 14 lock-outs in 14 years, including one at the Journal de Québec and one at Videotron.

Serge Sasseville, a VP at Quebecor, wrote recently in a piece in Le Devoir that despite the CSN talking point, they have signed 100 contracts in the past five years without work disruption. (The article also says that less than half of Quebecor's 15,000-strong workforce has a collective agreement.) Rue Frontenac's Jean-François Codère counters in a comment below that Quebecor's "lock-out rate" is still much, much higher than the Quebec average.

Still, while Videotron and their two largest newspapers underwent very painful conflicts, the broadcast properties are still on the job, including most notably TVA which agreed to a new contract this summer. There's clearly a difference here - either the newspaper unions have working conditions that are unsustainable, or the employer values TVA more than it does the two Journals.

Other Quebecor unions are still negotiating new contracts, or in some cases, their first.

La guerre des médias

I have no idea who started it, but for some reason there's an unofficial war going on between Quebecor on one side and La Presse and Radio-Canada on the other. Part of it is simply competition: Radio-Canada is TVA's most direct competitor, and La Presse is the biggest threat to the Journal de Montréal. But there's something more about this war that makes it troubling. Stories abound of personalities from one side being forbidden from talking to the other. Supposedly some TVA and LCN personalities have exclusivity contracts with Quebecor, which won't allow them to be interviewed on Radio-Canada.

It's become far too easy to figure out which personalities belong to which camp: Éric Salvail, Julie Snyder and Richard Martineau on one side, Véronique Cloutier and Guy A. Lepage on the other. It's not absolute (Salvail and Cloutier have appeared on each other's programs, and Martineau has a show on Télé-Québec), but convergence has created the kind of camps you don't see elsewhere.

Along with this war has come Quebecor's accusations of a "secret deal" between Radio-Canada and Gesca, which owns La Presse. These accusations are echoed by some militant sovereignist groups, who dislike Radio-Canada because it's funded by the federal government, and dislike Gesca because its owners and editorialists are strong federalists.

This suggestion doesn't come from nowhere. Tune in to current affairs shows on Radio-Canada television and radio, and you see a lot of people from La Presse invited as regular guests or columnists. Names like Marc Cassivi, Nathalie Petrowski, Vincent Marissal and Marie-Christine Blais appear regularly on Radio-Canada's programs. In May, Quebecor's Sophie Durocher made a strong argument that this cooperation was bringing both sides too far together. Even Radio-Canada's union has brought forward concerns that the network's shows too often bring in La Presse journalists and columnists instead of in-house experts.

And then there's Exhibit A, an actual deal between Radio-Canada and Gesca to share resources, signed in 2001. They say the agreement (which kept editorial control entirely separate and doesn't call for nearly the kind of convergence being claimed) ended in 2003 and there is no deal linking the two editorially. But the agreement itself hasn't been publicized, and brings up perfectly legitimate questions about whether the two organizations are working too closely together, and whether they believe their audiences are one and the same.

It's easy to cherrypick examples and leave out all the counterexamples. Yes, there are a lot of La Presse people on Radio-Canada, but there are also people from Le Devoir, L'Actualité and other publications. Durocher herself was a guest on multiple occasions on Christiane Charette's show in the months before her column that criticized it.

It's also been pointed out that people in the Quebecor empire, particularly those who are TVA and LCN personalities, choose not to accept invitations on Radio-Canada's shows.

According to people I've talked to, if this deal exists, it is so secret even the people who work at these two organizations don't know about it. And I don't see how they're supposed to implement it if they don't know what it says.

I think it's pushing things a bit too much to suggest there's a conscious effort at either Radio-Canada or Gesca to conspire together and give each other special treatment. But I would be surprised if there weren't subconscious factors in play here. For one, you know how they say that the enemy of your enemy is my friend? I imagine Quebecor's war is creating a lot of resentment among these two groups, creating a natural - though unofficial - alliance. If that's the case, much of this supposed alliance could be Quebecor's own making.

The other thing to consider is that La Presse and Radio-Canada share a similar type of audience. While the Journal de Montréal and TVA are populist media who put a high value on what attracts a lot of eyeballs, La Presse and Radio-Canada are more full of themselves concerned about having a proper balance between attracting their audience and educating them. They sit somewhere between the populist Quebecor properties and the intellectual but not very popular outlets like Le Devoir.

Of course, these aren't the only news media here. Corus's (soon to be Cogeco's) 98.5FM, particularly the shows with Paul Arcand and Benoit Dutrizac, are also serious but popular journalistic outlets, and they also invite journalists from other media on their shows. But they seem to be in this zone between the two camps in the media war, with guests more from places like Le Devoir, V, Télé-Québec, Voir and elsewhere. It's anecdotal and inconclusive, but this struck me as I was going through the lists of their recent interviews.

A copy of a receipt for a café au lait, yogurt and muffin from CBC boss Hubert Lacroix

What does Hubert Lacroix eat?

The war between Quebecor and its perceived enemies doesn't just extend to what guests are invited onto talk shows. Quebecor's news agency is also on a campaign against CBC/Radio-Canada, having its journalists file thousands of access-to-information requests against the public broadcaster seeking everything they can legally get their hands on (the law doesn't allow them to get information related to journalistic endeavours, but does allow them access to things like expenses of board members, which they've tried to turn into scandals).

The CBC was so overwhelmed it took forever to respond to them (something QMI also tried to turn into a scandal). Eventually the CBC responded with an open letter explaining its side - and attacking Quebecor while assuring the public it fully intends to be transparent. It also put "over 70,000 pages of documents" resulting from access to information requests on its website. (This is actually a pretty good idea - can Agence QMI claim an "exclusive" or a "scandal" something that CBC has released on its website?)

Quebecor defends the practice of rifling through CBC executive expenses, saying it's their duty to keep civil servants honest, whether they work for the CBC or any other government-funded agency. Sasseville also suggested that journalists at Gesca weren't doing enough to criticize the public broadcaster, perhaps because so many Gesca journalists get income on the side from Radio-Canada.

The CBC continues pressing Quebecor, accusing it of exploiting its vast media empire to settle a personal mission of Péladeau's. It's a charge Quebecor's Brian Lilley denies, but it's clear from his blog post that this is more than just journalistic curiosity into CBC's use of taxpayer money: it's gotten to the level of conventional wisdom there that the CBC is a "money drain", to use the title of their series.

QMI's campaign against the CBC is justified by a perceived tendency of their journalistic competitors (including, of course, the CBC itself) to refrain from criticizing the public broadcaster. And the more people say that Quebecor is going too far, the more justified they feel in going after this supposed sacred cow.

To demonstrate, Lilley points out that "the state broadcaster has generated far more complaints to the federal information commissioner than other government departments or agencies", without pointing out that according to his news agency's own report, "many" of those complaints come from Sun Media itself.

Scabs and anti-scabs

According to the union, a large part of how the Journal de Montréal is still published is the use of "scabs"

Simply put, scabs are strikebreakers, which are illegal in Quebec, a province that has very pro-union labour laws. A company in a strike or lockout can't hire workers to enter the workplace and do the work of those workers in conflict. Only managers can perform those tasks.

