Baldreydash: Most oppose business groups paying fees to journalists

This morning, I checked an informal survey on this site and it showed that 88 percent of respondents opposed business associations paying speaking fees to full-time journalists.

Not everyone, however, feels it's such a bad idea. One commenter  with the obvious pseudonym  Ezekiel Bones took me to task for taking pot shots rather than doing my own investigations.

"Keith Baldrey and Vaughn Palmer, though I violently disagree with some of the opinions they have proffered, are honourable people, as far as I have seen," Mr. Ezekiel Bones wrote.

This started after Baldrey and Palmer criticized me on CKNW Radio a week ago.

Palmer has always been exceedingly gracious to me over the years. I haven't had nearly as much contact with Baldrey. He suggested that if I felt sick and disgusted about journalism in B.C., I should find another line of work.

The first feature story I ever did with the Georgia Straight concerned high-profile  journalists moonlighting as media consultants. You can read it here.

Nowadays, it's more common for journalists to be invited to speak to business associations. A famous U.S. broadcast journalist, Sam Donaldson, was criticized for doing  this in the past for whopping fees.

Vancouver-based National Speakers Bureau books journalists and other well-known people as speakers. It used to list the fees on its Web site. Globe and Mail editor-in-chief Edward Greenspon was available for $7,500 to $10,000. Straight freelance contributor Gwynne Dyer and CBC anchor Ian Hanomansing were available for $5,000 to $7,500.

Palmer was available for $3,000 to $5,000, as was Margaret Wente of the Globe and Mail. Rex Murphy is another well-known journalist who does the speaking circuit.

These are pretty significant fees, though not in the neighbourhood that Donaldson was charging several years ago. We should keep that in mind.

National Speakers Bureau removed the fee listings from its site after I wrote about this.

I would like to know how much the B.C. Chamber of Commerce is paying Palmer, Baldrey, and Gloria  Macarenko for speaking at the chamber's  annual general meeting next month. Perhaps they're doing it for free. The chamber won't divulge that information.

I know that Palmer has been listed as a speaker to groups promoting roadbuilding, private forests, and tourism, to name just three areas  in which  provincial legislation can have a huge impact.

Bill Tieleman of 24 hours and formerly of the Georgia Straight has been criticized in the past for working on the side for the labour movement and businesses.  

Tieleman isn't a full-time journalist, unlike Palmer and Baldrey. Is what Palmer, Baldrey, and Macarenko might be  doing any different from what Tieleman does? Perhaps in that the full-timers might not be advising on strategy  to get legislation passed. But the scribes do offer tips to large groups  in their area of expertise--getting a message out through the media.

Is Mike Smyth of the Province speaking for hefty fees? How about Jeff Davies, Scott Sutherland, Justine Hunter, Tom Fletcher, Les  Leyne  or others in the press gallery who deal with legislation? I'm guessing the answer is "no" for most of them.

I feel that by bringing these issues to light, I'm performing a public service. One of the beneficiaries of this service is Tieleman, who has endured many barbs over the years.

My solution? Transparency. The press gallery should create a Web site and journalists should voluntarily disclose who they're speaking to and for how much. That would enhance public confidence in the same way that the lobbyists' registry was created to enhance public confidence.

Then I wouldn't have to feel so sick and disgusted about journalism  in B.C., and Baldrey wouldn't have to go on the radio and suggest I seek another line of employment.

Comments

3 Comments

seth

Apr 1, 2009 at 2:42pm

seth
Now I understand why Smyth, Palmergate, and Baldrydash take such a stupid stand in their support of Pirate Power and refuse to say anything about the 12 cents a kwh 40 billion dollar corporate welfare fraud that Gordo and his pirate power cronies have stuck to BC ratepayers for the next 40 years or so.
They are getting paid nudge nudge wink wink to be cheerleaders otherwise no more lucrative corporate speaking engagements and free drinks/lunches/dinners. Sean Holman was an example of what happens to a journalist who does his job.

Worth revisiting is this article on how things really work in the Vancouver mainstream media.

http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/73/The_Death_of_Canadian_Journalism.html

Tieleman

Apr 1, 2009 at 3:07pm

Thanks for the kind words Charlie - but I hope to be a beneficiary in a different way - I can and speak to all sorts of groups for a fee!

Bill Tieleman http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/

RossK

Apr 2, 2009 at 5:42pm

Thanks very much Mr. Smith for expanding on this issue after you raised it cryptically in a post earlier this week.

Much appreciated.

.