Behind the News: Voices from Goas Press | Page 5

anything for me? I had no heart to
ask him that. After that personal and private telephone conversation,
the two of us carried on as if nothing had happened. And during the
next year, my encounters with Kakodkar became strictly professional
but cordial.
Echoes in Toronto
But the manipulation of news by newspaper proprietors was not limited
to Goa. I heard a similar echo in Toronto in the nineties.
In the 1988 elections, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada,
led by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, had won a second majority with
169 seats out of 295 in the House of Commons. The Liberals were in
opposition with 83. In the ensuing five years, the Mulroney government
brought in a new bill called Goods and Services Tax, a highly
controversial measure that proved unpopular with the majority of
Canadians. Still, the government went ahead and passed the tax bill -- a

7% tax on all goods and services effective January 1990. During this
term, Mr. Mulroney was also criticized for being too friendly with the
Americans.
In the 1993 election, the public was fed up with the Tories (PC) as
reflected in the opinion polls. But the press and media had no clear idea
as to how deeply the people loathed the policies of the Tories. The
shocker came on the night of the election-October 25. The fall from
grace for the Tories was as stunning as it was deserved. They won only
two seats in total, each in the province of New Brunswick and Quebec.
The Liberals, led by Jean Chretien, returned with a huge majority of
177 seats. The Liberals are still in power, having won the next two
elections in 1997 and 2000.
However, an interesting development regarding the power of the press
took place in 1998. A wealthy Canadian newspaper mogul named
Conrad Black financed a new daily in Toronto called The National Post.
Black told readers that his paper would advance an alternative point of
view, a far right conservative position on politics in Canada. As owner
of London's Daily Telegraph, the Jerusalem Post, and Chicago's
Sun-Times, Mr. Black hired top talent and spared no expense, at least
for the first two years, to make the Post successful in creating and
wooing the conservative voice in Canada. In the 2000 election, his
paper became as one-sided as Navhind Times was in 1963. The paper
supported a new party called Canadian Alliance, a highly conservative
group drawn mostly from western Canada, and was hell-bent to destroy
Prime Minister Jean Chretien and the Liberals. Alas, the people didn't
buy it! And the Liberals forged ahead with a third majority win.
During this time, Mr. Black's personal agenda of wanting to be a peer
in the House of Lords in England came out front and centre. The
British Prime Minister Tony Blair recommended and the Queen
accepted that Conrad Black be made a Lord. But sweet revenge raised
its arms and Jean Chretien said Black couldn't be a Lord while being a
Canadian citizen. Black was forced to renounce his Canadian
citizenship. Not only that, but Black sold the National Post in 2001 for
a tidy profit. He is now Lord Black of Crossharbour in the House of
Lords.
I started this article with the observation that facts are sacred and
comment is free. Both elements of journalism, it seems to me, are

flawed. Like beauty and sex, freedom of the press is in the eye of the
beholder and in the loins of the performer. It's all relative, never
absolute.

Chapter 2
: Goan journalism: Views from near and far
Eugene CorreiaCanada-based Eugene Correia has worked for a wide
range of national-level newspapers published in India. Besides those
listed below, he has also written for India Today, and a number of expat
Indian publications published from overseas. What stands out is this
journalist's sharp understanding of Goan issues and politics, and his
memory for detail, all the more remarkable since he has been based
outside Goa for virtually his entire working life.
I must admit I have no direct connection with journalism in Goa, in the
sense of having worked in the state. However, I was involved in Goan
journalism in Mumbai (then Bombay), but that too in a limited way. I
wrote few pieces for the Konkani-language papers such as The Goa
Times and Ave Maria and the English-Konkani weekly, The Goan
Sports Weekly. After Goa's Liberation, and till I left India for Canada
in late 1981, I took more than a cursory look at how journalism is
practiced in Goa. I read The Navhind Times often, as the paper was
available in Mumbai during the 1970s.
I was involved in mainstream journalism in Mumbai since my college
days, first with The Indian Express and later with the