Still, the union claims the Journal is violating the law, secretly having scab labour doing the jobs of locked-out journalists. They claim "dizaines" - a claim that is far from proven. So far, only a single case two cases (thanks J.F.) have been proven, according to labour board decisions so far. Sylvain Prevate from 24 Heures was in violation of the labour code when he was in the Journal building putting together pages during the ADISQ gala in 2009. That proof came from a Rue Frontenac journalist who had to trick him into admitting he was there. There was also - as Codère points out below - freelancer Guy Bourgeois, who was asked to conduct interviews. In that case, the proof was in the Journal itself.

There are no regular inspections to prove that the Journal is complying with the law, and it's essentially up to the locked-out workers themselves (who are prohibited from being on the property owned by the Journal) to prove that their employer is breaking the labour code.

This scab business actually goes back to the Journal de Québec lockout, which began in 2007. A labour board decision, reached after the conflict had been resolved, ruled that the Journal made use of scab labour through a pretty sketchy setup involving subcontractors. But that decision was overturned in court, which ruled that they weren't scabs because of the technicality that they never entered the workplace - the Journal de Québec offices.

Quebecor learned from the Journal de Québec lockout, and setup a news agency called Agence QMI ("QMI Agency" in English, the QMI standing for Quebecor Media Inc.). The basic idea is simple: Allow companies in Quebecor's vast media empire to share content with each other. It's similar to what Canwest did with its Canwest News Service (now Postmedia News) and some major U.S. newspapers - McClatchy-Tribune, New York Times, L.A. Times/Washington Post all have their own wire services.

But QMI Agency also has the advantage of being able to provide the Journal de Montréal with local and regional content in the event of a lockout or strike. There's 24 Heures and LCN for local news, the Journal de Québec for stuff from the provincial government, Sun Media for the rest of the country, 7 jours for entertainment news, Argent for business news, etc. Add on international wire services, and the managers can take care of the rest.

Like Canwest/Postmedia, Quebecor's decision to setup QMI Agency was mainly to replace Canadian Press so they could save money and compete with the national cooperative (now privately owned) news service. But it clearly formed part of the plan for the Journal to deal with its lockout.

Having lost the Journal de Québec case in court, and failing to have QMI journalists declared strikebreakers, the unions are now turning to the government to change the law so that workers don't have to physically enter the workplace to be considered scabs.

It's a pretty simple case - the law already bans scabs, but was written at a time when work couldn't really be done outside a workplace. Changing the law would simply update it for the realities of 21st century technology.

The Liberal Party's youth wing supports such a change, and the Parti Québécois has tabled a bill to make it. But it's still far from clear if t will pass. That depends on Jean Charest and his Liberals.

La Presse's Vincent Marissal suggests some reasons why it hasn't come to be yet.

In the meantime, Quebecor can't be faulted for following the law, even if many people may disagree with it, and even if it may seem unfair.

The hearings

One thing the government has agreed to do is hold parliamentary hearings into the Journal de Montréal lockout, where Péladeau has been invited - but not obligated - to testify.

As you can imagine with parliamentary hearings, expect this to become political somehow. If the Liberals don't immediately make it clear that they support changing the law on strike-breaking, the PQ will pounce on that and label the Liberals enemies of the worker. And even if they do, there's the ADQ who will take Quebecor's side, and Amir Khadir who's clearly on the union's side and wants to see Quebecor broken up.

It's hard to predict in advance what will come of the hearings (besides the bickering). Maybe nothing substantial, maybe something serious like a campaign to force Quebecor to divest some of its media holdings. Or maybe a change of the anti-scab law that will put Quebecor in a difficult position. One thing is for sure: Quebecor is going to fight hard against any attempt to take on its bottom line, and I wouldn't expect them to hesitate to use that giant media empire to further their cause.

UPDATE (Dec. 15): The hearings have been confirmed, with at least one prominent Liberal suggesting the anti-scab law is out of date and should be changed.

The Caisse

Quebecor's supposed evility (evilness? evilment?) has gotten to the point where some are calling on the Caisse de dépôt et placement to step in. You see, in 2000, when Rogers was set to buy Videotron, the Caisse provided enough financing so that Péladeau's Quebecor could purchase the cable company instead to keep its profits in Quebec. The deal gave Péladeau control over Videotron's telecom services and TVA's broadcasting assets. In return, the new Quebecor Media Inc. is owned 45% by the Caisse.

While it's not controlling power (Quebecor itself owns the majority of Quebecor Media), it's a bargaining chip. The only problem is that the Caisse doesn't concern itself too much with political issues, and the government doesn't want to force its hand, which would put Quebecers' money at the whims of the political desires of the party in charge.

If the Caisse is letting the lockout continue, it's not because it wants to be evil, it's because its primary concern is making money for Quebecers, not satisfying a few locked-out journalists and their union backers.

Should we boycott Videotron to express displeasure at Quebecor?

My dilemmas

In February, during a brief period when I was unemployed (it lasted from 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 1 to mid-afternoon on March 1), I had discussions with someone from QMI Agency about a job in the rapidly-expanding news agency. There was a grand total of one sit-down discussion and no formal offer, but I debated internally for quite a while about whether I could work there. It was one thing working for Quebecor (plenty of respectable journalists do), but to take a job at a news agency that is being blamed for allowing the Journal lockout to drag on so long, while those locked-out workers are walking the picket lines, I just wasn't sure.

I asked for advice from some friends and respected colleagues. When I started off a theoretical question to one about working for the devil, she immediately shot back "is it Quebecor?" Another fellow journalist said I shouldn't hesitate to jump on the offer.

In the end, The Gazette needed some extra staff and I was offered another contract there, one I happily accepted.

Almost a year later, I'm facing another dilemma, this one about Videotron.

Videotron is Quebecor's big moneymaker. Its revenue is twice that of the next largest division (the newspapers) at $2 billion a year, and its profits represent 75% of Quebecor's income, according to its latest annual report's financial statements. Take Videotron out of the equation, and you bring Quebecor to its knees.

My parents have been Videotron cable subscribers since it took over CF Cable TV. When I moved out on my own, I signed up for Illico cable and Internet, and I've been with them since.

A few weeks ago I started getting mail from Bell, announcing that its Fibe TV service was soon going to be available in my area. I was tempted by some of its selling points - a free PVR for three years, lots of HD channels (even though I don't have an HD television set), and at first glance it seemed I might save money compared to what I currently pay Videotron.

Then I remembered that Bell has the worst customer service of Canada's telecom companies. And that their offer of à la carte television service is only in Quebec (because that's where Videotron operates), and that said à la carte service has a bunch of holes in it. CNN isn't available à la carte, for some reason.

The thing is, I actually like Videotron. Service interruptions have been few and far between, it offers true à la carte television service selection, and I've never been gone over my Internet download cap. Sure, I'd like to pay less than $100 a month for TV and Internet, and I'd like to have more options for free video on demand than TVA and more TVA. And I think we should have more than one option for digital cable in Canada's second-largest city. But Bell is making it clear that it's only giving customers choice because they're being forced to by Videotron's competitive pressure, and I've yet to see any evidence that its newfound commitment to customer service has made any difference in its quality.

