Publisher fired, CanWest blasted

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This article was published 18/06/2002 (8754 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Winnipeg-based CanWest Global has fired the publisher of the Ottawa Citizen over the newspaper’s criticism of the prime minister, drawing calls in the House of Commons for a public inquiry into media ownership.

Opposition parties also suggested yesterday that Prime Minister Jean Chretien played a role in the dismissal of publisher Russell Mills.

They alleged Chretien met with CanWest owner Israel Asper the same day the Citizen ran an editorial calling for Chretien to retire.

“Russell Mills was fired because the prime minister’s buddy (Israel Asper) happened to be his boss,” NDP Leader Alexa McDonough charged. “That is downright dangerous to democracy. We need a full public inquiry into media concentration, ownership and convergence.”

The firing Sunday appears to be the latest volley in a battle over CanWest’s national editorial policy, which requires its 14 largest dailies to publish editorials written from its Winnipeg head office about once a week.

The policy has angered many in journalism who allege it muzzles freedom of the press and stifles diversity of opinion.

CBC-TV’s The National reported last night that some 500 readers were so angered by Mills’ dismissal that by noon yesterday they cancelled their subscriptions to the newspaper.

David Asper personally sacked Mills Sunday night over what the longtime publisher said was his decision to run the editorial calling on Chretien to step down June 1. The paper also ran a lengthy feature highly critical of the prime minister’s actions in the so-called Shawinigate scandal, involving federal loans to businesses in Chretien’s riding.

“I was given the option of retiring, but it would have required signing a confidentiality agreement and just putting out a short statement that I had retired,” Mills said.

“In my view, I couldn’t do that after so many years in journalism, to put out a statement that was inaccurate.”

Mills said his firing was the price paid for not letting CanWest review the editorial before it ran.

In the days after the Citizen editorial, the Asper-owned Southam News ordered all of its major papers to run special editorials that attacked reporters and the Citizen for their reporting on the ethics scandal swirling around Chretien.

Canadian Alliance House leader John Reynolds said former U.S. president Richard Nixon would never have been forced to resign had the Washington Post fired its editor and staff over their Watergate break-in stories.

“For somebody to be fired just because they’re attacking a prime minister I think is unacceptable in our democracy and begs the questions about control in (the media) industry,” said Reynolds.

Mills’ dismissal came a day after he was honoured at Carleton University’s convocation, where he delivered a speech to graduates which included criticism of the Southam policy on national editorials.

A transcript of his address was printed as a full-page item in the Citizen and ran in several other papers, including the Winnipeg Free Press.

Tory Leader Joe Clark demanded to know if Israel Asper had met with Chretien on the weekend the resignation editorial ran in the Citizen, as has been widely rumoured.

While Asper was in Ottawa on the weekend in question, Chretien spokesman Duncan Fulton was unable to say if the prime minister had a private meeting with the media mogul.

“From occasion to occasion, they will have discussions but those discussions never involve personnel matters of the newspaper and it is a ridiculous suggestion that he would have anything to do with an internal situation at CanWest,” Fulton said.

Deputy Prime Minister John Manley refused to commit to a public inquiry.

“I have no idea whether the prime minister has an opinion on how Russell Mills did his job,” Manley said. “Clearly, Mr. Mills had an opinion on the prime minister. I suspect their opinions would have the same amount of weight in terms of whether or not the other holds his job.”

Last night at a garden party for reporters, Chretien said he “had not read the four pages of crap” written in the Citizen on his activities regarding federal loans in his home riding.

Gordon Fisher, CanWest president of news and information, was named interim replacement for Mills.

— With files from CP

paul.samyn@freepress.mb.ca