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Yesterday, Georgia Straight editor Charlie Smith discussed newspaper distribution at the annual conference of the Periodical Writers Association of Canada. He was on a panel with former Monday magazine editor Sid Tafler, UBC journalism instructor Deborah Campbell, and Vancouver Sun managing editor Kirk LaPointe. Here is a summary of Smith's speaking notes (which don't precisely match what Smith said):

On my way here, I came through the Waterfront SkyTrain station. It’s a wonderful place. There are all sorts of independent newspapers. You can see Xtra! West, the Georgia Straight, the Asian Pacific Post.

You can wander over to Starbucks and buy the Globe and Mail or the Vancouver Sun.

Contrast that with my last trip to Victoria. I was in the ferry lineup. And a guy came up to offer me a newspaper.

He was selling four different papers—the Vancouver Sun, the Province, the National Post, and the Victoria Times-Colonist. They’re all owned by CanWest Global Communications Corp.

He didn’t have the Globe and Mail.

I had a choice. Do I buy a CanWest paper or do I read a book? Kirk LaPointe will be pleased to hear that I bought the Vancouver Sun.

When I got onto the ferry, it was a similar situation. In the White Spot restaurant on board, there were only four newspapers: The Vancouver Sun, Province, the National Post, and the Victoria Times-Colonist.

All CanWest papers. There was no Globe and Mail in the restaurant. There was certainly no Xtra! West, Georgia Straight, Rice Paper, or Indo-Canadian Voice.

If you go to Starbucks, which is a private company, it’s a similar situation. You can buy the Vancouver Sun or the Globe and Mail. There aren’t any other papers available.

That’s because ferry terminals, Starbucks, and other companies are making distribution deals with big media corporations. There is even a company out there that does these deals.

This creates new challenges for independent publications. In the United States, a major publisher, Gannett, has determined who will distribute papers.

When I was in the ferry lineup faced with all those CanWest products, I thought of Henry Ford’s famous line about the Model T: “You can have any colour you want as long as it’s black.”

Only this time, it was a case of: “You can have any paper you want, as long as it’s CanWest.”

The City of Vancouver has done a deal to allow privately operated multiple-publication newsracks. This is on the streets of Vancouver. TransLink is also going down the road of these multiple-publication newsracks.

One of my concerns is that CanWest has so many publications – three editions of the Vancouver Courier, the Vancouver Sun, the Province, the National Post, the North Shore News, the Now papers, the Richmond News – that they will gobble up a fair amount of space in these newsracks.

CanWest also owns one-third of the Metro commuter paper.

Let’s hope it’s not another case of: “You can have any newspaper you want, as long as it’s CanWest.”

And now, B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell wants large projects in this province to be built through public-private partnerships. If there’s a replacement for St. Paul’s Hospital, it will likely be built and operated by a private company.

The private company will likely control public space at the hospital.

The public is paying for the facility through its taxes. But the private operator will possibly be able to make side deals over what you get to read there.

It’s one thing if a private company like Starbucks and 7-11 does this – and only carries the Vancouver Sun and the Globe and Mail.

But it’s quite another thing if publicly owned facilities – like ferries, hospitals, and long-term care homes – also get into the game of restricting or selling newspaper distribution.

A private company will operate the Canada Line between the airport and downtown. It’s a publicly funded transit project. I worry that the private operator could control newspaper distribution along the line.

And how receptive will this private company be to allowing publications that criticize the system?

I try to pay a lot of attention to the business pages. That’s where you often learn about big forces influencing our society.

This week, there was a story that caught my interest. One of Canada’s biggest corporations – BCE – is up for grabs.

BCE owns 15 percent of CTVglobemedia.

CTVglobemedia owns the Globe and Mail, CTV, and lots of other media outlets.

BCE is also the country’s biggest phone company.

CanWest is part of a consortium trying to buy BCE.

CanWest already owns the Global TV network. It just bought 13 specialty channels owned by Alliance Atlantis.

So if the CanWest-Cerberus group buys BCE, you’ll have some pretty intriguing cross-ownership.

CanWest could own a slice of one private English-language television network, and own the other private English-language television network outright.

CanWest could own a slice of one national newspaper, the Globe and Mail, and own the other national newspaper outright, the National Post.

CanWest would own some of the specialty channels, like Showtime, and it could own a slice of others, such as Bravo!, TSN, and MuchMusic.

CanWest also owns the Vancouver Sun, the Province, the Victoria Times-Colonist, the Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Herald, the Montreal Gazette, and many other newspapers.

You’re probably aware of the controversy including the CanWest contract for freelance writers. If you sell into this system, will you have any rights to resell your work?

Media corporations also obtain broadcast and telecommunications licences from federal entities created by federal legislation.

Media companies make political contributions to federal and provincial political parties.

They want certain things. They want a law allowing them to advertise drugs directly to consumers. In some cases, they want laws allowing replacement workers – in the union movement, these people are usually called scabs.

There are implications for our democracy if publications with alternative messages are restricted from being distributed in public places.

These partnerships also create challenges for writers who are selling stories about these organizations.

If a media company is in partnership with BC Ferries or St. Paul’s Hospital or the Surrey school board, will the same media company be willing to run critical stories that could undermine its distribution?

It’s one thing to run a story that hurts advertisers. As Kirk LaPointe said, there are thousands of advertisers. Often, they are easy to replace.

But distribution deals carry greater significance.

There aren’t nearly as many Starbucks corporations, ferry terminals, airports, and SkyTrain stations, which can distribute a large number of newspapers.

Without distribution, you don’t have readers.

I would urge all of you to pay attention to this issue, and get involved anytime you see big media trying to shut independent media out of public places.

It’s not 1920 anymore. In the modern era, the public shouldn’t have to be told, “You can have any newspaper you want, as long as it’s CanWest.”