{"id":266711,"date":"2018-11-16T11:31:50","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T16:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/issues\/fake-news-old-confederation\/"},"modified":"2025-10-07T22:18:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T02:18:31","slug":"fake-news-old-confederation","status":"publish","type":"issues","link":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake news is as old as Confederation"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the promotional tour this fall for my book on the history of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, Power, Prime Ministers and the Press: The Battle for Truth on Parliament Hill <\/em>(Dundurn), <\/em>I have often been asked about the news media today. The questions range from concerned inquiries about the parlous state of the industry to queries that betray outright cynicism about the veracity of news today.<\/p>\n

The questions are well-founded. Many of the voices we respect are in financial free fall and, inevitably, some will not survive. (According to a study<\/a> for the Public Policy Forum in 2017, \u00a0more than 250 Canadian newspapers had disappeared since 2010.) Apart from battling the new digital economics driven by Facebook and Google, conventional media outlets also confront mounting skepticism from a jaded public. In the words of the annual Edelman Trust Barometer<\/a>, we live in \u201ca world of seemingly stagnant distrust\u201d about institutions. And media outlets lead the list, behind government, business and non-governmental organizations. Almost half of Canadians surveyed say they have lost faith in news media, and more than half no longer follow the news. Across the world, almost 40 percent of respondents say they are worried about \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/p>\n

But shading the truth is as old as Confederation.<\/p>\n

The journalist Arthur Ford recalled the time in 1913 when, as a freelancer for the Fredericton Gleaner<\/em>, he was covering the great Commons debate about the Naval Aid Bill, the legislation brought forward by Conservative Prime Minister Robert Borden to support Britain in the looming war with Germany. Liberal Leader Wilfrid Laurier\u2019s address was much anticipated, especially given a split in his ranks and anti-imperialist sentiment in Quebec. Laurier was to follow the speech by the Minister of the Naval Service, Douglas Hazen, a close friend of James Crockett, the owner of the Gleaner<\/em>. When Ford asked how much copy the paper wanted on the speeches, Crockett responded: \u201cIgnore Laurier entirely. Send Hazen verbatim.\u201d Ford concluded in his 1950 memoir, As the World Wags On<\/em>, \u201cIn those days government news was treated like patronage for the government papers.\u201d The reporters on the government side were known as \u201cthe ministerial press.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post-Confederation era was a time when parties rigidly controlled the news. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald invested his own funds in several newspaper ventures, including the Mail<\/em> in Toronto and, when that publication proved not sufficiently Tory for his liking, the Empire. <\/em>Laurier and his wealthy friends launched L\u2019\u00c9lecteur <\/em>(now Le Soleil<\/em>) in 1880, and he installed his friend and adviser Ernest Pacaud as the editor. Shortly before the 1910 election, Laurier, then prime minister, learned of a Conservative plot to take over the pro-Liberal paper La Presse<\/em> and organized his own group of railway barons, who successfully fought off the bid.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that the newspapers, then the only real source of government information, suppressed the news \u2014 it\u2019s that they were highly selective. \u201cA Conservative paper covered the speeches of its leaders,\u201d Ford wrote, \u201cand more or less ignored the speeches of the Liberals and vice versa. Reports were biased and unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Reporter’s Gallery, Edward Jump. From the Canadian Illustrated News\/Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Collection, 1872, (Source: Bytown Museum, Ottawa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

George Brown\u2019s Reform-Liberal Globe<\/em> in Toronto fairly fulminated after a raucous night of Commons debate in 1878: \u201cTo say that Sir John A. Macdonald was on Friday night somewhat under the influence of liquor would be a grossly inadequate representation of the fact. He was simply drunk in the plain ordinary sense of the word.\u201d And the paper went to town in 1873 when it obtained a memo documenting the secret payment to Macdonald and his Conservative colleagues by Sir Hugh Allan, who wanted the contract to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Globe<\/em> stacked 18 different headlines on page 1, complete with exclamation marks: \u201cTHE PACIFIC SCANDAL! Macdonald and Cartier Take Money from Allan.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Willison and John Dafoe were two of the leading members of the press gallery in their day, and both went on to head leading newspapers, Willison at the Globe<\/em> in Toronto and Dafoe at the Free Press<\/em> in Winnipeg. Both were very close to Laurier. One of Willison\u2019s early acts as editor was to protect Laurier from a major embarrassment on the eve of the election of 1891: he opted not to publish a letter that a prominent Liberal front-bencher, Edward Blake, was planning to deliver to his constituents in Durham, attacking Laurier\u2019s proposed reciprocity plan for free trade with the United States \u2014 then involved Laurier in a compromise with Blake to keep his views to himself until after the election. (Laurier lost to Macdonald anyway.) In 1917, after Willison and Dafoe fell out with Laurier over conscription, they helped to elect Robert Borden as the Unionist prime minister.<\/p>\n

The symbiotic relationships between prime ministers and press continued through the years. The journalist Grattan O\u2019Leary of the Ottawa Journal<\/em>, who liked to say he voted with the Tories but drank with the Grits, openly supported his friend Arthur Meighen \u2014 even travelling with the Conservative prime minister to an Imperial Conference in 1921 in the guise of a reporter with the Canadian Press and filing favourable stories. The respected journalists Grant Dexter and Bruce Hutchison wrote speeches and election material for Liberal Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King over the years and played important roles behind the scenes in Lester (Mike) Pearson\u2019s ascent to the Liberal leadership and the prime minister\u2019s office in the 1960s. Dexter once said their job was to \u201chelp Mike shine.\u201d In 1902 A.J. Magurn, a press gallery veteran who was Dafoe\u2019s predecessor at the Free Press<\/em>, also had help on his mind when he used his long-time service to the Liberal Party in his demand for a Senate seat: \u201cI helped you when you needed it most, now I want you to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

