Andrew Coyne – Ryerson Review of Journalism :: The Ryerson School of Journalism http://rrj.ca Canada's Watchdog on the watchdogs Sat, 30 Apr 2016 14:26:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Thank you, Andrew Coyne http://rrj.ca/thank-you-andrew-coyne/ http://rrj.ca/thank-you-andrew-coyne/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2015 17:45:38 +0000 http://rrj.ca/?p=6448 Black and white illustration of Andrew Coyne Andrew Coyne resigned as the editor of the Editorials and Comment section of the National Post today, and journalists should be thankful he did. The resignation comes after Postmedia executives prevented Coyne from writing a column dissenting from the National Post’s endorsement of the Conservative Party of Canada because it would “confuse readers and embarrass [...]]]> Black and white illustration of Andrew Coyne

Andrew Coyne resigned as the editor of the Editorials and Comment section of the National Post today, and journalists should be thankful he did.

The resignation comes after Postmedia executives prevented Coyne from writing a column dissenting from the National Post’s endorsement of the Conservative Party of Canada because it would “confuse readers and embarrass the paper.”

Coyne took to Twitter to explain his resignation, and said he did not view his desire to write a dissenting column as confusing because, “Readers, in my view, are adults & understand that adults can disagree.”

Coyne said newspaper owners do have a right to dictate who the paper endorses, but that not speaking out would give the impression that he agreed with the Conservatives, and prevent him from doing his job as a columnist. Coyne also said he believes the intervention from Postmedia executives is unprecedented, and so he felt like he had to resign to help prevent it from becoming one.

Coyne is right to resign on principle. A dissenting Coyne column in the National Post would not have embarrassed the paper in the eyes of readers. The only embarrassment would have come from owners, upset that their star columnist didn’t go along with their plan to force the entire Postmedia chain to cheerlead for the Conservatives.

What Postmedia executives should find embarrassing is their insistence on all of the chain’s papers endorsing the Conservatives, and then sitting by as these papers sell their front pages to political advertisers also endorsing the Conservatives. This certainly provoked more outrage over the weekend from readers and journalists alike than a dissenting Coyne column likely ever could have.

On Saturday, media commentator Bruce Anderson tweeted about the Postmedia fiasco.

Anderson is entirely correct as the overwhelming majority of journalists have little choice but to grit their teeth and accept that their employers are damaging their reputation as journalists. In an ultra competitive industry, where jobs are hard to come by and dissent is hardly tolerated, it’s no surprise most journalists didn’t take some sort of public action against Postmedia (or The Globe and Mail, for that matter).

This is exactly why it’s important that Coyne did. Coyne is one of Canada’s most high profile journalists, who is all but guaranteed employment, even at the National Post (as a columnist) after resigning, as Jesse Brown pointed out.


It’s tempting to shrug off Coyne’s resignation as an easy choice from a high profile journalist with little but his ego on the line. But this would be wrong, as Coyne is a good example of what privileged journalists should do: use their status to push back against the status quo when necessary.

In an ideal world Coyne would have also pushed back against the practice of newspaper owners dictating endorsements, but still, his resignation should be applauded.

Hopefully Postmedia executives learn a lesson from Coyne’s principled stance and refrain from intervening in future situations where columnists simply try to do their job.

]]> http://rrj.ca/thank-you-andrew-coyne/feed/ 1 Much ado about endorsements http://rrj.ca/much-ado-about-endorsements/ http://rrj.ca/much-ado-about-endorsements/#respond Mon, 19 Oct 2015 13:00:50 +0000 http://rrj.ca/?p=6418 Globe and Mail editorial endorsement headline Election day is finally, finally upon us, but the longest campaign in Canadian history since 1872 didn’t end quietly for the country’s print newspapers. If anything, it ended nonsensically. Questions of who controls newspapers’ editorial voice haunted the final week of #elxn42 as print media outlets published their editorial board’s federal election choices. Some internet [...]]]> Globe and Mail editorial endorsement headline

Election day is finally, finally upon us, but the longest campaign in Canadian history since 1872 didn’t end quietly for the country’s print newspapers. If anything, it ended nonsensically.

Questions of who controls newspapers’ editorial voice haunted the final week of #elxn42 as print media outlets published their editorial board’s federal election choices. Some internet media, including the RRJ, questioned whether such endorsements are a practice worth keeping.

“For us, it seems a bit outdated,” said BuzzFeed Canada’s Emma Loop, while speaking to The Current on October 9. Although BuzzFeed does weigh in on particular issues, Loop said, the organization will “stay away from the partisan element” of politics by not endorsing a candidate.

Kathy English, public editor of the Toronto Star, was on The Current with Loop. She maintained that newspaper endorsements still have a place. “The Star is an institution that dates back over three centuries. Every day, it takes stands on issues that matter to the community,” said English. “It would be a cop-out not to do so in an election campaign.”

That morning, the Star published an editorial endorsing the Liberal Party of Canada. Two other Torstar papers, the Hamilton Spectator and the Waterloo Region Record, also endorsed the Liberals on October 15 and 17 respectively.

But it was the Postmedia endorsements on October 16 that made noise on Twitter as paper after paper in the national chain published an editorial endorsing the Conservative Party of Canada. The endorsement wasn’t by the editorial staff, however, as Edmonton Journal writer Paula Simons said in a tweet:

On Saturday, the National Post itself followed suit. Its editorial board’s pronouncement was also at odds with the opinions of columnists at the Post and other Postmedia holdings whose columns appeared on Friday and Saturday. Even Conrad Black himself weighed in, favouring a Liberal minority and referring to Stephen Harper as a “sadistic Victorian schoolmaster” who doesn’t know when to leave office. And one column was notable in its absence from the Saturday edition: that of Andrew Coyne, head of the Post’s editorial board.

According to Canadaland, Coyne’s column would have endorsed somebody other than the Conservatives, unlike the editorial endorsement he signed off on for the Post.  He has not spoken out on why his column did not appear, and his usually voluble Twitter feed has fallen silent — though Ricochet’s Ethan Cox noted that Coyne has disappeared in similar circumstances before.

UPDATE: Coyne has resigned from his post as editor

Numerous Postmedia properties were also notable for their front pages in the last days of the election campaign: full-page, bright yellow wrap ads from the Conservatives bashing the competition. The ads appeared on the covers of the Penticton Herald, Vancouver Sun, Calgary Sun, The Province, The London Free Press, Ottawa Citizen, and 24 Hours Toronto. Most were aimed at the Liberals, but the Penticton Herald ad targeted both the Liberals and NDP. Curiously, the Friday edition of 24 Hours Vancouver, also a Postmedia property, featured an NDP wrap ad. While it isn’t a new practice, one reporter noted that these ads were a step up from the norm.

Meanwhile, back at The Globe and Mail‘s offices, editor David Walmsley spent an hour fielding questions on Facebook about the paper’s unconventional endorsement of the Conservatives without endorsing party leader Stephen Harper. 

“The half-heartedness is a sign of the weakness of the political candidates,” Walmsley said in response to one questioner. “It would be great to find a clear, obvious winner the country could unite behind, but we don’t have that at the moment.”

In response to the Globe’s ambivalence, some Twitter users channeled their inner political humourist with the hashtag #MoreGlobeEndorsements.

Here at the RRJ, we endorse newspapers, but we’re on the fence about newspaper endorsements.

 

 

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