A matter of comparison

It's hard to judge whether a company is evil without looking at its competition. Postmedia Network, the company I work for, has also abandoned Canadian Press for its own news service, and it's also centralizing and outsourcing much of its operations, reducing what it considers redundancy in staff. Global Television has gutted local stations to centralize operations, even to the point of having fake local sets computer-generated through green screens. CTV has forced its local stations to rename their newscasts to "CTV News" and incorporate the national brand. CBC/Radio-Canada has implemented convergence plans that have seen TV and radio newsrooms come together. Rogers is trying to buy the Toronto Maple Leafs in order to profit from its TV distribution and blackmail fans into subscribing to its cable service and specialty channels. V, formerly TQS, doesn't even have a news department. Transcontinental runs community weekly newspapers whose newsrooms are so bare they're absolute jokes. Corus cancelled local programming at a bunch of regional radio stations to be replaced by a show out of Montreal. And now those stations are being bought by Cogeco, which wants an exception to the CRTC's media concentration rules so it can own a much larger piece of Montreal's radio pie.

The list goes on.

There are media companies and news organizations that try not to be evil, either because they're run by benevolent dictators, because they're non-profits, or because they're too small to turn into giant soulless corporate machines. Those organizations tend to stay marginal or die out completely.

Large corporations aren't good or evil. They're machines without a conscience, with enough layers to separate the people who make decisions from the people those decisions affect. Their goal is to make money for shareholders, who are themselves a few layers removed from the details of how their money is made. Appealing to their conscience is pointless. If it's more profitable, all things considered, to throw grandma under the bus, they won't hesitate to do it.

Quebecor's primary mission is no different from that of any other large company: It wants to make money.

So to answer the question...

Is Quebecor evil?

I don't know. To answer yes or no to that question is to ignore how grey the whole issue is.

But if you've read all of the above, my opinion no longer matters. You have enough information to decide for yourself.

UPDATE (Dec. 31): Le Devoir's Stéphane Baillargeon on the stupid war between Radio-Canada/Gesca and Quebecor.

Related Posts

• Enquête sur Quebecor: Good, but I expected more (UPDATED)
• Série Montréal-Québec: Flawless, says Journal
• Journal Lockout Digest: FTQ traitors
• Journal Daily Digest: Jack to the rescue
• Journal Daily Digest: Quebecor fights back

Sun TV News, the new specialty channel being proposed by Quebecor, is in the news again because their second attempt at CRTC approval has been released to the public.

After the previous application for a Category 1 specialty channel was outright rejected by the CRTC, Quebecor has decided to put forward an application for a Category 2 channel, just like almost every new specialty channel in the past few years.

Both categories are digital channels, meaning they won't be on analog cable and aren't part of the basic package. The difference is that Category 1 channels must have a minimum of 50% Canadian content, and in return all digital cable and satellite providers must make the channel available on a discretionary basis. For Category 2 channels, the dealings with television providers are mostly unregulated. They negotiate carriage fees with each other, and the providers can choose whether or not to make the channel available.

But while the Sun TV News application is technically a Category 2 channel, Quebecor is asking for an exception that grants it the biggest advantage of Category 1: mandatory availability, at least for the first three years.

In both the previous and current applications, media coverage and left-wing reaction has confused the nature of what Quebecor is asking for. That's partially understandable. CRTC's regulations can be overly complicated sometimes, particularly when it comes to what channels providers have to carry.

This Canadian Press article, for example, states three times that the new channel would be "funded with money from cable TV fees", even though that's not what the application is requesting. The statements are attributed to activists, but aren't challenged in the article, leaving readers to assume they are true. This report uses the term "must-carry", which has a special meaning at the CRTC that doesn't apply in this case. Quebecor isn't asking for must-carry status. This Globe and Mail story also uses the term "must carry", as does this National Post report.

"Must carry" vs. "must offer"

In an effort to reduce the confusion, let me explain a bit how this works.

There is a list of channels that all cable and satellite providers must provide as part of their basic packages. In addition to the local television channels, this also includes things like CPAC and APTN. Other channels like CBC News Network and the Weather Network are also included in basic packages. Fees, set by the CRTC, are charged to all subscribers to pay for these channels.

Beyond that, there are levels of discretionary tiers that have different statuses at the CRTC. Some are allowed on analog cable on a discretionary basis or can be part of the basic package. Some, like Category 1 channels, are offered only on a digital basis unless an exception is warranted.

Category 2 channels are the least regulated type, and the one preferred by both the CRTC and new channel applicants because of how easy it is and how low the minimum requirements are.

Though it might seem like your cable or satellite company has every channel in existence, it doesn't. Bell TV, for example, doesn't carry MuchMoreRetro. Videotron doesn't carry Fox News Channel (somewhat ironically, if you think Quebecor is an evil right-wing empire). Shaw Direct doesn't carry Court TV (now Investigation Discovery) or TFO. There is no regulation requiring these companies to make these channels available. They decide what their users might be interested in, based on what the channels offer and what they want to charge the TV provider. The channels, meanwhile, ask people to "call your cable or satellite provider" to pressure them into adding the channel to their lineup.

What Quebecor wants with Sun TV News is to bypass this process, and require that all digital TV providers have the channel in their lineups. The wholesale price would still be negotiated between the provider and the network, and the provider could package the channel and charge for it however it feels.

Kory Teneycke, the former Harper aide who is behind this application, calls it "must offer" to distinguish it from "must carry". I'll use that expression for lack of a better one.

In short, Quebecor is asking that this channel be available on all digital cable and satellite providers, but the choice to take it would be entirely up to the consumer. Nobody would be forced to pay for the channel if they didn't want it.

The package exception

One scenario that might see people paying for Sun TV News without wanting to would be if they got it as part of a package. It would make sense for a news channel theme pack to include Sun TV News with CTV News Channel, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, BNN, CNBC, Al Jazeera English and BBC World News. Someone might select that wanting all the news channels but having moral objections to Sun TV (and, presumably, Fox News).

But this packaging is entirely up to the TV provider. It's not regulated by the CRTC and isn't negotiated with the channels.

The CRTC only regulates packaging to ensure that porn channels and single-view religious channels aren't forced on consumers as part of packages. Theoretically, the CRTC could require the same thing for Sun TV News that it requires for Playboy TV, but that seems a bit excessive.

Of course, if cable and satellite providers did away with such packages, or offered people à la carte options, this wouldn't be an issue. But so far, only one major TV provider offers that kind of à la carte service: Quebecor-owned Videotron.

Ignorance breeds fear

What gets me most about the reaction to this application is how much people are willing to oppose it without knowing what it is. There has been no proposed program grid, not even any confirmed hosts. All we know about Sun TV News is that it wants to be a mix of news and opinion, that its creators consider the other news channels "boring", and that those creators are Conservatives who want to create a channel based partially on Fox News.

A group of activists has already started a petition that has 68,000 signatures on it (we're not sure how many of those are real people). It repeats the non-truth about forcing people to pay for the channel, and throws in some drama that makes it seem as if Stephen Harper is trying to force his ideological agenda into our brains through the CRTC.

