[R-G] Media Avoids the Dirt: Mining companies get an easy ride in Canadian press

[Anthony Fenton]

November 27, 2008
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/2197

Media Avoids the Dirt
Mining companies get an easy ride in Canadian press

by Tim McSorley

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

When the media does cover mining, the vast majority of stories are  
based on economics, rather than on any of the issues raised on the  
signs at this demonstration against Canadian company GoldCorp. Photo:  
Allan Cedillo Lissner

MONTREAL, QUEBEC–From developing on fresh-water-providing glaciers in  
the Andes, to invading First Nations lands in Ontario, to blowing off  
the tops of mountains in Virginia, mining maintains one of the poorest  
records for environmental and social policies of nearly any industry.

“Forestry can be incredibly destructive for the environment, to the  
ecosystem, however if it is done properly...the forestry industry can  
be a nice example of a regenerative, natural resource-based industry  
that preserves land and ecosystems and also produces economic benefits  
and jobs,” says Toby Heaps, Editor-in-Chief of Corporate Knights  
magazine. “Mining– not so much in its present form,” he continues,  
adding that while practices can vary widely between companies, the  
last 30 years has shown the mining industry as both environmentally  
and socially destructive.

While Canadian companies lead the way in the mining industry, with  
almost 10,000 projects worldwide, mining activists say that lack of  
coverage in the mainstream media means many Canadians remain ignorant  
of Canada's role in the global mining market.

“I think people aren’t really aware of the scale of the industry; that  
Canada’s mining sector is so active in so many parts of the world,”  
says Ian Thomson, Corporate Social Responsibility Program Co-ordinator  
for Kairos, a Canadian ecumenical social justice organization. “Little  
is written [about mining development] unless it becomes a total  
disaster, so then you may get an article when there are family members  
who are murdered, or there is a huge spill of tailings or other toxic  
chemicals that impact a huge river system. It’s only when it reaches  
this horrendous scale that the media seems to think to pay attention.”

Beyond a lack of reporting, Thomson also sees an underlying lack of  
analysis when it comes to journalists covering the industry. “I think  
that what’s missing is there is a pattern here—that this isn’t just  
one or two isolated cases, but is the case where it’s just a heavily  
under-regulated industry,” he explains. “A report was issued by the UN  
earlier this year, saying the problem is that there is this governance  
gap, where companies operate as multinationals but are regulated at a  
national level and that’s what leads to these conflicts and these  
violations.”

A quick search through Canadian news database Proquest, which archives  
articles from all major English language dailies in Canada, seems to  
back up Thomson’s statements. While a search for articles on mining  
over the past year brings up over 6,000 pieces, a search for "mining  
and environment" brings up just under 300; similar results are  
achieved with "mining and community" or "mining and sustainable  
development." Overwhelmingly, the articles focus purely on economics,  
rather than the impact of the industry.

Heaps and Thomson both point to growing cuts in foreign and  
investigative journalism for this lack of coverage. Over the last  
decade, media consolidation and the quest for higher profits have  
resulted in closures of foreign bureaus. CanWest Global, Canada’s  
largest media conglomerate, maintains only two foreign newspaper  
bureaus, down from eight, when the chain was still owned by Southam.  
Tighter deadlines in order to meet the demands of the internet has  
also contributed to increased pressure on journalists, says Thomson,  
and less coverage of stories outside large urban areas, where mining  
operations are located.

But it isn’t just news media that has helped obscure the impacts of  
the mining industry; advertising has played significant role as well.  
Like many industries, mining has jumped on the corporate social  
responsibility bandwagon, attempting to reform their image through  
advertising campaigns vaunting their belief in a greener, cleaner and  
more equitable world. While some of the advertisements may be  
legitimate, it is difficult to distinguish which are real and which  
are simply window-dressing.

One company that has attempted to reform its image over the last 10  
years is aluminum giant Alcan (Rio Tinto Alcan, since it was acquired  
by fellow mining giant Rio Tinto last year). In the past, Alcan has  
been heavily criticized for its operations in central India,  
initiating huge bauxite mines without public consultation or  
environmental precautions. Concerns persist over its plans to expand  
hydroelectricity production for smelters in Iceland and the company  
has also been embroiled in a messy dispute over the future of its  
operations in Kitimat, B.C., where labour officials claim that the  
company is not meeting its promised levels of job creation.

Throughout the fall, the company ran a massive publicity campaign in  
Alcan’s home province of Quebec. Featuring crystal-clear water, bright  
green forests and fields and a blue sky that you wish you could fly  
away into, the advert focuses on everything—sponsoring paralympians,  
research and technology, and job creation—except its environmental  
impact. It does state, in soothing tones as a lone deer trots across  
the screen, that it "produces respect for the environment," but it in  
no way quantifies how or what it does to minimize its environmental  
impact.

"If an ad has a little girl running through a field, but also gives  
numbers on its accomplishments, that’s fine,” says Heaps. “[But] if  
the purpose or the effects of that ad is to slow down progress  
[towards sustainability] in that company or give them a decoy for  
people who want to accelerate the progress [towards sustainability] of  
the company, then that’s a problem. Those are the key questions you  
need to ask yourself: what was the intent of the company with this ad,  
and was it to accelerate its move towards being more sustainable, or  
was it to slow it down or turn it back?”

Consumers are becoming more wary of these advertising campaigns.  
Recently, advertising watchdogs in Canada, such as the Canadian  
Standards Association and the Competition Bureau—and in Britain, the  
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)—have seen an upsurge in  
complaints about misleading ‘green’ advertisements, resulting in the  
Canadian government adopting stronger rules on green labeling and  
terminology, and the ASA taking more and more companies to task.

But Thomson also warns that we cannot rely too much on the government  
to address the situation. He points to another story that has seen  
little coverage in Canada—the government’s complicity in mining  
activities.

“On many of the overseas trips [Prime Minister] Harper has taken, he  
has made sure to find the time to meet with mining executives,” says  
Thomson, adding that such meetings provide legitimacy to companies  
that are attempting to skirt social and environmentAL relations. In  
2007, Harper met with Barrick Gold executives in Chile at the same  
time that residents of Pascua Lama were raising serious concerns about  
Barrick’s undertakings in their region; Harper refused their request  
for a meeting, entering Barrick's office through the back door. On  
other occasions, Canadian ambassadors, including Guatemala and the  
Philippines, have maneuvered in favour of mining companies facing  
difficulties in obtaining permits or facing criticism for the actions.

For now, both Heaps and Thomson say that Canadians will need to look  
outside the mainstream press to find out what Canadian mining  
companies are up to.

“What we need to see is renewed investment and commitment to  
investigative journalism, to work a story over the long term,” says  
Heaps. “That’s the only way to cover something like this.”

Tim McSorley is Media Analysis Editor at The Dominion.