by Roger Stonebanks, citizen journalist

Got a complaint about your local paper? There now is a new, national, press council that replaces provincial press councils including the BC Press Council  – it’s the National NewsMedia Council.

But first – you must make your complaint to the newspaper.

The council is a voluntary, self-regulating body of the news media in Canada. It considers specific unsatisfied complaints made by the public involving print and online media. Complaints involve journalistic practices and proper ethical standards.

John Fraser, journalist, author, editor and immediate past master of Massey College in the University of Toronto, is the inaugural president and chief executive officer of the council. He said his first task is to assure that the new council will strengthen media commitment to a fair and just accounting of media practices.

“Newspapers and magazines serve the public and it is the public, first and foremost, who need to have confidence that this industry-supported agency is working to protect its best interests,” he said.

“At the same time, the news media industry is in tremendous transition and we have an important role to play in assuring that this transition includes the very best standards of journalism.”

For more information about the council, which includes Black Press and Glacier Media which own the papers in Victoria, check out these sources: National NewsMedia Council; Newspapers Canada; comment by Sylvia Stead, public editor of The Globe and Mail; Press Councils and Democracy

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