Sun Media had a field day with this, saying that the petition is based out of New York and that author Margaret Atwood and her cronies are trying to suppress free speech. Even Teneycke himself weighed in.

Fox News Cheap

It's hard to judge something like this until you've seen it. Sun TV News could become a quality all-news network that bring much-needed competition to the industry. It could become a Fox News North, as critics have called it, providing news coverage to make people think it's objective, but loading primetime hours with fearmongering blowhards who care more about expressing their opinions than seeking the truth.

The arguments from Quebecor that this isn't Fox News North are contradicted by statements in the CRTC appliction, particularly this one:

The most comparable channel to STN is located in the USA, Fox News. Both channels’ strategy is to focus hard news and commentary that raise public debates and reactions on different topics. Fox News has been USA’s most watched All News channel for years and still is. In 2008-2009, Fox News’s audience was as high as CNN’s and MSNBC’s combined. Fox News does not have extensive distribution in Canada. Therefore, this represents a true opportunity for STN.

But while their goal is to replicate Fox News, I think the more likely scenario is that Sun TV News will be an experiment in cheap newsgathering that will quickly become a laughing stock because of its horribly small budget. According to the CRTC application, the channel plans to have a budget of about $25 million, of which $15 million would go to programming and technical costs. Though it's hard to directly compare this to CBC and CTV, since they take advantage of their local stations and national newscasts (I'm trying hard not to use the word "synergies" here), it's still very little money. We're looking at a staff of maybe 100 people, including journalists, anchors, producers and technicians, advertising salespeople, marketers, etc. Anyone who thinks he can run a national news network on that kind of budget is probably kidding himself.

The feared scenario, that they'll spend little money on news budget and focus all their efforts on opinion, makes more sense considering how little they have to spend. But even then, the big-name blowhards come at a high price, and a $25 million total budget isn't enough to get a Canadian Glenn Beck on the air if you want anything more than a webcam and laptop in front of him.

How Sun TV News describes itself

Though it's obviously self-serving, we really can't judge Sun TV News based on anything other than the statements of the people behind it.

Here, verbatim from the CRTC application, is how Sun TV News describes its "hard news" and "straight talk":

“Hard News” will almost exclusively rely on live reporting and real-time conversations with journalists covering breaking news – as opposed to the more traditional news wheel format that features a revolving set of news stories. But these headlines will be analysed, commented upon and discussed at length. The host will question the reporter and will have an intelligent exchange that will often open to further debate.

News will not be read like in a news bulletin. Daytime “hard news” will be covering a broad range of political, economic and lifestyle stories that matter to Canadians both rural and urban. So even its “hard news” portion will not be “all news” like it has traditionally been done in Canada. Short traditional news bulletin may be programmed but not more than once an hour.

“Straight Talk” will be programs featuring hosts and guests that deliver strong opinions and analysis of stories that are important to Canadians that day. “Straight talk” opinion journalism at night will be clear, intelligent and engaging – featuring a broader array of television personalities and signature hosts who will challenge viewers to think – and decide – for themselves. The challenging of ideas in itself may feed the news but at least will attempt to have Canadians make their own mind on the events occurring every day in Canada.

That could easily describe either Fox News Channel or MSNBC. Or a bunch of other networks. But it gives a bit of an idea what they're going for.

What the CRTC should do

The CRTC doesn't have the luxury of watching this network and judging whether it's good for Canadian TV watchers. It has to go on the application itself.

Based on that application, I would argue the CRTC should accept the network, maybe even with the exception they're requesting (particularly since it's only temporary).

The reason is simple: The channel proposes to create all its content. It says it will have zero foreign content. That alone should put it on a level higher than those Category 2 channels that air little but Family Guy reruns, 80s music videos, Star Trek movie marathons and ancient sitcoms.

The fact that Sun TV News wants to add to both news coverage and political debate in this country should certainly count for something as well, even though we may not agree with it.

The potential for abuse is there, but the CRTC already requires broadcasters to adhere to a code of ethics through the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. Sun TV News has already accepted that it would be subject to those rules. The CRTC can't prohibit someone from starting up a channel because fearmongers disagree with the political leanings of its creator.

Sun TV News made sure to suggest in its application that without mandatory availability for at least the first three years on air, its business case would fall apart:

If mandatory access for a maximum period of three years is not granted to Sun TV News, one or more major cable or satellite providers might decide to not offer this service. This would be fatal to our business case as shown in Appendix 1, and would likely result in the cancellation of the Sun TV News project.

The CRTC shouldn't let itself get bullied. But it should set policy encouraging new channels to include as much original, Canadian content as possible. Sun TV News, which seems to put this figure at 100%, should be rewarded for that, just like any other channel should.

Sun TV News's suggestion that it get a break from closed-captioning requirements, though, should be ignored. Broadcasters routinely request exemptions from obligations to CC programming, like a high school student who wants an extension on a term paper.

Though it doesn't specifically request relief from CC requirements, it gives this quote: "However commendable this obligation is, the sums that need to be invested in such an amount of closed captioning means a lower amount is left for Canadian programs."

I'm pretty sure everyone else could make a similar argument.

By the numbers

Looking through Sun TV News's CRTC application, I found some interesting financial projections I thought would be worth sharing.

• Though the wholesale fee would be negotiated between the broadcaster and TV provider, Sun TV News uses a base fee of $0.25 per subscriber per month in its analysis, and seems to suggest that they would aim for this. (That doesn't mean the channel would cost $0.25 to consumers though - providers charge consumers far above the wholesale rate.)
• If the mandatory availability or "must offer" requirement is given, Sun TV News expects 17% penetration in the first year and up to 50% penetration by the end of the seven-year license at $0.25 per month. ("Penetration" defined as the number of cable/satellite subscribers who pay for the channel.)
• Based on this analysis, the channel would get $15 million a year in subscriber revenue, which would be combined with $10 million a year in advertising to reach the $25 million budget.

Quebecor survey shows Sun TV News wouldn't be popular

The CRTC application includes some survey data from polling they conducted. Though they do a good job of spinning it, the survey shows only 41% of Canadian TV watchers would be somewhat (36%) or very (5%) likely to subscribe to the channel. This makes its 50% penetration rate seem a bit far-fetched.

Similarly, a survey showed "Canadians do not find reporters to have an inherent bias in the news they report" (52% vs 7%), contradicting claims by Quebecor that Canadians are tired of the "lamestream" media's biases.

When asked about their satisfaction with current news choices, 67% in Quebecor's survey rate it six or higher on a scale of 1-10. Quebecor spins this as saying Canadians are "not extremely satisfied", but when almost half are rating seven or eight on a scale of 1-10, I would argue that's pretty satisfied. Postmedia's Andrew Mayeda agrees.

Finally, even though Teneycke and company are pushing this as a competitor to CBC and CTV news channels, the application softens the stance and even argues that those networks won't be seriously affected by the appearance of Sun TV News. Instead, it argues that it will bring Canadians back from CNN (which it simultaneously argues is winning Canadian viewers from CBC and CTV because it has more opinionative programming in primetime, and is losing American viewers to Fox News because its primetime programming isn't opinionative enough).

