Members' Update: November, 2016

Report from the CEO

The National NewsMedia Council enters its second full year of operations with renewed confidence in its mandate and goals. The challenge of the first year was to get itself established and respected amongst its founding print members from across the country, most of whom were members of the old provincial press councils. We also had to angle our way into new areas such as magazines and digital news media. Generally speaking, I would say things have gone well. We have been accepted by the print media in the country, even as it goes through the dramatic challenges and changes necessitated by the public’s changing reading habits, have signed up important weekly and monthly publications in the magazine industry and got started with the digital media.

The goals for the second year are quite clear, apart from maintaining the achievements so far. We have to begin making much more of a purposeful impact on the digital media explosion and we are developing strategies to meet that end. We already have some interesting new members and they tell us we have been useful. One of our key arguments is to point out that being able to prove that the news media world in Canada is effectively self-governing in terms of ethics and fair play. This will be crucial as media and reading patterns change and the digital media finds itself increasingly exposed to public and governmental scrutiny. Two previous royal commissions in print media does not mean there can’t be one into digital media!

 As well, when the NNC was being founded, one of the key aspirations involved education. By this, we believe it means education on all sides, ourselves included. Pat Perkel (our executive director and co-ordinator of complaints), Brent Jolly (our new director of communications) and I will go almost anywhere we are invited to talk about our work and the general realm of media ethics. Earlier this year, for example, Pat and I did a seminar for TVOntario’s “The Agenda” and throughout November all three of us will be participating in two-hour weekly seminars at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for Global Affairs. It’s an interesting graduate programme at the Munk Centre, which trains scholars in specialized fields who want to learn the ins and outs of journalism to further their own research work, or to publicize it more effectively.  It will be an experiment on both sides and I will report on how it went in the next newsletter.

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The NNC celebrated its first anniversary by holding an in-house council meeting in Toronto; that included the vice chair (west), Shelley Chrest,  from Vancouver Island, and the vice chair (east), Miller Ayre from Newfoundland. This was the final council meeting presided over by our great chair, the Hon. Frances Lankin, newly minted as an independent member of the Canadian Senate. Frances resigned from the chair and was succeeded by Shelley Chrest, the last chair of the British Columbia Press Council, and this has established what we hope will be a regular pattern of the NNC chair moving around the country, with vice chairs from representative regions.

I was glad to have the chance to thank Frances for all she had done in getting the NNC up and running, and for her strong support of me in the new position of president and CEO. I have no doubt whatsoever she will make a meaningful, and immediate, contribution in Ottawa.

Introducing: Brent Jolly, our new director of communications

My first three months with the National NewsMedia Council can be described as ‘fulfilling’. Since August, I have had the opportunity to dive deep into our organization’s history and to witness, first hand, the integration of the former provincial press councils into a single national body. Exciting times!

As the NNC’s director of communications, I have been working hard to ensure our organization stays true to our roots, while also ensuring that we are responsive to the changing needs and challenges of Canada’s current media ecosystem. So far, I've been helping extend the reach of the Council through social media, as well as helping my wise colleagues to craft our 'road ahead' strategy. I believe strongly in the idea of digital community building, and it is an ideal I am eager to bring to life with the NNC.  

If you have suggestions on directions you think we should take on this ‘road ahead’, please don’t hesitate to send me an email to: bjolly@mediacouncil.ca.  

Working in tandem with our excellent leadership team, consisting of President and CEO John Fraser, Executive Director Pat Perkel, as well as our outstanding board of directors, I have no doubt that the second year of the NNC will be one to remember. Stay tuned.