Byline wars at the Vancouver Province 
The battle became the latest manifestation of a deep-seated morale problem 

By Marc Edge 
 
The tabloid pages of the Vancouver Province were curiously bare of the bylines that normally precede local news stories this past February, but only readers with the right Internet links ever learned the reason for their absence.

"I think that shows the level the current Province management is reduced to. If someone hits you on the head once, why would you hit yourself on the head twice?" - union official Janet Ingram-Johnson

First, reporters at the morning daily took a symbolic stand against management by withdrawing their names from stories for five days to protest the suspension of a newsroom shop steward. Then, the "byline strike" by journalists was escalated by a "byline lockout," as furious senior editors withheld reporters' names for a further two weeks in retaliation under what has apparently become company policy in the case of such protests. Reporters' names only reappeared on Feb. 25 after being absent since Feb. 9.

"I think that shows the level the current Province management is reduced to," said union official Janet Ingram-Johnson, a former Province national editor currently on leave. "If someone hits you on the head once, why would you hit yourself on the head twice?" Dennis Skulsky, who was appointed publisher of both the Province and the Vancouver Sun on Jan. 24, said the withdrawal of bylines by the company was something he would consider doing again. "We may do more of this or less of this in the future," said Skulsky, who moved from the National Post, where he was vice-president of reader sales, to resident of Pacific Newspaper Group, which publishes both Vancouver dailies. "It goes both ways. We also have the ability to put out our newspapers without bylines."

Much of the newsroom turmoil has resulted from company attempts to circumvent union rules in the traditionally militant newsroom. The byline wars came after a picture published in the February 1 editions of the Province, which carried the mysterious photo credit of "Maximillian Blacky." The byline credit was questioned by copy editors and some suspected the photograph had actually been taken by a photographer banned from union membership for crossing the picket line during the recent strike at the Calgary Herald.

While the photograph by Chris Relke was allowed to be published in the Province under a union agreement with the company, as he freelances for Hollinger's Sterling Newspapers, a chain of B.C. weeklies, the inking blanket for that page was damaged at some point during the newspaper's print run that night. While investigating the damage, copy editor Chris Montgomery was asked to divulge the name of the editor who first raised the issue of the real name of the photographer. She refused, and was suspended for five days.

"No one condones vandalism," said Ingram-Johnson, claiming the problem was caused by the company's attempt to "smuggle" the photograph into the newspaper. "They could have done it legitimately, but they tried subterfuge. They know it's a hot-button issue. The company went on a witch-hunt. She was a visible target. She stood up to them and their witch-hunt and was told she would be suspended for five days, which was an enormous over-reaction."

A Province attempt to hire Chris Relke a year ago prompted a wildcat strike by engravers, who refused to handle printing plates for pages containing photographs he had taken. A one-day byline strike by reporters at both Vancouver dailies in February of the previous year to show support for the Calgary strikers was met by a further two-day withdrawal of bylines by the company.

"We may do more of this or less of this in the future. It goes both ways. We also have the ability to put out our newspapers without bylines." - Dennis Skulsky, publisher of the Province and the Vancouver Sun

Reporters and copy editors decided that, while a grievance of Montgomery's suspension was launched, the only immediate way under the collective agreement to make their feelings on the matter clear to the company was by withdrawing bylines.

"We all felt that was heavy-handed," said reporter Greg Middleton of the company action. "Everyone was stunned." Even the usually least-militant of journalists felt obliged to join the boycott and voice their concerns over the deteriorating labor relations -- and journalism. "This was clearly the newsroom standing up for itself in the face of an issue that we felt was unjust," said reporter Wendy McLellan. "One of the most disconcerting aspects of this is that there has been no communication from management why the employee was suspended or why the bylines were removed. We had expected a meeting to discuss this issue instead of that silence."

Skulsky argued that reporters removed their bylines in the same manner, without officially notifying management of the reason for their protest. "This started with them," he pointed out. "We've never received official notice of any kind."

The recriminations over the bylines were the latest outburst of acrimony between newsroom staff and managers that boiled over during the federal election campaign last fall when journalists felt ethical boundaries were crossed by editor-in-Chief Vivienne Sosnowski, who re-arranged news coverage between editions to favor the Alliance Party and leader Stockwell Day. A complaint was filed with the B.C. Press Council on Dec. 21 by the local advocacy group Campaign for Press and Broadcast Freedom on behalf of un-named Province journalists, but was rejected on Jan. 5.

