Students, if you want a career in journalism, you should pay strict attention to what I’m going to say. It could make you another Izzy Asper or a columnist for a small pro-life newspaper.

I used to think that Santa Claus was the biggest myth in the world. I was wrong; it’s “freedom of the press.” It is a total illusion. If Sharon’s boys dropped an atomic bomb on Palestine CanWest, Global Communications Corporation would accuse the hostile media of smearing Israel.

Students, CanWest Global owns 27 daily newspapers, and major newspapers in Ottawa and six of 10 provincial capitals. It already orders its largest daily papers to print identical weekly editorials on national issues, and forbids any dissent. They have killed columns in their newspapers but luckily, not columnists.

They threatened a former editor of the Halifax Daily News with some horrible and specified things, such as that “a career disaster” would happen to him if he ran a certain column. He was also ordered to get advice on any prospective commentary that ran contrary to Southam’s editorial policy. The column wasn’t run and the editor quit. Maybe those 14 editors should take a mind-reading course so they could be immediately clued into what home office is thinking.

Students, Global television beams itself to 94 per cent of the English-speaking people in Canada. Now, class, a show of hands: who thinks that Global would never show any bias in news reporting? One of you. Oh, you just want to go to the washroom. Well, go.

Class, all Conrad Black wanted to do was make money but CanWest wants to take over your brain.

Now class, put down that student and pay attention. Remember your examinations are coming up very shortly. What happened to Rev. Ken Campbell when he wanted to buy a full-page ad in one of our large Canadian dailies to object to kicking religion out of the public schools and not allowing any public display of the Christian religion on important occasions such as the aftermath of the terrorist attack in New York and Washington? That’s right, they wouldn’t take his money. They said his ad ran contrary to their editorial policy. Class, their motto should be: “Give us your car ads.”

Ever since a hamburger has never had any ham in it we have seen a torrent of misinformation, buzzwords. lies and deceptions. When’s the last time you saw or heard the expression “killing an unborn baby?” No, it’s always an “abortion” or, more often, “reproductive choice.” It’s not terminating a senior, it’s “the right to die.” It’s “sexual orientation” because “you were born that way.” It’s not concentration of the media in the hands of a few monopolists operating a media conglomerate. No, they have come up with a nicer sounding word, “convergence.” I wonder, class, how much they had to pay for that word? Now class, on the exam you will be asked to come up with 25 more of these euphemisms.

Class, I urge you to read the Devil’s Dictionary, aka “the Cynic’s Word Book,” by Ambrose Bierce. It described politics as a “strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.” I love it. Much the same could be said about the conglomerate’s control of the media masquerading as “freedom of the press.”

Now class, who do you think was responsible for selling abortion to the masses? Was it the churches? The politicians? Or was it the media? Yes, Izzy Jr., you had your hand up. “The Toronto Star.” You’re wrong. And if you give me that answer on your exam, you’ll be repeating your year.

Now, class, who has more influence on the general public: the churches, politicians or the media?

Your father, Philbert! I know, Philbert, that your dad is a minister and is a wonderful orator and he has that church program at 2 a.m. every Monday night but let’s take a reality check. Izzy Asper Jr.’s granddad with his 27 daily newspapers and Global TV’s 94 per cent market penetration or your father?

Your father. Sit down, Philbert, and write out 1,000 times: “I will not let family loyalty warp my sense of judgement.” Well, class, that’s enough for today.