"In the long run, we believe the impact on the existing Canadian all-news services will be negligible," it says.

I'm sure that comes as a relief to them.

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• L'Écho de Repentigny (59,000 copies), serving Le Gardeur to Lavaltrie and competing directly with Transcontinental's Hebdo Rive-Nord
• Journal de Joliette (62,000 copies), serving Joliette, Berthierville and St-Michel-des-Saints and competing directly with Transcontinental's L'Action

Quebecor says it will create 120 jobs with these new papers, which sounds like a lot, even from a company that is looking for creative ways around Quebec's anti-scab law to get cheap content for the Journal de Montréal.

So far, there's been no counterattack from Transcontinental in areas that Quebecor has historically covered, like the south shore. It remains to be seen if they will raise the stakes and create real competition in community newspapers, or if they'll just give up and watch the media giant slowly erode what's left of Transcon's readership.

UPDATE: Seems I've missed the Rive-Sud Express, which was launched in April and competes directly with Quebecor's Courier du Sud. Last week, Transcontinental added Point de vue Sainte-Agathe and Point de vue Mont-Tremblant, and Abitibi Express, that compete with Information du nord Sainte-Agathe, Information du nord Mont-Tremblant and La Frontière, respectively.

The Point de vue papers are actually a split-up of the formerly independent Point de vue Laurentides, which Transcontinental has acquired and turned into two weeklies, each running with a single journalist, a freelancer and a shared photographer, and a bunch of people doing ad sales.

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Canadian media are buzzing today (and have been for about a week or so) about Sun News, the new all-news specialty TV network being setup by Quebecor Media.

Before its name was made public, people were calling it "Fox News North", partly because the guy behind it, Kory Teneycke, used to shill for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The reputation that Quebecor and its head honcho Pierre-Karl Péladeau have built certainly helped fuel the rumours that a strong conservative bias would be more important to this network than a commitment to accuracy in reporting.

Though the announcement doesn't make reference to Fox (directly) or use the word "conservative", and Teneycke dismisses the comparison, the hints are all there. The video talks about being "strong and proud", and Canada being "the greatest place on Earth" (I assume that's part of their "factual" "straight talk" and they have lots of research to back that assertion up). And, of course, nobody involved with the project has denied outright that it would take a conservative, or at least strongly opinionative, stance.

The application

Quebecor says it has applied for a Category 1 specialty channel license from the CRTC. This means that satellite and digital cable providers would be required to put the channel on a discretionary tier so anyone who wanted to have it as part of their package could get it. Analog cable companies are not even allowed to carry them, except by special exception.

This is interesting because virtually all new specialty channels apply for a Category 2 license. This is entirely discretionary - cable and satellite companies would not be required to even make it available, and can freely negotiate with broadcasters to determine fees.

It makes sense for Quebecor to apply for a Category 1 license because the two biggest regulatory hurdles don't apply to the concept. First, Category 1 channels have genre protection (and must respect other channels' exclusivity), so people can't launch a new weather channel or business network or cartoon network - unless it has a very specific focus that doesn't compete directly with the Weather Network, BNN or Teletoon, respectively. But the CRTC decided recently that it would remove such protections from news and sports networks, because it judged that they had matured to the point where they were no longer needed.

Second, Category 1 channels must have at least 50% Canadian content. Since presumably all the content on Sun News would be provided by its journalists and those of Quebecor Media, that wouldn't be a problem.

The biggest problem will be convincing the CRTC that it should grant a license in what it originally planned to be a very limited category of digital specialty channels like Book TV, Bold, Discovery Health and G4.

Think Sun Media, LCN ... and yes, Fox News

I don't doubt that Sun News Channel will have a conservative slant to it, or at least a Fox News-style sensationalist slant. They've already said that they want to have opinion, and the kinds of talking heads you don't find on the other networks (CBC, CTV). But while I have no evidence to back this up, I'm thinking the model they'll want to use for the channel isn't so much Fox News as it is LCN.

For the Toronto-ites out there, LCN is kind of Quebec's equivalent to CP24, a regionally-focused news network that's the first to send a helicopter out when something happens in Montreal. Fires, car accidents, minor natural disasters, dead children, all the usual local news stuff. It's the channel that's usually on in the newsroom, for the simple reason that it's the TV network closes to an all-Montreal-news channel. (LCN pretends it's Quebec-wide, and it does have journalists elsewhere, but the vast majority of its news is based in the Montreal area, or occasionally Quebec City).

LCN also has opinion. Richard Martineau, Jean-Luc Mongrain, Claude Poirier, and anyone else who can talk loud even if they don't really say much of substance (Actually, now that I think about it, that does sound a lot like Fox News), and can be easily pre-empted if breaking news happens during the day. After LCN changed its format to have more of these kinds of hosts, ratings apparently shot up 300 per cent.

But while I think there will be a definite fiscal-conservative slant (expect investigative stories every day based on access to information requests for CBC expenses), I don't think we'll be seeing the same kind of socially conservative biases you see in the United States. I don't see Sun News praising Sarah Palin or talking about the evils of abortion or trotting out conspiracy theories that Michael Ignatieff is a secret terrorist.

Then again, I could be wrong. Sun News could turn into the press release arm of the Conservative Party. It could start simulcasting Fox News Channel. It could start running free ads for the Christian Heritage Party. Nobody knows yet. We'll just have to wait and see.

It's interesting to note here that although Fox News Channel is approved for carriage in Canada, Quebecor-owned Videotron doesn't make it available on its digital service. I suspect many Quebecers criticizing Quebecor may be basing their opinions of Fox News on what they see on the Daily Show.

Conservative is better than nothing

I welcome Sun News for the same reason I welcome the National Post: It's a different voice, and it employs journalists. If that means stories get out into the public that would have remained secret before, I'd say that's worth hearing more of Ezra Levant. I would hope they take their role seriously and concentrate more on being honest and open than countering perceived biases in their competitors. And I think Canadians should keep them on their toes and put immense pressure on them to keep their biases in check.

But either way, adding a new voice to the equation can only make the Canadian news industry more diverse.

My biggest worry

Although a news network that seeks to impose an opinion more than inform the population sounds pretty scary, my biggest worry about Sun News isn't that it will be conservative, it's that it will be cheap.

During the press conference announcing the network, after Teneycke blasted so-called "elites", he talked about, and I'm quoting directly here: "value-added content convergence with Sun Media properties across Canada". Besides being filled with meaningless industry buzzwords, it seemed apparent that Sun Media and Quebecor believe they can use existing journalists to supply the network. They think that Sun Media print reporters can do TV spots, as part of some convergent utopia.

(Speaking of which, it's interesting that Péladeau claims the media is in crisis - forcing him to lock out journalists at the Journal de Québec, Le Réveil and the Journal de Montréal - and then appears at a press conference to announce he's spending millions on a new TV news network. Péladeau said during the press conference when asked directly about this that the two are unrelated. But the irony was certainly not lost on locked-out Journal de Montréal workers.)

