by Patrick White

The death of Israel “Izzy” Asper, CanWest Global media mogul, prompted flattering tributes across Canada last week. However, Asper’s much-criticized heavy hand in editorial content and strict business agenda were, for the most part, left out.

The mass of Asper’s legacy is indisputable. He consolidated the largest media empire Canada has ever seen with around 60 per cent of Canadian media under his CanWest Global ownership. According to many in the media profession, the value of his journalistic legacy remains in question.

Shane McCune, former editor and columnist with the Vancouver Province, a daily newspaper owned by CanWest, said Izzy’s media empire has detracted from culture, journalism and information dissemination in Canada. McCune worked briefly for Asper and witnessed how his views influenced those he employed.

“Before Asper the Province crapped on Chretien and the Liberals. When the Aspers stepped in that all stopped. They didn’t suck up to the Liberals–they just didn’t dog them anymore.”

In 2001, Asper and CanWest came under widespread criticism for their policy of centralizing editorial content. Editorials written in the central Winnipeg office, often echoing Asper’s staunch support of Israel and the federal Liberal government, were printed in all of the company’s 14 major daily papers. McCune saw it as a form of censorship.

“As soon as they run an editorial from Winnipeg, the rest of the paper cannot contradict it,” McCune said. “If they say, ‘Arafat’s got to go,’ you don’t disagree with it if you want to keep your job. It is self-censorship. To get ahead you have to say what the bosses like. You don’t criticize Israel in CanWest.”

The centralized editorial policies shifted content control from the offices of daily papers to CanWest Global headquarters in Winnipeg. “Most foresee the day when all editing is done in Winnipeg,” said McCune.

Lynne Van Luven, associate professor of journalism at UVic, agrees. “The centralized control made a lot more of the editors clear about who is calling the shots, and how much freedom they have,” she said.

Radio talk show host Rafe Mair pulled his column from the Vancouver Sun last year in support of fellow B.C. journalist Gordon Gibson. Gibson was told by his editors he wouldn’t be published again after writing a piece the Aspers felt was critical of them. “I don’t think any journalist depending for income on CanWest won’t indulge in some self-censorship. And, of course, publishers select editors who believe in company policy and they, in turn hire writers,” said Mair of Asper’s editorial policy.

McCune suspects the Asper sons who now hold control of the empire will push it in the same direction as their father. “They are not newspaper proprietors in the old fashioned sense,” he said. “They are number-crunchers. Conrad Black was willing to settle on a lower return on investment than most in the business. He was willing to pay a little more for writers. Leonard and David know they don’t have to put out a good product. The sons show signs of being every bit as litigious as Izzy.”

Van Luven sees the Asper sons steering along the course navigated by their father as well. “Certainly there will be no immediate changes, as the CanWest Global operation is an empire, and empires need to pay tribute to the emperor for a time after his death,” she said.

Asper’s Global television network often placed last among all Canadian networks in terms of Canadian-produced content. Global centres on syndicated American sitcoms and sporting events like NFL football. Only a week before Asper’s death, the network broke from an Ontario provincial election special to air Survivor. Asper once said, “TV stations are gigantic advertising machines there to be filled with product.”

“He stuffed sausage and turned out cheese. He ran the business like a grocery store, by buying in bulk and selling a generic product to the masses.

“He has never shown an interest in Canadian culture,” said McCune.

Rafe Mair feels the diminished product Asper offered was inherent in the way he ran the company. “People like Asper don’t buy media outlets to expand the product but to consolidate expenses, so usually the product suffers.”

Last week also brought the passing of Neil Postman, a New York University professor, critic and best-selling author of Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse In The Age Of Show Business who warned of the negative effects of the rise of style over substance in television and newspapers similar to Asper’s. “The content of politics, religion, education, and anything else that compromises public business must change and be recast in terms that are most suitable for television,” he wrote of modern media.

Though Postman would likely have deplored the style of mass media purveyed by Izzy Asper, they both would have agreed that the public favours distraction over dialogue. But where Postman saw a societal ill, Asper saw the foundations of his empire.