The back page: December 2013

Poultry, egg and dairy farmers face a serious media-relations challenge. For example, on Sept. 2, 2013, the Globe and Mail’s Ottawa correspondent, Barrie McKenna, wrote: “Most Canadians are probably aware that prices for milk, chicken and eggs are fixed in this country…Mr. Black reckons Canadian consumers paid $10 billion more than they should for chicken over that period…Asked to comment on the provocative $1 billion-a-year estimate, the Chicken Farmers of Ontario – a farmer-run organization that operates the chicken supply management regime in the province – was tightlipped…But how would a typical Canadian ever know whether they’re being treated fairly, particularly when the organization that runs the system won’t talk publicly about how prices are determined? If more Canadians knew about the behind-the-scenes machinations, they might be less tolerant of the entire supply management system.”

National Post columnist John Ivison wrote the following on Sept. 17, 2013: “Blessed are the cheesemakers, for they will be protected from all foreign competition.”

On Oct. 7, Toronto Star staff reporter Marco Chown Oved wrote: “The quota system was brought in to protect farmers but decades later, new farmers complain it’s turned into a cartel that protects those who got in early and makes it nearly impossible for newcomers like Thunberg to make money.”

Media relations are a contact sport. Ironically, if you decide not to play, that is precisely when you are most likely to get hurt. Few people in supply management would be keen on starting their day with a phone call from a National Post columnist, a Globe and Mail reporter or CBC TV’s Marketplace. But a handful of professionals would view such a call as an opportunity. It’s normal and healthy to be nervous, but experienced media-relations people understand that journalists provide valuable access to the public. Do you think interviews, voice recorders and cameras are something to fear or cherish? How you answer that question speaks volumes.

Understanding and respecting the world in which journalists live and work is a fundamental requirement for organizations that want to manage media queries successfully and create media opportunities. Hoping the phone won’t ring, or refusing to answer it, is fatal.

I pay close attention to supply management stories in the urban media, and I realize that an overwhelming number of them are nothing less than blatant attacks, but not all of them. In fact, many items are what I call “fair,” which I define as being an article or story that treats a subject with respect and includes comments from both sides. By definition, any issue must have more than one side or it wouldn’t be an issue. Fair journalists understand that, and they incorporate some level of fairness and balance into what they write or say. Even if a journalist strongly advocates scrapping supply management, as long as views from the other side are included, it’s fair commentary in my opinion. After all, I also believe in free speech. I say let the readers, viewers and listeners make up their own minds about supply management or any other issue for that matter. It is being included in the discussion that counts.

In 2013, I updated what I call my “List of Fair Urban Journalists,” which includes about 50 people and more than 90 supply management stories that were written over the past couple of years. Where their stories appeared might surprise you: the National Post, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Ottawa Citizen, the Regina Leader-Post, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Vancouver Sun, the Montreal Gazette, the Chronicle Herald, CBC radio and television, TV Ontario and many others across the country.

But my list barely scratches the surface.

My media-relations advice is to focus on journalists who provide balance, bearing in mind that news reporters are expected to be fair, whereas columnists and commentators are not. They are paid to be opinionated and there is a big difference between reporting and offering one’s opinion.

So the next time you read, hear or see something that impresses you, consider picking up your phone or sending an e-mail to thank a journalist for getting it right or for at least being fair, even if they have been critical. That will create an opportunity for you or your organization to gently correct any factual errors or to put things in perspective for the next time.

Most big city journalists don’t know any farmers and they will be delighted to hear from you as long as you are calm, positive and constructive. There are risks attached, but if you focus on responsible journalists, you will likely be included in the important public discussion about supply management.