Fraser Institute Winning Media Tussle

When the progressive Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives expanded its Toronto operations by opening an office in Vancouver in 1997, therewas no mistaking its mission: Try to beat the conservative Fraser Institute at its own game.

The goal: get more media exposure for facts and ideas with a particular political slant.

Momentum has shifted some. Before the CCPA came to B.C., its name was mentioned just once for every fourteen times the Fraser Institute got inkin the Vancouver Sun, according to Seth Klein, director of the CCPA Vancouver branch. Now the ratio is closer to one to three.

The score remains at least as lopsided in other influential papers. A database search of every news article, op-ed, feature article and letterin the Globe and Mail, National Post, Toronto Star, Vancouver Sun and Ottawa Citizen in a five-year period found that the Fraser Institute'sname appeared at least three times more often than the CCPA's in all the papers studied from 1998 to 2002.

Not surprisingly, the Post led the way, with 700 Fraser Institute references to the CCPA's 78. As for the Star, the Fraser Institute appeared in256 articles to the CCPA's 78. On the West Coast, the Fraser Institute's name appeared in the Vancouver Sun 458 times to the CCPA's 151.

Does this suggest that some of Canada's dailies have rolled out the red carpet for the Fraser Institute? Social activist Mel Hurtig thought so,arguing in one of his books that "the media prominently report each of the Fraser Institute's press releases as though they were gospel."

'Hardly treated as gospel'

Meanwhile, journalists in mainstream corporate-owned newspapers take pains to portray themselves as safely aloof from the agendas of CCPA andthe Fraser Institute.

The Fraser Institute may exist because of a "soft-liberal" or "left-wing" bias in the Globe, the CBC and the Star, says David Akin, a businessreporter with the Globe. "But Fraser Institute releases are hardly treated as gospel by any newsroom I've worked in," he says. "We treat thereleases of any think tank with a political bias with a great deal, in fact heightened, skepticism."

Newspapers have been getting more conservative, says Eric Beauchense, a reporter with the Ottawa bureau of CanWest News Service. But he doesn'tcredit the Fraser Institute or other conservative spin outlets, nor does he cite pressure from newspaper owners, for the trend."

Now the baby boomers have a bit more wealth to protect," says Beauchesne. "They're also getting older. . .and once you accumulate that wealthyou tend to want to protect it, which may be reflected in views on, say, taxation."

Does that mean there would be more CCPA stories if newsrooms were staffed by younger journalists, because the young tend to have greateraffinity for the CCPA's views?"

Yeah that's pretty much what I'm trying to say," says Beauchesne.

Antonia Zerbisias, media columnist for The Toronto Star, offers another theory why western newspapers may favour the Fraser Institute. "It would not surprise me," says, "since the Fraser Institute tends to reflect western political views."

The Fraser Institute's communications director, Suzanne Walters, denies that the Fraser Institute has any red carpet relationship with themedia."

We have to work really hard to get our material into the daily papers," she says. "If it were that easy the Fraser Institute wouldn't need me."

'Out of the box'

Klein says the Vancouver CCPA office acts as a cost-efficient clearinghouse for peer reviewed scholarly work by academics throughout theprovince, and remains independent of any political party.

But that's not how Vancouver Sun business reporter David Baines views it. "I think the CCPA is a joke," Baines says. "It doesn't have the money to do any meaningful research and as far as I can see it's just a lobby group for the NDP," he says. "To suggest that this thing is a real thinktank is ridiculous. All it does is try and attach a few figures and some quasi-research to support its ideological bent. I think the Sun gives them more space than they deserve."

Writer John Ralston Saul similarly slams the Fraser Institute, whose board of trustees has included top execs of media giants Hollinger andCanWest Global. The Fraser Institute's purpose, writes Saul, is "not thought or inquiry, but rhetoric and propaganda. They simulate intellectualactivity to produce corporatist and interest-based messages."

"Think tanks should be called on only when they have something valuable to add to a complex argument," says Akin. "Cant and political rhetoricrarely help foster understanding of a complex topic. As a result, overblown rhetoric, whether it's from the left or the right, is usually oflittle value to a reporter on a deadline."

But if most daily newspaper reporters view think tanks with derision, that doesn't stop a lot of them from using their material.

Kerri-Anne Finn, a spokesperson for the CCPA's Ottawa office, says her think tank has "proven itself" to journalists with "a really good trackrecord for doing credible, accessible and relevant research. Obviously," she says, "the media has picked up on that."

One who picks up on both The Fraser Institute and the CCPA is Ian Urquhart, the Star's legislative columnist. He says the two think tanks playan important role by offering ideas "out of the box."

"The Star's coverage of both think tanks is barely adequate," Urquhart adds. "I would like to see more coverage of all of them because theybring forward interesting ideas, particularly in comparison to the platitudes of sitting politicians."

Labeling left and right

What about labeling, then? Does it help or just repel readers to call think tank sources "left wing" or "right wing?"

"The terms are pretty meaningless and kind of loaded," says Don Cayo, who was the Sun's editorial page editor from 2000 to 2003 and now a Sunbusiness columnist.

"My fundamental ideology is that I really like things that work. I think you have to indicate where a think tank's arguments are but the terms'left wing' and 'right wing' are very poor ways of indicating that," says Cayo, who worked for the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, asister-organization to the Fraser Institute in Halifax.

Cayo's view is echoed by Walters. She says focusing on markets is bound to make the Fraser Institute look conservative, even if its conclusionsare never predetermined.

"But the thing I find the most frustrating is that the media likes to divide into left and right," Walters adds. "That's a nice clean way to do it for the purpose of a story but I don't think it's got a basis in actual political philosophy. I don't know what 'right wing' means really."

Left-wing labeling is simplistic and makes it easier for the reader to ignore her think tank, says Erika Shaker of the CCPA. "These labelspersist because of the media's need to present things in easily digestible ways."

Tools for the lazy?

While think tanks have gained influence in Canada's news pages since the 1970s it's been largely for the wrong reasons, says Zerbisias."

Journalists are lazy and go to think tanks because they're easily available for opinions and comment," she says. "I think most viewers andreaders have no clue that the pundits from these places are paid by corporations and other donors to spout these very views. It distorts civildiscourse."

But think tanks aren't putting out much new these days, observes Charles Gordon, a columnist with the Ottawa Citizen. "The free-market questionis not as controversial as it once was," he says. "If the Fraser Institute said today that taxes were too high, it might not get much coverage,because it's been heard before. Five years ago, it was a story."

Walters of the Fraser Institute has no doubt her think tank has played an instrumental role in shifting public debate since it opened in theTrudeau era."

We were talking about deficits and debt and things like that," she says. "Now you look at how the debate has changed and how the economicposition of the government has changed versus when we started. We'd like to think we were there poking that into being."

The CCPA's media influence is growing as well, asserts Shaker, who has been with the organization for seven years. More and more journalists"call completely unsolicited to say, not only 'What are you guys doing lately?' but also 'What kinds of stories should we be watching out for?''Do you have any suggestions for people we may want to contact in this area?' Things like that," she says.

Canadians are getting tired of hearing the same story from government that things "have to be this way" and there's "nothing we can do aboutit," adds Finn. "People are seeing the effects and are thinking that there has to be another way. And what we're saying is that, you know,there actually is another way."

Vancouver journalist Kevin Groves has written for the Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun and Montreal Gazette. This article is drawn from his UBC Master's of Journalism thesis:"Have Canada's Daily Newspapers Rolled out the Red Carpet for the Fraser Institute?"