star conflict

8/8/2019 Star Conflict

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Ladies and gentlemen of the media, thank you for your attention today. I want to speak to you

about a topic that is very important to every person in this community.

That topic is you, the media, and the very important role that you play in ensuring that we in

Windsor have a strong and vital democracy. Unfortunately, that media role in Windsor is very

much under attack.

There is a disease at the very top of the most dominant media in our City, a disease that is

destroying one of democracy’s most important safeguards, which is a properly informed

citizenry.

When I speak of the most dominant media in our City, I am of course speaking of the Windsor

Star. Windsor’s media situation is unique, located as we are against the American border, with

an American media that pays absolutely no attention to Windsor politics.

Our newspaper, the Windsor Star, likes to brag about having the highest reader penetration of any

newspaper in Canada. Yet the reverse is true for our radio and television outlets which face

heavy American competition. The result is that when it comes to Windsor news and Windsor

politics, the Windsor Star is a giant amongst the competing media.

Further, as a one newspaper town, we don’t have the advantages of a city like Toronto which has

several newspapers, each with competing viewpoints. Nor are we like a London or a Waterloo,

with newspapers in neighbouring communities with overlapping coverage areas.

Due to these unique circumstances, the Windsor Star possesses a reach and an influence in our

city that is unmatched. There is however a cancer at the Windsor Star, a conflict of interest in its

coverage of municipal politics that is absolutely fundamental. This conflict of interest iscorroding public life in Windsor.

All of you here are aware, although many in this City are not, that the Chief of Staff in the office

of the Mayor is the wife of the Editorial Page Editor of the Windsor Star.

Following his election in 2003, Eddie Francis hired Norma Coleman to serve as The Chief of

Staff in his office which she has done ever since. Throughout that time, her husband, John

Coleman, has served as an Editor of the Windsor Star.

The resulting conflict has been obvious to everyone who has learned of the situation and it has

clearly become a factor in the Windsor Star’s coverage of municipal affairs.

Let me be clear about where this conflict of interest lies. It is not with Norma Coleman who

found employment running the Mayor’s Office.

Rather the conflict lies with John Coleman and the senior management of the Windsor Star. John

Coleman could and should have been given another assignment, far removed from Windsor

municipal politics where his wife’s interests have been on the line for the last several years.



Both Canwest Global Communications which until recently owned the Windsor Star and the new

owners, Postmedia Network Inc., are large organizations which could easily offer Mr. Coleman

other challenges than the job he possesses as the boss of the Windsor Star’s editorial department.

That however did not happen and many persons have noted over these last several years the

fawning coverage the Windsor Star has given Mr. Francis. Through his tenure, we in Windsorhave gone through the toughest times in living memory for most of us and yet save for minor

criticisms there has been nothing but praise from the Windsor Star for the Mayor’s performance.

Windsor has led Canada’s unemployment statistics throughout the Francis years; bankruptcies

have soared; home foreclosures and factory closings have been rampant; yet there has been

nothing but praise from the Windsor Star for Mr. Francis.

This has not been a situation where one columnist has been pro-Francis and another has been

taking shots at him. What has been startling is that every columnist and the editorial board have

been solid in their praise of virtually every policy that Mr. Francis has espoused.

Further this disease in the editorial department of the Windsor Star may have spread to the news

reporting side as well. We have been told by more than one Star reporter that ideas on stories

that might in any way be critical of Mr. Francis are almost always killed; and that their reports

are edited and headlines are written with his interests in mind.

A conflict of interest at the very top of the media hierarchy is an insidious thing. It has a

corrosive effect on civic life. We have seen that here in Windsor.

These two institutions: the Mayor’s Office and the Windsor Star are together a very powerful

force, who have intimidated and shouted down many in this City.

For my part, I blame Mr. Francis for creating this conflict of interest at the Windsor Star as much

as I do the Star management for falling into this trap. Mr. Francis clearly has sought to benefit

from the Star’s failure to adhere to the most basic standard of conduct, a standard that journalists

routinely demand of public office holders.

Now we are in a Mayoralty election. The Editor’s wife will lose her job if Rick Limoges

succeeds in defeating Mr. Francis. The Star’s response has been unrelenting.

When I came aboard the Limoges campaign three weeks ago, there was at least the hope that in

the midst of an important democratic debate, the Windsor Star would conduct itself ethically andresponsibly. Sadly those of us on the Limoges campaign have now concluded nothing could be

further from the truth.

This campaign has been getting sucker punched by the Windsor Star at every turn. Examples

abound, whether its Graston’s unceasing attempts to portray Mr. Limoges, a career banker and

the author of Windsor’s very successful Fiscal Fitness Plan, as a stooge for profligate union



spending, or editorial efforts to brand 6,000 manufacturing jobs, recovered after Chrysler and

GM emerged from a bankruptcy shutdown, as evidence of the Mayor’s job creation prowess.

In contrast, the Star ignored the Limoges campaign press release on the upheaval at the Windsor

Essex Economic Development Corporation, the very body tasked with attracting new jobs to our

region. Under this Mayor, that body has gone through three boards of directors and six CEOs inseven years, yet this newspaper offers no criticism.

The examples of bias, misstatement and partisan attack are almost too numerous to mention. It is

time the Windsor Star was called to account.

There are three weeks left in this mayoralty election campaign. Given the Star’s behavior we can

no longer wait to make the public aware of this conflict of interest that lies at the heart of the

Star’s clear bias in this campaign.

They say that sunshine is the best disinfectant. Hopefully with this press conference today, we

will bring lots of sunlight to bare and succeed in letting Windsorites know about the conflict of

interest that has corroded the Windsor Star’s coverage of this mayoralty campaign.

I am however also here to announce today that the Rick Limoges Mayoralty Campaign has

instructed legal counsel to commence a complaint against the Windsor Star to the Ontario Press

Council in respect of this conflict of interest.

I firmly believe that both the professional journalists and the lay persons who make up the

Ontario Press Council will regard the Star’s position as cheerleader for a Mayor who employs the

Editor’s wife to be a serious breach of journalistic ethics.

I also believe that the new owners of the Windsor Star, Postmedia Network Inc. will be less than

happy with the conduct of the management of their new acquisition. Accordingly the Limoges

Campaign will be submitting a letter of complaint to Postmedia Network Inc.

Obviously with three weeks to go in an election campaign, this Campaign cannot afford to wait

for redress for the wrongs that have resulted from this conflict of interest at the very top of the

Windsor Star. It is for this reason that I as Chair of the Limoges Campaign am going public

today with our concerns.

I trust you in the media will recognize the absolute seriousness of this complaint to our public

life in Windsor. We need the air to be cleared.

Rick Limoges is more than prepared to take on the incumbent on his record over the last seven

years and on the candidates’ intentions for the future. We ask only that henceforth this debate

occur in a fair and open manner.

I know that you in the press want this to happen as well. Thank you for your attention today. I’ll

be happy to take your questions.

star conflict

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