[R-G] Harper plans his own media centre

[Anthony Fenton]

Copyright 2007 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.
The Toronto Star

October 15, 2007 Monday

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A01

LENGTH: 837 words

HEADLINE: PM plans his own media centre;
Secret $2M project to build new briefing centre would supplant nearby  
National Press Theatre

BYLINE: tonda maccharles, Toronto Star

DATELINE: OTTAWA

BODY:


The Prime Minister's Office, which has long had a rocky relationship  
with the national media, has been working on a secret project to  
build a new, government-controlled briefing room at the cost of $2  
million, documents obtained by the Star show.

Long kept under wraps, the plan - codenamed the Shoe Store Project -  
is in the works by the Privy Council Office and the PMO to establish  
a new government-controlled media briefing centre near Langevin Block.

The yellow-brown building that now houses Stephen Harper and his  
senior staff would supplant the current National Press Theatre, just  
a block away.

The National Press Theatre, used by prime ministers and cabinet  
ministers since Lester B. Pearson opened it in 1965, is a venue with  
simultaneous translation where on-the-record news conferences are  
moderated by press gallery executive members - not Harper's political  
staff.

Save for one surprise visit by Harper Oct. 3 (a visit that shocked  
even his senior staff) the National Press Theatre has been shunned by  
"Canada's New Government."

Now, documents obtained by the Toronto Star under the Access to  
Information Act reveal that government planning for a "special  
project for the PM, otherwise reffered (sic) as the Shoe Store  
Project" has been underway since at least last year.

Civil servants were asked to investigate the possibility of  
renovating an old shoe store location on the Sparks Street pedestrian  
mall "for the possible use of the PM."

"The rental sign will stay in place for now," says one memo, written  
in advance of a meeting with PCO Clerk Kevin Lynch, effectively  
Harper's deputy minister.

One document says the "dedicated press availability facility" is part  
of efforts to "put in place robust physical and information security  
measures to protect the Prime Minister and Cabinet."

Its estimated cost: $2 million.

Since the Conservative government's relationship with national media  
is already fraught with tension over curtailed access to ministers  
and Harper, the project was clearly deemed highly sensitive.

So sensitive, in fact, Public Works and PCO staff who scheduled a  
"walk-through" last fall of the National Press Theatre to scout out  
the "functional requirements (ceiling heights, technical equipment,  
etc.)" were ordered at the last minute to cancel "due to concerns  
expressed by Communications Branch."

Small wonder. A gaggle of public works officials checking out the  
press theatre on the first floor of the National Press Building would  
likely catch the eye of reporters whose offices are in the same  
building across from West Block. One document obtained shows staff  
came up with a working list of what to put in the Shoe Store Project,  
including "a stage or riser; comfortable seating for 40-80 people,  
security at the back and front door, electronic feeds for sound,  
sound boards, simultaneous translation space, phone-in capacity,  
proper lighting for cameras (may require drapes for windows), tables  
for handouts, products, etc., glasses, water, flags, backdrop,  
photocopier, full work station/internet hook-up, printer (large- 
capacity) in the back for officials to use, washroom facilities."

The result would be a little fancier than the National Press Theatre  
and, most important, give the PMO a lot more control over who gets in  
and, quite possibly, what gets filmed and broadcast.

A hand-drawn sketch of the PM's renovated shoe store/press theatre  
indicates a space for "maybe permanently installed cameras with feeds  
to media."

That could put the news cameras in the hands of government-employed  
camera operators, not independent photojournalists employed by the  
television networks. It suggests the Prime Minister's communications  
people would send broadcast feeds to the TV networks for their use in  
reports, or as most politicians prefer, live-to-air broadcast.

The Harper government has had several run-ins with the national press  
gallery. When Harper came to power, he changed the rules governing  
press conferences, insisting his staff decide which journalists pose  
questions. It is an American practice, which Paul Martin attempted to  
use on the 2006 election campaign trail.

But when the Conservative government made clear it would be the new  
norm, the national media objected. Harper told interviewers it gave  
him more control, which is precisely why the press gallery for years  
has run press conferences, to depoliticize exchanges between the  
media and government. The moderator is held accountable by his or her  
peers for playing favourites.

The media's concern has been that the PM's staff might sideline  
reporters deemed unsympathetic.

The Star, Globe and Mail, The Canadian Press and CBC's English- 
language services still follow the practice of participating in  
independently moderated news conferences.

Meanwhile, many details in the Shoe Store Project documents are  
blacked-out or withheld for reasons related to "international affairs  
and defence," "security," and cabinet confidentiality.

But concept drawings and preliminary cost estimates were to be  
completed by last December.