The complaint to the Press Council was filed "on behalf of journalists, who have complained to the CPBF that their stories are being edited on specifically political grounds." It also purported to be laid "especially on behalf of The Province's readers, who at the very least deserve to be told if their news is being edited on political rather than professional grounds."

The specific incidents complained of included:

• The slashing of space in editions of Nov. 9, 2000, allotted to a Province panel made up of students who judged the election campaign leadership debate, but gave Day an unfavorable reaction;

   

• Removal from the Nov. 16 paper by Sosnowski of an article about a Compas poll showing Alliance support leveling off;

   

• Removal from that day's final edition by Sosnowski of a story that appeared in the first edition about the Internet petition started by the CBC television show "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" to have Day change his first name to Doris;

   

• Changing by Sosnowski of a story in the same paper's first edition about Day's fundamentalist religious views, including his belief that dinosaurs and humans co-habited on earth 6,000 years ago, to one about his views on law and order.

The remedy sought from the Press Council was an order that Province management publicly acknowledge they are "now using partisan criteria to edit the news." The official response from the Press Council to the complaint was that the material submitted showed no violations of the body's Code of Practice.

Press Council executive director Bill Bachop, a former Vancouver Sun reporter, said the complaint was rejected because the matter was beyond the body's jurisdiction. "We looked at it and thought the material didn't justify their claims," said Bachop. "It's not the Press Council's function to dictate the editorial content of the papers."

"I've never encountered such hostility in any newsroom where I've worked. The morale in the newsroom is continuing to decline." - Ingram-Johnson, a veteran of 23 years on the Province news desk.

Sosnowski denied making the changes for political reasons. "I put the original stories in the paper, the stories that seemingly were fine with everybody," she pointed out. "Every day we probably change 10 stories between editions. I think if you have a good look at our coverage during the election, it was one of the fairest and most balanced."

But several Province journalists said Sosnowski made the changes behind closed doors without consulting them. "I was not privy to any of these decisions, although I was on the election team," said Shane McCune, a Province copy editor. "I've never seen anything like it." Many Province journalists were unwilling to go on the record in the current climate of perceived management vindictiveness, however. "I've never encountered such hostility in any newsroom where I've worked," said Ingram-Johnson, a veteran of 23 years on the Province news desk. "The morale in the newsroom is continuing to decline. No one enjoys working in an atmosphere of animosity, and that is what prevails in the newsroom."

Senior editors, who are usually parachuted in from other newspapers in the Southam/Hollinger/CanWest chain, rarely bother to learn the names of Province copy editors during their time in Vancouver, simply referring to them as "you," she said. "There isn't a meaningful level of courtesy between the managers and staff in the newsroom. It's a very miserable place to work. It's atrocious."

While the Province has historically been politically conservative, with the Sun presenting a more liberal perspective, favoritism toward the new Alliance became blatant while David Radler was publisher, many journalists there contend. "From the stories I was directed to run, I certainly had the impression that the managers in the newsroom were under orders to reflect the Alliance party point of view and certainly to promote Stockwell Day," said Ingram-Johnson. "It appeared our managers in our newsroom were on a mission to promote the right-wing point of view, and that was reflected in the coverage."

Before stepping down in January, Radler appointed Sosnowski and new Sun editor Neil Reynolds to their posts last summer while moving former editors Michael Cooke and John Cruickshank to the Chicago Sun-Times, another Hollinger newspaper. Reynolds was most recently editor of the Ottawa Citizen and is a former president of and candidate for the Libertarian party, a right-wing fringe group. The politics of the Vancouver dailies are now seen as far-right and farther-right, respectively, with a resulting lack of political balance.

Acquisition of the newspapers by CanWest Global provided hope for some that the Sun and Province would become more balanced politically, as new owner Izzy Asper is a Liberal party backer. "There was some fleeting hope that things might change under Asper, at least in terms of political direction," said copy editor Shane McCune. "But he's of the right wing of the Liberal party."

The current work climate does not bode well for negotiations that begin soon in hopes of reaching a new collective agreement at the newspapers to replace the one that expires at the end of November. A brief strike shut down Pacific Press two years ago, and the Vancouver dailies have been shut down by labor disputes eight times over a period of 32 years, including an eight-month strike/lockout in 1978-79 that devastated circulation ever since.

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Marc Edge is a former Province reporter who is writing a history of Pacific Press.