David Thomson listens to a question during the annual general meeting of shareholders of Thomson Reuters Corporation in Toronto, May 7, 2008.MIKE CASSESE/Reuters
Editorial independence and hard-nosed business motives go hand in hand. They live in symbiosis - great journalism attracts more readers, more readers attract more advertisers and more revenue supports even greater journalism. This newspaper has long lived and prospered by that model, and been supported by a series of shareholders who have respected the autonomy of these pages, both for the greater good and their own admirable gain.
Our principal shareholder since 1980, the Thomson family, reaffirmed those beliefs on Friday when they announced the sale of their stake in the CTV television empire but increased their stake in this newspaper to 85 per cent. In announcing the transaction, David Thomson made it clear that his family will continue to respect the autonomy of these pages and the independence of Globe staff to pursue the finest, most accurate and reliable journalism available to Canadians.
They are essential principles to state, given this country's long and unsettling history of the opposite phenomenon: newspaper proprietors who have used the press in order to advance political agendas and special interests.
By contrast, the Thomsons have run newspapers with a consistency of values since the 1930s, when Roy Thomson - later to become the first Lord Thomson of Fleet - announced his credo on the front page of his first media property, the Timmins Press. On his first day of ownership, May 7, 1934, he declared : "I believe a newspaper should represent all shades of political opinion and that its readers are entitled to ALL the news, presented in an impartial manner and not colored to suit the political views of its management."
In 1951, Roy Thomson took out an advertisement in The Globe and Mail, under the headline "The Canadian People Deserve A Free and Fearless Press!", listing the chain of dailies across the country he then owned.
He spelled out his belief in allowing publishers and editors to set their own policies, appropriate to the communities they serve, and added: "I can state with the utmost emphasis that no person or group can buy or influence editorial support from any newspaper in the Thomson group."
The other enduring part of the message, a principle which is still held dear today, is his conviction that freedom of the press could be built only on the back of financial success. He stated: "It is well for the general public to know that the only way to have an independent press in this country is to have the press independent financially. It simply means that newspapers should be, and in fact, must be, profitable."
That combination of financial discipline and editorial integrity was fully endorsed by his son Ken. In a speech in 1962, when the Thomsons were proud owners of The Sunday Times and the Times of London, as well as a host of regional newspapers in Britain and North America, he talked about the business beliefs he learned from his father.
"We believe a newspaper should be financially sound to be healthy … sometimes it isn't necessary to publish a good newspaper in order to make money - but it IS necessary to make money to publish a good newspaper!" By good, he meant honest, fair and free.
When BCE Inc. created BellGlobemedia in 2001 by wrapping The Globe into CTV, the Thomson family insisted on the right to retain ownership of The Globe and Mail in the event of a change of control.
Their commitment to editorial independence was reiterated to Globe staff on Friday when David spoke about his family's passionate and ongoing support for this newspaper, and his belief in courageous and independent journalism. Also in attendance was Ken's widow, Marilyn, a symbol of a continuity that has withstood many decades of profound change.
As the Thomson experience reminds us, economic cycles can come and go. Social fads can emerge and fade. Even technological revolutions can take their toll. But strong principles, they endure.