(This letter was submitted to the Alberni Valley News on October 16, 2025)
Dear Editor,
I am a little stunned. This week, a vice president of Carpenter Media, the new American owner of the Alberni Valley News and other former Black Press papers, contacted me about a letter submitted a week earlier but not published. I had written about the risk to canadian democracy and press freedom in this country, when the ownership of a newspaper is accused, rightly or wrongly, of bowing to political pressure and editing a reporter’s story without consultation. The representative confirmed “the conversation didn’t happen” before they, senior editors, not ownership, changed the article, about an Alaska vigil for Charlie Kirk.
But my letter wasn’t about that malicious contrarian’s record of racist utterances.
The writers of the original article resigned in protest in September and today there was a mass walkout of journalists at the Pentagon, protesting new “rules” imposed by the Trump Administration.
It is ironic that Carpenter Media’s response to my letter was to encourage me to change what I wrote.
I have been writing letters for many years now. I’ve never received a call like this. In a way, if you publish this letter, dear (senior) Editor, then Carpenter Media will have got their way, but only under protest and only in this print medium.
Press Freedom is not negotiable.
Canadians need to seriously consider whether it is time for Canadian ownership to be a requirement for the canadian press.
Sincerely
Chris Alemany