The Canadian media in general treat the peace movement with an attitude of hostility ranging to indifference — a significant exception is the Toronto Star which has been conducting a campaign on the issue of the arms race, peace and disarmament since Easter 1982, one hopes in recognition of the fact that the peace movement now involves people across the whole social and political spectrum. The Globe and Mail, as the only national newspaper appears to have an editorial policy which is particularly damaging in that by and large major events across Canada are either ignored or treated only superficially. For example the 4000 peace march in Halifax on May 30 was not reported, the 15000 peace march (in the rain!) in Toronto on June 5 was given a single photograph with a facetious caption, the U.N.A. Conference in Toronto May 13-15 was not reported apart from a brief note on John Galbraith’s speech, etc.
Barrie Zwicker is a professional media critic, editor and publisher of the professional media journal “Sources” and regular contributor to the CBC AM Friday morning program on the media, “Facing the fourth estate” who is interested in making a study of the relation of the media to public attitudes on these issues. He would be interested to learn of the nature of the reporting of Canadian media on public events — please send clippings (or notes on non-reporting) directly to Barrie Zwicker, 91 Raglon Ave., Toronto M6C 2K7 or call (416) 651-7799.