Even CTV and CBC, which have local television stations across the country to supply a national news network, need "national" reporters in various cities to supply the national network and national evening news. Anyone who's seen videos on Sun Media websites can't be optimistic about the prospects of a news network relying on them for content.

I'm sure Sun News will hire anchors (the prettiest they can find), technicians and all sorts of other people to run the channel. But without that network of videojournalists, I wouldn't expect their news operation to be able to match what the main networks can provide, outside of Toronto and (if they share resources with LCN and TVA) Quebec.

The opinion-news mix has two advantages over straight news. One is that it provides higher ratings, as the choir flock to their preachers. The other is that it's cheap. Spend good money on a well-known host, add maybe a researcher or two, and you're done. The big mouth blabbers about whatever, provided it's controversial and excites or angers the audience enough that they pay attention. And if Glenn Beck demonstrated anything, it's that those talking heads don't have to make sense, be consistent, have any connection to reality or have any journalistic integrity to succeed.

As much as sending out hundreds of access to information requests to the CBC, then trolling through management expense claims to drum up even the most minor irregularity may seem petty and biased, it's still journalism.

My fear with Sun News isn't that it's going to have those kinds of stories, it's that it'll have those kinds of stories and then have blowhards yelling about them for three hours, showing some clips from YouTube and then calling it a day.

Kind of like Fox News. Or CNN. Or MSNBC.

Let's hope I've vastly underestimated what Quebecor has planned.

Sun News Channel is slated for launch Jan. 1, 2011, pending CRTC approval.

UPDATE: Bill Brioux is also highly skeptical of this network, particularly because of the failures at CKXT, the local Toronto station they're trying to "convert" into Sun News.

UPDATE (June 24): Steve Proulx has some thoughts (mainly negative) about Quebecor's convergence and conservativeness and how it's affecting media.

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Like similar papers throughout the province, these are free papers heavily supported by advertising. Echo de Laval will be distributed to 120,000 homes in Laval, while the Echo de la Rive-Nord goes to 66,000 homes in Saint-Janvier, Sainte-Thérèse, Blainville, Rosemère, Boisbriand, Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, Bois-des-Filion and Lorraine (in other words, the middle north shore).

The papers' launch is significant for a few reasons:

• Quebecor decides on the business model for these publications, without having to worry about appeasing unions. They've already said the two newspapers will work together, and other processes might be in place that would make unions cringe.
• The launch comes while journalists at the Journal de Montréal are still locked out. Having newspapers in Laval and the immediate north shore will give much-needed content to Quebecor's Agence QMI, which could in turn feed the Journal de Montréal. (The Laval paper is already making heavy use of QMI stories from 24 Heures.)
• The launch of these papers breaks an unofficial agreement between Quebecor and Transcontinental Media to stay off each other's turf. Transcontinental has papers all across the island of Montreal, as well as the Courrier Laval, one of its larger papers. Quebecor has papers on the south shore, meanwhile. The launch of the Echo de Laval will put the two in direct competition, during a time when that's the last thing small newspapers want.
• The previous point is made worse by the fact that two of the people named in the press release used to work at Transcontinental's Laurentians paper, Le Trait d'Union. Mario Marois, who was Trait d'Union's publisher until recently, becomes publisher of l'Echo de Laval. Guy Crépeau, who has worked as a journalist and as ad sales supervisor for Trait d'Union, becomes the news director for both Quebecor papers.

Quebecor says the two papers will add 23 jobs (Sun Media VP Charles Michaud specifies this includes seven full-time journalists and one part-time journalist). Their first issues come out Thursday.

Non, l'autre pair

Quebecor's press release says that "selon le nouveau modèle d'affaires de Quebecor Media, journalistes et équipes de ventes travailleront de pair au sein des deux publications." Some have interpreted this to mean that the wall between editorial and advertising would come down at the two papers, with both sides working together. Cécile Gladel and the STIJM are already calling foul.

Michaud, who is the big boss of Quebecor's community weeklies, says this isn't the case:

Pas question de mélanger les genres. La publicité et la rédaction restent bien distincts l'une de l'autre.

Il faut comprendre que les deux salles de rédaction travailleront de pair pour les nouvelles qui touchent les deux territoires. Ce sera d'ailleurs la même situation au niveau des ventes de publicité.

In other words, the papers will work together on news-gathering and advertising sales, but there won't be advertorials or special journalistic treatment for advertisers. The advertising-editorial wall remains in place. (He made a similar statement to Le Trente when asked about it.)

UPDATE (Feb. 25): The issues are out, each with half-page ads featuring their journalists:

Echo de Laval journalists: Guy Crépeau (directeur de l'information), Cédérick Carond (journaliste), Marie-Ève Proulx (journaliste), Marcius-Evans Parenteau (journaliste), Yves Ranger (photographe)

Echo de la Rive-Nord editorial: Luc Bélanger (éditeur), Guy Crépeau (directeur de l'information et photographe), Josiane Yelle (journaliste), Simon Dussureault (journaliste), Yves Ranger (photographe)

Both newspapers have pages with the faces of their advertising salespeople up top and pictures and blurbs on business announcements. (Echo de Laval, Echo de la Rive-Nord). I'm still waiting on a response from Michaud about what the purpose of these pages is.

UPDATE (March 13): Le Trente also takes issue with a piece defending a tanning salon whose only source is the owner of that tanning salon - who also has an ad in that paper.

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Quebecor put a final offer on the table on Thursday, adding that if the workers refused, the paper would be shut down at the end of the month. (Coverage from Radio-Canada, Rue Frontenac, Projet J.) The final offer would result in the layoff of 20 of the paper's 25 unionized employees, leaving only three journalists and two office workers. The rest would get severance of two weeks' salary for every year of service, up to a maximum 42 weeks (14 of the 20 will max out, the rest will receive less).

The union voted 68% in favour of the offer.

UPDATE: After-the-fact coverage from Journal de Québec, Argent, Le Quotidien

A similar deal was reached last week at Le Plein Jour in Baie-Comeau.

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I switched back and forth a bit between the TVA broadcast and an actual sporting event that actually mattered. What little I saw of the show consisted entirely of long, drawn-out American Idol-style (or, if you prefer, «Star Académie»-style) player introductions. It's one thing when you're introducing two or three people you've never met, but it gets old after the first few dozen.

Thankfully, I wasn't the only one to notice that. Le Soleil's Richard Therrien and La Presse's Hugo Dumas showed an inspiring example of Quebec-Montreal unity by panning the show and its presentation devoid of any energy. The review from Dans ma télé's Annie Fortin was lukewarm at best, with similar criticisms.

But then there's the Journal de Montréal.

Journal de Montréal - Jan. 25, 2010

I find it ironic that Quebecor's new Agence QMI put together an article (one written like a ninth-grade book report or the minutes of a school board meeting) that was good enough for both 24 Heures in Montreal and the Journal de Québec website, but the Journal de Montréal decided it needed to have one of its few remaining journalists- Michelle Coudé-Lord - write a redundant story reviewing the show (one, I should add, that was reprinted verbatim in the Journal de Québec - in fact, the latter had an identical two-page spread, only in black and white).