To be sure, there was overtly partisan \u201cnews.\u201d Clifford Sifton, owner of the Free Press <\/em>and Laurier\u2019s powerful interior minister at the turn of the 20th century, created a \u201cNews Bureau\u201d that published a series of bulletins that friendly Liberal papers were expected to run. \u201cThe theory that you want the elector to read both sides and trust to him that you are right, is not practical politics,\u201d he declared. Later, in the mid-1930s, the Conservatives retained a Toronto advertising agency to record dramatized sequences of \u201cour friend and neighbour Mr. Sage\u201d savaging Liberal Leader Mackenzie King, running them without any disclosure of their party affiliation. When they returned to power, the Liberals passed a law banning such electioneering on radio.<\/p>\n

The worm started to turn after the great pipeline debate of 1956, when the Liberal powerhouse minister C.D. Howe invoked closure to ram a financing bill through the Commons. Angry opposition MPs accused the Speaker of changing his rulings under government pressure. The Commons descended into bitter name-calling. Gallery reporters were appalled by the affront to Parliament. It was the beginning of a more confrontational spirit in the press gallery. In 1962, Val Sears of the Toronto Star<\/em> gave voice to the mood when he famously declared, \u201cCome, gentlemen. We have a government to overthrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Watergate, it seemed, everyone wanted to be a journalist. And now, in the age of Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, they have their wish. The tweet and the clip rule over substance. Amidst all the clamour and competing voices, it is not surprising that people are confused about what to believe and whom they can trust. Attacks on the press are increasing. It may be pointless to argue, as I do, that most news and information from traditional outlets is more reliable now than in days of yore. Yet citizens remain skeptical. The challenge for conventional news outlets is to demonstrate their authenticity and their value. The journalists know they are under the microscope. There is no tolerance for mistakes or partisanship. Because truth in news is vital to our democracy, the reporter\u2019s job is more important now than ever before.<\/p>\n

Photo: Interior view of the House of Commons including the press gallery, Session 1897. Vue de l’int\u00e9rieur de la Chambre des communes, incluant la tribune, session de 1897. Source: William James Topley, Library and Archives Canada. Biblioth\u00e8que et Archives Canada. C-001986
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options\u00a0discussion, and send in your own submission.\u00a0Here is a\u00a0<\/em>link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on how to do it.\u00a0<\/em>|\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ?\u00a0<\/em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces\u00a0<\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the promotional tour this fall for my book on the history of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, Power, Prime Ministers and the Press: The Battle for Truth on Parliament Hill (Dundurn), I have often been asked about the news media today. The questions range from concerned inquiries about the parlous state of the industry to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":240480,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T02:18:34Z","apple_news_api_id":"e2d1b630-4002-4d87-acf5-aa058e3517fe","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T02:18:34Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A4tG2MEACTYes9aoFjjUX_g","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9385,9358,9372],"tags":[9187,8413],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4295],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[7136],"class_list":["post-266711","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medias-et-culture","category-politique","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-desinformation","tag-journalism-fr","irpp-category-politique","irpp-tag-medias-et-culture"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nFake news is as old as Confederation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fake news is as old as Confederation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During the promotional tour this fall for my book on the history of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, Power, Prime Ministers and the Press: The Battle for Truth on Parliament Hill (Dundurn), I have often been asked about the news media today. The questions range from concerned inquiries about the parlous state of the industry to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Policy Options\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IRPP.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-08T02:18:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/reportersgallery.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"754\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@irpp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/\",\"name\":\"Fake news is as old as Confederation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/reportersgallery.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-16T16:31:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-08T02:18:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/reportersgallery.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/reportersgallery.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":754},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fake news is as old as Confederation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/\",\"name\":\"Policy Options\",\"description\":\"Institute for Research on Public Policy\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fake news is as old as Confederation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/","og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fake news is as old as Confederation","og_description":"During the promotional tour this fall for my book on the history of the Parliamentary Press Gallery, Power, Prime Ministers and the Press: The Battle for Truth on Parliament Hill (Dundurn), I have often been asked about the news media today. The questions range from concerned inquiries about the parlous state of the industry to […]","og_url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/","og_site_name":"Policy Options","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IRPP.org","article_modified_time":"2025-10-08T02:18:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":754,"url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/reportersgallery.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@irpp","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/","name":"Fake news is as old as Confederation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/reportersgallery.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-16T16:31:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-08T02:18:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/reportersgallery.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/reportersgallery.jpg","width":1024,"height":754},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/2018\/11\/fake-news-old-confederation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fake news is as old as Confederation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/","name":"Policy Options","description":"Institute for Research on Public Policy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues\/266711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/issues"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266711"},{"taxonomy":"article-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-status?post=266711"},{"taxonomy":"irpp-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irpp-category?post=266711"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=266711"},{"taxonomy":"irpp-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/policyoptions.irpp.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irpp-tag?post=266711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}