By Valerie Sartor

Oliver Irwin refuses to stop working even though he is comfortably well off and no longer a spring chicken.

Slender, quiet and alert, this distinguished silver-haired man arrived in China in September 2005, having accepted an offer from Beijing’s Petroleum College (CUPE) to teach English.

Both the Chinese and Mr. Irwin got much more than they had expected: The university hired a veteran journalist with exceptional teaching skills, and Mr. Irwin married a beautiful Beijinger.

Nattily dressed and funny, Mr. Irwin served as a news editor at Radio Canada International for 30 years between 1973 and 2003.

“I’ve taught writing and public speaking and even sneaked in a little improvised journalism,” Mr. Irwin said. “I am lucky to have had very smart and polite students. All countries have room for improvement, even the Chinese press.”

Asked if a free press existed anywhere in the world Mr. Irwin said: “There is such a thing, I believe, as allowing the press to operate in a relatively free manner. But if you mean a press free from external pressures vying for particular spins, then most certainly not. And when you consider media ownership in North America, it can be scary.”

Today, five major corporations control the majority of news media in the United States, including newspapers and radio and TV stations.

It’s the same deal in Canada where two family-linked corporations control many of the newspapers and broadcasting outlets.

If you were a reporter, would you want to write or present a story that offends one of your owner’s products, or behavior? There’s a huge conflict of interest. And in the U.S. the Washington press corps seems to be very cozy with the White House. How much so-called deep investigative reporting do you find today except in the The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and some magazines like The New Yorker?

In Britain, Canada and Australia the best journalism, ironically, comes out of the government-operated media, the BBC, the CBC and ABC. That’s because under law they have complete journalistic jurisdiction and are free to criticize the government that feeds them, and do so generously. In fact, the private newspapers in Canada often are in agreement with the Conservative Party government, so the CBC, much to the chagrin of the Conservatives, is often viewed as the unofficial opposition.

Canada, Mr. Irwin’s adopted home country, currently has hundreds of newspapers.

“But there are only three big ones, the Toronto-based Globe and Mail and the Winnipeg-based National Post, both distributed nationally, and the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation in Canada,” Mr. Irwin said, “with each citizen able to present his or her own point of view.”

Mr. Irwin does not read Chinese so he reads the Chinese news via various government sponsored English language portals. He speculated, perhaps with tongue in cheek, that the Chinese press differs from the Western press regarding assignment and verification and, like all media sources, has its ups and downs.

He likes the feel of newspapers and reads the China Daily every day, as well as The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, the Guardian and Independent sometimes and the Onawa Sentinel occasionally.

When queried if he thought the Internet would replace newspapers he said, “Not unless the planet runs out of trees. Papers tuck nicely into brief cases, they’re great at corner diners, if folded properly they are handy on the subway, wives and husbands love them to hide behind during breakfast; what else can you smack a dog with? - and they’re dirt cheap.”

This old-fashioned newshound also remarked that video news does not compare with printed news, and he pointed out that what is posted on the Internet is often unverified, unchallenged, raw information.

Oliver Irwin grew up in an era when journalists learned their craft on the job, starting from the bottom and working their way up. “In my day it was hanging around the teletype room and being able to hang in at the press club till 4:00 am. Now I suspect it’s having a PhD, connections, and luck.”

What does a journalist need? His answer: “Obscene curiosity, unruly persistence, indefatigability, good looks, a heroic tolerance for baloney, a decent shirt or blouse and a strong, flexible elbow.”

When asked to define good journalistic writing he laughed and said: “Float like a Seymour Hersh, sting like a H.L. Mencken”.

Mr. Irwin’s Chinese students respect him for his knowledge and light heart.

“Any reporter, Western or Chinese, does his best,” Mr. Irwin said. “They are ones who risk their lives, and sometimes die or go to jail, to get an important story out.”

    Channel: Local Wisdom     |