Then again, Coudé-Lord's story has plenty of adjectives that the Agence QMI story was lacking, and her impression was so diametrically opposed to everyone else's (including mine) that I can only conclude that she was in a different universe at the time or has become disconnected from reality:

La Série Montréal/Québec sera rassembleuse comme le fut Star Académie. On n'abandonne pas une recette gagnante. Attendez-vous à ce que le Québec se divise en deux au cours des prochaines semaines. Les joueurs sont attachants ...

Guy Lafleur a résumé fort bien ce qu'allait être cette série : «le hockey est un jeu qui nous rend heureux».

La présentation des joueurs a donné le ton. L'émotion sera au rendez-vous. Stéphane Laporte et Julie Snyder, le concepteur et la productrice de cette série, savent faire de la télévision pour et par le monde. Et encore hier soir ils en ont fourni la preuve.

Le portrait de chaque joueur nous le rendait fort sympathique. ... C'était même touchant de voir les parents applaudir dans les estrades ...

Loco Locass a interprété avec enthousiasme l'hymne national de Québec ...

Montréal commence fort avec une gardienne de but ... Ça promet.

Belle initiative de Guy Carbonneau ...

Éric Lapointe a donné du chien à l'équipe de Carbo avec une interprétation enlevante de l'hymne national de Montréal.

Une belle réalisation de Michel Quidoz ... Marie-Claude Savard, l'animatrice, fut solide et a su laisser place à l'évènement. ...

That's 16 separate praises by my count, and not a single criticism of the show. I would have reprinted the entire article here if I could do so without fear of a copyright infringement lawsuit. It's surreal.

If I ever get married, I'm having Michelle Coudé-Lord write my vows. By then she'll probably be a public relations specialist.

PR is about the only way I can explain both Journals taking two colour pages to present players from both teams.

Hell, it makes Jeff Lee (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Quebecor-owned Videotron) look tame in his video blowjob.

Despite what some conspiracy theorists might think, Quebecor-owned media were not unanimous in their praise. Roxanne Tremblay of 7 jours didn't hold back on criticisms, and followed it up with a second-day story about the show's problems.

But still, even though I'm skeptical of theories about media owners directly affecting editorial content on a day-to-day basis, I can't help wonder if Coudé-Lord's article is what Pierre-Karl Péladeau envisions for his newsroom of the future - one where unionized journalists don't stand in the way of Quebecor's self-interest with their silly journalistic ethics.

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First edition of La Page AMT, August 26, 2009

The Agence métropolitaine de transport has announced that, starting Wednesday, it will be communicating with customers via a page in the free daily 24 Heures once a week. The first such page, announcing their new train cars, is available as a PDF. It appears on Page 12 of Wednesday's edition.

If this idea sounds eerily similar to the Info STM page in Metro, it's no coincidence. It all goes back to how these two newspapers got started.

A tale of two free commuter dailies

Metro began publication on March 1, 2001, a partnership between Swedish-based Metro and Montreal-based Transcontinental. A key part of the business plan for this newspaper was a deal it struck with the Société de transport de Montréal (then the Société de transport de la communauté urbaine de Montréal or STCUM). In exchange for exclusive distribution inside the metro system, the newspaper would give 2% of its advertising revenues (guaranteed at $900,000 for the first three years) to the transit agency. It would also give a free page in every issue to the STM so it could more easily offer information to metro users.

Before Metro's first issue went out the door, Quebecor Media launched a campaign against the deal. Cease-and-desist letters went out to both the STM and Metro, followed by a lawsuit. Even a letter from former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, a member of Quebecor's board of directors. Quebecor's argument was that a restriction against other newspapers distributing freely in the metro was a violation of its right to free expression.

The lawsuit was rejected in 2003, and in 2005 the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear an appeal. (A similar lawsuit happened in Philadelphia against Metro, and it too ended up losing in court.) Quebecor was clearly not going to win this battle in court.

24 Heures from four years ago (Aug. 26, 2005)

24 Heures, Quebecor's answer to Metro, was launched as Montréal Métropolitain less than two weeks after Metro began distribution. Because of the agreement between Metro and the STM, the paper is distributed outside metro stations. And because of Montreal's ban on newspaper distribution boxes, the company has to hire people to actually hand copies out to commuters. Without a distribution system in the metro, 24 Heures suffered, and constantly lags behind Metro in circulation figures.

At some point since its launch, 24 Heures decided to focus more on places Metro doesn't distribute (which is basically everywhere outside the metro). One of those places is commuter train stations, where you'll find yellow 24 Heures boxes but no Metro.

So it makes sense that the AMT and 24 Heures team up with this page.

What's unclear is whether the AMT is paying 24 Heures for this page, or whether it's being offered as part of an agreement with the AMT. I've asked the AMT about it, and will update this post with what they say.

La Page AMT will be published every Wednesday in 24 Heures starting August 26. 24 Heures is available in virtual format free online.

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But the Quebecor bid for the Canadiens took a new twist this week when it was discovered that it's being supported by the Fonds de solidarité of the FTQ. The FTQ labour union.

Needless to say that's raised a few eyebrows among the media, not to mention the folks at Rue Frontenac. The STIJM calls it immoral, Martin Leclerc is calling for heads to roll, Michel Van de Walle calls it treason, Serge Touchette is revolted and Beaudet takes a whack at the issue in cartoon form. There was even a protest, another protest at the Bell Centre, and an open letter to Jean Charest.

Aside from the union implications, the deal is also making some worried about what would happen to Canadiens games on RDS if Quebecor and its "king of convergence" at Planète Quebecor were to buy the team. The Gazette's Pat Hickey calls it "a bit scary", Mike Boone agrees and unions aren't crazy about it either. There's even a Facebook group to keep Quebecor from buying the team.

Back to the table, please

Remembering that there's a labour conflict going on, labour minister David Whissell wants both sides to return to the negotiating table. Though he says he doesn't take sides since the conflict is with a private corporation.

Inside the conflict

Radio-Canada's Desautels has a piece about the Journal de Montréal conflict. The audio is online in Windows Media audio.

Défi Chicoutimi

25 of the Journal's 253 locked-out workers have embarked on a bicycle trip from Montreal to Chicoutimi (via Quebec City) to express solidarity with their locked-out colleagues at Le Réveil. You can read about their departure, Day 1 and two reports about Day 2.

Those who couldn't make it on bikes hit the golf course.

Bonne Fête

The Journal de Montréal is 45 years old. Not quite the birthday it expected. Thoughts from:

• Bertrand Raymond
• Marc Beaudet
• Serge Touchette
• Jean-François Codère
• Philippe Rezzonico
• Jean-Philippe Décarie
• Michel van de Walle
• Raynald Leblanc

Rue Frontenac expands

Reinforcing the fact that they're in this for the long haul, Rue Frontenac has added a new section, Détente, for weekend lifestyle features. It also has a special from Jean-Michel Nahas looking at the various candidates for mayor of Montreal.

TVA Publications likes this union thing

Rue Frontenac reports that ad salespeople at TVA Publications are looking to form a union. They've requested accreditation. TVA Publications, in addition to abusing freelancers, is mostly ununionized.

And...

Another pot shot at the Journal's manque de rigueur...

