The Quebec Press Council, the court of honor which ensures respect for journalistic standards, celebrates its 50th anniversary this month, but its financial situation remains precarious. To ensure its future, the organization is preparing to appeal to donors, which poses no ethical problem for management.
Could the contribution of private companies to the Council affect its independence? Isn’t the organization founded in 1973 likely to be embarrassed in the future before judging a journalistic approach that concerns one of its contributors? Its vice-president assures that no.
“The government already pays us a contribution, and yet it is very clear that we are independent of the government. The important thing is to have clear governance rules which clearly state that donors are not involved in decisions,” insisted Renée Lamontagne, vice-president of the institution, during an interview with At Duty on the sidelines of the celebrations of the 50e birthday.
His organization is currently working on a contribution program open to individuals. Details are expected to be announced shortly. For the moment, the Council gets its funding partly from press companies which agree on a voluntary basis to take part. This includes almost all major media groups in Quebec (Radio-Canada, The Press, The duty, Newsetc.) with the exception of Quebecor.
What’s more, the Council can count on help from Ottawa and Quebec. The ministry has just renewed its $350,000 subsidy for the current year. Mme Lamontagne suggests that the Council wishes to seek other sources of public funding, particularly from municipalities.
“Who might want to donate voluntarily to the Council? All those who think that quality information is a contribution to democracy,” believes Renée Lamontagne, who replaces the current president, Pierre-Paul Noreau, who is on sick leave.
The beautiful escape
The Council’s sustainability has always hung by a thread. In the opinion of several experts, its survival was seriously compromised last winter, during the trial between it and Quebecor. TVA and the Quebecor newspapers withdrew from the Press Council around ten years ago. However, the Council continued to process complaints from the public regarding the journalistic treatment of these media.
They applied to the Court to stop this practice, in addition to claiming $400,000 for damage to their reputation following reprimands from the Council concerning them. The court finally ruled in favor of the Press Council last February, causing a great sigh of relief.
“There is no obligation to become a member of the Press Council, and we have always been obliged to be one. We regret that Quebecor is no longer part of it, but it is their choice. If they change their mind, the door will still be open. But what is most important is that the public can continue to contact the Press Council for interventions in the Quebecor media and that we can continue to process these complaints,” insists the vice-president.
Mostly symbolic
Regardless, the Council’s decisions remain symbolic, and are in no way binding. Since its founding, it has acted as a court of honor, on which journalists, press owners and members of the public sit. This non-profit organization is not regulated by any law. It is not an administrative court that can distribute fines or suspend a journalist from his duties. It’s not a professional order either.
If the status of the Press Council were to change, its decisions would undoubtedly have more teeth. But Renée Lamontagne is of the opinion that freedom of the press is too precious to submit it to an official body. She thinks that the risks of government interference would be too great if journalistic ethics were regulated by a public body.
“Yes, there are people who say that self-regulation makes no sense, that it is useless. But everyone knows that a journalist who receives a reprimand from the Press Council has enormous moral significance,” underlines this former Deputy Minister of Health.
Last year, the Press Council received 470 complaints from the public and opened 230 cases. The organization has never been in greater demand than during the pandemic, when distrust of the media reached its peak. The situation appears to be returning to normal. The number of complaints is reported to have decreased this year to its pre-pandemic level.