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Governor General Michael Jeans warns against sensationalism in Canadian journalism

By JAMES KELLER HALIFAX (CP) - Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean cautioned Thursday against sensationalism and gossip replacing critical news reporting, urging an audience of journalists to remember their civic responsibility. Without narrowing in on specifics, Jean painted a bleak picture of the dangers of transforming journalism into a commodity, where sales figures and deadline pressures erode the quality of reporting. "As though the name of the game were to entertain at all costs-which is, after all, where the money is - and to think as little as possible," Jean said in a speech prepared for delivery to The Canadian Press annual dinner in Halifax. "The unfortunate conclusion is that thinking is too demanding while entertaining is far more profitable." Jean, who worked for years as a television journalist with Radio-Canada and the CBC before being named Governor General last year, said journalists have a responsibility to put the news of the day into context. She said reporters must "re-establish the freedom and means to think about the world." "Even when that requires effort, rather than give in to the temptation of info-shows, take the easy road, spread gossip, which may be an outright lie, or fall for the cult of personality," she said. "We must do away with such one-track thinking and offer up new ways of seeing the world. That is what it means to be a journalist." Jean, who tempered her remarks with praise for the work of Canadian journalists, said reporters need to spend more time on their news coverage. She said the 24-hour news cycle, which enslaves journalists with never-ending deadlines, can create reporting devoid of insight. "I'll say it again: such contemplation takes time, something you are often denied when profitability and speed drive this business," she said. "The entire profession is suffering because of it." She contrasted the freedom of Canadian news media with her native country of Haiti, where journalists were jailed or murdered for speaking ill of the authoritarian regime of Francois (Papa Doc) Duvalier, who took power in 1957.

"You could be killed without a second thought, simply for saying too much. And the burden of silence, too heavy to bear, would eat away at you from the inside," said Jean, who was born in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince before fleeing the country with her family 11 years later.

Jean credited Haitian radio journalists for exposing corruption and leading to fall of Duvalier's regime - then led by his son Jean-Claude Duvalier - in 1986.

"It was then, as I watched those women and men willing to risk everything in the name of justice and freedom, that I came to understand what journalism could be," she said.

She pointed out that the violence aimed at reporters did not stop with the fall of the Duvalier regime, underscoring the privileged position of Canadian journalists.

The Governor General also said media concentration leads to lifeless, one-sided reporting that sees local news fall through the cracks. "The long-term consequences of seeing things in the same way, of reporting the world in the same voice, are also hampering the free flow of ideas and preventing the diversity of content," she said. A Senate standing committee has staged hearings on the state of Canadian media, including media concentration. It's expected to make recommendations this summer.