Meanwhile, at the Journal de Québec

Remember that labour board decision that Quebecor said they'd appeal? They're appealing it.

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In case it isn't obvious, Canoe is highlighting (literally) Quebecor-owned channels in its TV listings, including, hilariously, its only anglo cable channel, Men TV (owned jointly with Canwest).

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Of course, neither the release nor the fund's website makes clear that the fund is a CRTC requirement for cable and satellite providers (like Quebecor's Videotron) and this money isn't being distributed out of the kindness of Pierre-Karl Péladeau's heart. In fact, Quebecor has been fighting to change the way television is funded, shutting down the Canadian Television Fund (now the Canadian Media Fund) and allowing Quebecor to give its money only to productions for its networks.

Then again, this behaviour is hardly uncommon in the industry. Broadcasters and distributors alike keep to CRTC minimums for Canadian content, original programming and funding, and then boast how much good they do to a public that's unfamiliar with CRTC policy. CTV's Save Local campaign is an example of this, as is Shaw's response to it.

But what gets me most about this release is this: the Quebecor Fund trumpets itself as supporting "shows that offer quality content and have undeniable durability" (as well as encouraging interactivity and new technologies).

The last item on the list of funding recipients: Occupation Double.

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In April 2008, the bill was $94.74 a month.

Nothing has changed in the amount of service I get. The increase of $5.64 a month is due entirely to Videotron's price hikes:

• Basic digital cable rose from $13.99 a month to $14.99 a month
• The price of 20 extra channels rose from $14 a month to $15 a month (it took effect when I was forced to swap a channel that Videotron didn't want to pay for anymore).
• High-speed cable Internet rose from $58.95 a month to $61.95 a month
• And, of course $0.64 in extra taxes on that extra $5 a month I have to pay.

I could understand this if Videotron's costs were going up and it needed the extra money to stay afloat, but according to Quebecor's financial statements, Videotron makes a shitload of money. Like, $800 million in profit off $1.8 billion in revenue. Not only are those numbers higher than any other unit of the megacorporation, but the profit margin is way, way higher than Quebecor's newspaper or broadcasting divisions.

Even if you take amortization and capital costs out of the equation, that leaves $165 million of profit for Videotron, more than enough to cover interest payments on its $1.8 billion debt.

I'm not that great with quarterly statements, so my numbers might be off here. But Videotron is making a heck of a lot of money off me and other cable subscribers.

No wonder Canada is considered to have the most overpriced broadband Internet in the developed world.

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The final issue of ICI, Vol. 12 No. 28: April 30, 2009

Quebecor has just announced that it is shutting down Montreal alt-weekly ICI, with its last print edition coming out tomorrow. From then on, columns will be published online and in an insert in the Thursday edition of 24 Heures, another Quebecor paper. The move results in nine layoffs of permanent employees as well as a loss of income for 15-20 regular freelancers.

Quebecor's release takes great pains to say that the company did whatever it could to prevent the paper's shutdown. I guess that's supposed to include forcing freelancers to sign abusive contracts, a move that led a high-profile columnist to leave. AJIQ, which represents independent journalists, didn't mince words in blaming ICI's downfall on its treatment of freelancers, which I think is pushing it a bit.

In the end, it probably made little sense for Quebecor to produce two free newspapers in Montreal in addition to the Journal de Montréal. So ICI is being canibalized in favour of 24 Heures.

The big question now is what happens to The Mirror, the anglo alt-weekly which is also owned by Quebecor. This move leaves two anglo weeklies (Mirror and Hour) and one franco (Voir). Voir and Hour are both owned by the independent Voir Communications.

Then again, The Mirror is older than ICI and the disparity in readership on the anglo side isn't as high as it was with Voir and ICI. Quebecor confirms this, saying there's no question about The Mirror being shut down.

It's unclear where ICI's voices will head now, though most are expected to stay with Quebecor in some capacity. Sophie Durocher will (continue to*) have a column in the Journal de Montréal's weekend section, and Pierre Falardeau is expected to stay on in some capacity, according to Le Devoir. Two journalists will move to 24 Heures. ICI's show on Videotron's Vox channel, Ici et là, will also continue for the time being.

UPDATE: The final issue is on the stands, and sadly it looks like the plug was pulled after the issue was put to bed, because there's not the slightest hint that this is the final issue. There are even mentions of future issues:

I don't think so...

Some of ICI's contributors didn't find out about the closing until Quebecor's press release caused journalists to ask them for comment.

UPDATE (May 5): Michel Vézina gives his take in his Montréal Express column.

News coverage:

• The Gazette
• La Presse
  
• Le Devoir
• Rue Frontenac (which delves into ICI's history with Voir)
• Radio-Canada
• Presse Canadienne
• Infopresse
• Metro
• Branchez-Vous
• CIBL (audio interview with Quebecor's Isabelle Dessureault)
• Marketing Magazine

Elsewhere in the blogosphere (no doubt this list will get bigger):

• Steve Proulx
• P45 (a personal perspective from Nicolas Langelier)
• Patrick Lagacé
• Showbiz Chez Nous
• Mange mon blog
• Bande à part
• Deux maudits anglais
• Stanley Pean
• Insécurité Nationale
• Philippe Papineau

*UPDATE (Sept. 25, 2010): Sophie Durocher wishes to clarify that her Journal de Montréal column predates the lockout, so she isn't replacing any unionized workers. Earlier versions of this post also contained a comment about her that, in hindsight, was somewhat unfair, and may have led people to the wrong impression about her Journal column.

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Among the changes:

• The Sarnia Observer has moved its print operation to the London Free Press, and is using more syndicated Sun Media content in its paper (including Journal de Montréal medical columnist Richard Béliveau)
• The Sault Star has laid off three employees in its pre-press operations, which are being moved to a central (non-unionized) Quebecor facility in Barrie.
• The Kingston Whig-Standard has laid off nine employees in its production department and seven in advertising. Some of that work will be taken up by Barrie.

In each case, jobs that were considered technical rather than editorial in nature are being replaced by a centralized operation that can be more efficient and work with fewer people. But the worry is that the people doing these jobs now have no connection to the papers and don't care about the quality of what they put out. The fact that union jobs are replaced by non-union jobs with less pay and no benefits only makes that problem worse.

It's also touching aspects of editorial too. As the Observer article points out, the papers are taking advantage of "synergy" by running national columns rather than local ones wherever possible. The Sun and Osprey chains are even copying whole pages (taking advantage of their similar layouts) from each other, and outsourcing layout work to a centralized location (which is how the Journal de Montréal is still functioning despite a lockout of 253 workers).

If this sounds familiar, a similar strategy is at the centre of stalled contract talks between my union and Canwest, which has centralized its customer service call centre, is centralizing some layout and copy editing work, and started printing standardized business pages in its major dailies.

I think some centralization (even of editorial work) makes sense, and I understand the need of these companies to reduce costs, but there's a fine line between outsourcing a technical job to a company that specializes in that work and removing parts of what give local papers their identity, which go beyond just what names appear in the bylines and what you get in the police blotter.

In the end, it will be the subscribers who decide whether or not any cut goes too far.

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