Ben Viccari, a veteran journalist and public relations executive of an Italian/English background who has been a bridge between his own two "solitudes", now explains Canada's "diverse" (new word for ethnic) media on OMNI 1 (cable 4) October 29, 2005 at 9 pm and October 30, 2005 at 8 pm. This "third element" makes up a third of Canada's population.
The earliest newspaper of non-English or French content was Icelandic in 1880's on the coast of Lake Winnipeg when the country had a livestock failure. The people who came over here brought their cooking pots, clothes but also books, so a newspaper was natural progression. The paper is still in existence, now with Iceland's financial aid, written in English, because most of the people no longer speak in Icelandic.
There is a story of an Indo-Punjabi, Vancouver based diverse/ethnic publisher/editor who had an attempt on his life that left him in a wheelchair. Ten years later, he was murdered. His family continues his work.
A slightly ironic piece is of a native (aboriginal) newspaper. Since they are the original peoples of Canada, it's strange that they are considered "ethnic", or "diverse". They however share the problems of many recent arrivals and that is getting their story out, in a society of megapapers or megamedia.
Many newspapers are published on the kitchen table and the final job of the "publisher" is to distribute the paper while others, like Chinese, Portuguese, and Italian, are full-time dailies with large staffs and their own printing presses. The size of the community and how recently they have arrived have much to do with their size. They speak in a "language of comfort".
A good example was a glossy fashion magazine, published on a kitchen table, showing the latest fashions by a dental technician.
This 47-minute production was sponsored totally by OMNI. They don't just do only Estonian productions, after all.
The third element: Canada's diverse media
Archived Articles | 21 Oct 2005 | Adu RaudkiviEWR
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