Editor's Notes Friday 15 April 2011

It has been said . . .

True North Perspective is too radical

While we publish in best traditions of Canadian journalism

What's radical, in a pejorative sense, is that there is no longer a competitive press in Canada.

Canada grew up with a competitive press. During the American Civil War The Montreal Gazette was pro South and pro slavery. The Toronto Globe was pro North and anti-slavery.

In Canada's capital up until the 1950s the two English language dailies registered their differences on their front pages. The Ottawa Journal proudly proclaimed its allegiance with the word Conservative right up there with the newspaper's flag. The Ottawa Citizen matched this with the word Liberal.

Late 1970s and into the 1980s bean counters became an assassination squad and killed daily newspapers throughout the country.

In Ottawa, it was the Journal that was put to death. The Citizen, which for generations had been centre-left was severely wounded when Conrad Black took over.

The recently departed James Travers was Editor-in-Chief of the Citizen at the time. He refused to convert to the radical centre-right politics of Conrad Black so he resigned along with several other heavy hitters on staff.

Travers moved to the centre-left Toronto Star (which True North Perspective uses as a model) and died there after producing some of the best political analysis in the history of Canadian journalism.

What's radical, in the pejorative sense, is that Ottawa, and most of the rest of the country is being fed corporate pablum for news. Those with dull minds don't know the difference and they'll name True North Perspective with a sneer.

This created a vacuum that True North Perspective is successfully working hard to fill.

The dull minded will scorn True North Perspective as "radical" but  will passively accept that with only one serious newspaper, Ottawa is a one-party state. And that's okay with them. I don't call this a double-standard.

I call it stupidity with a stubborn streak.

Meanwhile, taking it easy, but taking it, True North Perspective will continue to publish in the best traditions of Canadian journalism.   

Looking forward