HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2004-03-25, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 2004. PAGE 5.
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You can call me an escapist
Lord knows there's an Everglades worth
of strange and wierdling places in the
state of Florida. but few more so than a
veritable Twilight Zone near the town of
Lantana known as Tabloid Valley. This is
where, believe it or not, most of the lurid
scandal sheets that grace supermarket
checkout counters across North America come
from (it must be some kind of tax dodge).
The National Enquirer comes out of Tabloid
Valley. So does the Weekly World News.
Or at least it did. It's hard to say what will
become of the Weekly World News now that
Eddie Clontz is dead.
Clontz was editor-in-chief of the Weekly
World Ness for nearly 20 years. He's the guy
responsible for the Elvis-Never-Died stories.
He also had a hand in such classic exclusives
as Space Aliens Back Bush For President and
Bat Boy Found In West Virginia Cave.
I met Eddie Clontz in the offices of the
Weekly World News about 10 years ago. But it
wasn't easy. I wanted to interview Clontz for
my radio show, so I asked one of my old pals,
an ex-tab reporter by the name of Harold
Fiske, the best way to go about it.
"Good luck!" said Fiske.
Clontz, he told me, was a reclusive and
deeply suspicious guy. Rumour had it he kept
a pearl-handled .45 automatic in the top drawer
of his desk.
Reason? . .
Death threats. From die-hard Elvis fans,
mostly.
For a hard-nosed, foot-in-the-door
newshound. Harold Fiske could be incredibly
ingratiating. Over the next few days he
called in some favours, twisted a few arms,
greased a palm or two, and the next thing I
knew we were in a Hertz-rent-a-car, bombing
down the 1-95 for a face-to-face with Eddie
Clontz.
The city slickers are taking over the
Ontario government and some country
folk are worrying they will get ripped
off.
More than one-third of Liberal Premier
Dalton McGuinty's cabinet ministers are from
the city of Toronto, although it has only one-
fifth of the province's population. This is
shaping as a divisive issue.
The ministers from Toronto also are among
the most powerful with the strongest impact
and include those responsible for health,
education, economic development, justice and
building infrastructure and chair of
management board with a finger in everything.
McGuinty's finance minister, number two to
the premier, and his transportation minister
also are from ridings that border Toronto, so it
has become difficult to walk down a street in
the Toronto area without bumping into a
Liberal minister.
The former Progressive Conservative deputy
premier, Jim Flaherty, who represents an area
lust east of Toronto and is running to succeed
Ernie Eves as leader, has complained that
lecause the Liberals have eight ministers from
Toronto, they inevitably are putting that city's
nterests first.
He claimed they found more money for
schools • in Toronto, but not elsewhere, and
1emanded Education Minister Gerard
Kennedy be fair to parents outside Toronto,
tnd remember he is the minister for the entire
province.
The Liberals have countered that more
noney is needed where there are more
:hildren who are poor, recent immigrants and
lo not speak English as their first language.
The offices of the Weekly World News are
deep in the middle of the Florida boonies and
at first glance seem utterly devoid of human
life. There is no secretary or doorman or
security guard in sight.
What there is, is a closed-circuit camera
mounted over a locked door with an intercom
on the side. -I thumbed the talkback button,
leaned into the intercom and 'said: "Arthur
Black here to interview Mister Clontz."
"STAND AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" said
a large voice which I presumed to be God's.
Befuddled, I stood there stupidly and repeated
my mantra.
The voice became noticeably agitated:
"SIR! STAND AWAY FROM THE DOOR!
NOW!" I backed up, raised my hands in the air
and smiled weakly. I guess I convinced them
that I wasn't a vengeance-bent Elvis fan
„because the door hissed open and suddenly I
was in the air-conditioned Inner Sanctum of
The Weekly World News.
I don't know what I expected - a bunch of
grimy, boil-blighted trolls scuttling around
with cigar butts sticking out of their mouths
maybe — but it wasn't like that at all. The office
was clean and neat, the equipment was state of
the art, the desks were tidy and the people were
well-dressed and exceedingly normal-looking.
Hell, it looked like a lrandon branch office
of Mutual of Omaha.
Except for Eddie Clontz. There was no
mistaking Eddie, or the fact that he was in
Bob Runciman, a veteran Tory and former
minister, has complained McGuinty's cabinet
does not represent all areas of the province.
Runciman, from eastern Ontario, said the
government already is showing bias by making
decisions that favour Toronto at the expense of
areas without ministers and especially small-
town and rural Ontario.
The Tories have an axe to grind in claiming
the Liberals favour one region over another,
but hints of similar concern are corning from
others.
Mayors of 13 rural and semi-rural
municipalities ringing the Toronto area this
month formed a "countryside alliance" to put
forward a united voice to the government on
their worries.
These include development gobbling up
green space, massive commuter traffic
overloading rural roads and changes to the
character of rural villages.
Chambers of commerce in northeastern
Ontario also have formed a group to lobby the
province for help with job growth and
economic development, tobacco growers are
complaining trendy Toronto ministers do not
even consider their view and there is
grumbling the Hamilton area of five ridings
charge. He was middle-aged but tit, like a
retired NHL-er. He had a brush cut and black
button eyes that never blinked. His desk sat so
that he faced the office door and I couldn't help
noticing that his hands stayed close to the top
desk drawer. If I had been a demented reader
bent on violence, Eddie could've plugged me
before I got to his In box.
