CATCH Articles:
Newspaper criticized for conflict of interest
Feb 28, 2010
Out-going councillor Margaret McCarthy is questioning the relationship between city council and the Hamilton Spectator. Speaking against the Pan Am stadium spending, the Waterdown councillor pointed to an incident during the city’s unsuccessful efforts to obtain the Commonwealth Games when the publisher of the newspaper was apparently included in a closed door council session.
“Jagoda Pike went in camera with council to deal with the past games bid and then reported on it afterwards,” revealed McCarthy at last week’s council meeting. “I mean, where’s the independent, non-partisan objective analysis of that, when councillors are reported on by the press that have a vested interest in ensuring that the games go forward?”
She argued “that kind of collusion” is dangerous, and suggested that there’s been “very little independent non-partisan objective analysis and coverage” on the Pan Am Games process as well. McCarthy was one of six councillors who opposed last week’s decision on the stadium and velodrome site for Hamilton’s portion of the Toronto-centred 2015 Pan American Games.
While she was publisher of the Spectator from 2001 to 2006, Pike chaired Hamilton’s bids for the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games. She went on to be publisher of the Toronto Star, a position she resigned from in September 2008 when she was chosen as president and CEO of the Pan Am Games bid.
McCarthy’s accusation of the improper inclusion of Pike in an in camera meeting was not responded to directly, but Terry Whitehead came to the newspaper’s defence in his comments later in the council debate. Speaking specifically to comments made by “the councillor from Waterdown”, Whitehead pointed to a Spectator column that questioned the economic benefits of major sporting events.
“I recall Andrew Dreschel did an article and reported on a report or study by an expert in the context of games,” noted Whitehead. “And I think he was pretty accurate in the reflection of that report, and that consultant, and the research relatively to whether these things pay for themselves.”
He is apparently referring to a column from February 2009 where Dreschel reported that “it seems the vast majority of academic research suggests that big-event boosters tend to significantly exaggerate their economic benefits, while the Games themselves cause overinvestment in rarely used sports facilities.”
The newspaper’s editorial board, which Dreschel is a part of, has supported Hamilton’s role in the Pan Am Games and the selection of the west harbour site for the stadium, but has expressed concern about the commitment of the Tiger-Cats to the site.
Whitehead was one of nine councillors who voted Wednesday night to approve a west harbour site for a new stadium for the Pan Am Games track and field events, and possibly a future home for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. McCarthy has announced that she won’t seek re-election this fall after 16 years as a councillor in Flamborough and the amalgamated city.