I was disabused of a lot of my tabloid
notions that afternoon. I learned that the tabs,
despite their surface sleaziness are as
cunningly thought out, written and published
as any edition of the New York Review of
Books.
I learned that tabloid reporters are not rabid,
red-eyed right-wingers or raving alcoholics
riding out the nether end of a death-spiraling
career. Most of them are young and bright and
surprisingly serious. They need to be, because
writing even a mediocre tabloid story is
fiendishly difficult. You have to deliver a
maximum amount of impact with a minimal
number of words - and simple words at that.
And nobody ever wanted to pass a mediocre
story across Eddie Clontz's desk. Especially if
he was sitting at it, with his hands near the top
drawer.
Tabloids. The word originally referred to
medicine delivered in tablet form.
As a reporter for The Weekly World News
once said: "Readers ' want new hope. They
want to think that UFOs will save us. It's
medicine. We make people feel good, so they
buy us".
Hmm. All I know is, the headlines in my
Globe and Mail are all about scandals in
Ottawa, soaring prices at the gas pump, and
body bags in Iraq.
A wise woman once said, "The news is a
disease that masquerades as information."
Call me escapist, but I think I'd rather read
about the latest Elvis sighting.
has only one minister.
Premiers traditionally have made an effort to
avoid being seen as favouring Toronto, the
province's biggest city, which is distrusted and
even disliked by many outside it.
This usually has included appointing
ministers reasonably representative of all
regions of the province, which suggests they
listen to all.
McGuinty has stocked bigger cities
including Toronto, his hometown Ottawa and
Windsor with ministers, but left huge areas of
eastern, central and western Ontario so
destitute of ministers they would not recognize
a minister if they tripped over one.
Well, they might — he would be the one
mumbling he has no money to spend on
programs.
One importance of having a minister in a
riding was underlined by a federal Liberal
nomination contest a couple of weeks ago
when supporters chose Transport Minister
Tony Valeri because he is a minister and can do
things for the riding, over Sheila Copps, who is
no longer a minister and can't.
McGuinty's Tory predecessors, Ernie Eves
and Mike Harris, contented themselves with
fewer ministers from Toronto and Harris once
tried to distance himself from any notion he
favoured Toronto by saying he was fed up with
this city being viewed as the centre of the
universe.
McGuinty's five-month-old government has
not yet made enough decisions to judge
whether it favours Toronto, but it has loaded
the city with so many ministers and will make
decisions affecting so many areas there is no
way it viiilt escape charges of bias.
Just the facts
S omething happened recently tin one of
our little communities. And I know
it's not fair but I'm not going to go
into any details. As it relates to the news it's
old. As it relates to me, it's none of my
business,
My main purpose is to comment on reaction
and the role that the media can play in such
situations.
The first I became aware of the occurrence
was second hand. It is, after all, the way most
information travels in small close-knit towns
and villages. It's generally effective and swift.
The problem is, that it's not always accurate.
There's nothing deliberate in the
misrepresentation. It's simply a fact of life
that a story told time and again takes on new
dimensions, a little colour added here, a little
tone added there. If you remember the game
from childhood where one sentence is
whispered from ear to ear, you probably
remember that the message received at the end
of the line, bore little or no resemblance to the
original.
Each time a tale is told, particularly one
that's a little unusual, there will be
embellishments. We do not know which of the
people are more inclined to be creative, so to
each ear the story passes it can be taken
further from the reality. —
In putting together a newspaper each week
accuracy is of great importance. Thousands of
eyes see and any errors sometimes gently,
often gleefully,, more often angrily, are
pointed out. We must go to the source to get
our facts. Heresay could only be printed as
what it is.
This often gets interesting in courtrooms or
council chambers where someone might say
something which will ultimately turn out to be
incorrect, but as part of the meeting it is
reported. Though I would never knowingly
print something untrue, when it happens it's
important to recognize that while the facts
may not be accurate the coverage was.
However, when it comes to news items or
features the media is looking for the most
accurate information from a reliable source.
While we are certainly not perfect, it's likely
that the newspaper is probably closer to the
truth than the story on the street.
Unfortunately, many people are reluctant to
publish details of some things they feel are
best kept quiet. It is a viewpoint I can well
understand except that nothing in a small town
is kept quiet. Going public with the
information means that when a story on the
street takes an interesting turn, there is,
hopefully, a clear, concise and honest account
in print. -
There is no one immune to rumour and
gossip. We have all at one time or another
been guilty of it and hurt by it. Usually,
however it's spread through no malicious
intent, but from concern and interest.
But anyone who's ever thought that if the
story isn't in the newspaper then it's being
kept quiet has not given enough credit to the
grapevine. Certainly, the printed word does
put a situation in the public eye, but unlike the
story on the street it's expected to be accurate.
A newspaper is not just a way to tell people
what the news is, but to tell people what the
facts are.
Try not to think of it as drawing too much
attention to something, but rather of giving it
the right attention.
Toronto's powerful ministers