Lord Beaverbrook back in the media

Water wars

Queen's and McGill met in April at the Laval Rowing Basin on Montreal's north shore to decide ownership of the Lorne Gales Trophy for the next year. Begun in 1997, the McGill-Queen's Challenge adds another dimension to the long-standing sports rivalry between the two schools. Unbeaten by Queen's in previous contests, McGill lost this year in overall points by a score of 7-5. The men's heavyweight eight were victorious, however, so the Blade Trophy won't be making the trip to Kingston.

Phantastic phonathons

You might have had a phone call from a friendly McGill voice this past March. That's when almost 200 volunteers, like Nursing student Christine Leblanc (left), manned the lines for phonathons in Montreal, Vancouver, and Toronto, raising over $300,000 for the McGill Alma Mater Fund.

In Montreal, phonathon co-chairs Sandra Henrico, BSc(HEc)'69, from the Macdonald Campus and Don McGowan, BA'92, DipEnvSt'96, BCL'97, LLB'97, from the Faculty of Law had a friendly wager over whose faculty would raise more money, with Don promising to eat a canvass card should Mac win. As the dollars were added, total pledges went in favour of Sandra, and Don did indeed end up munching on a canvass card. He should have asked for a recount. Since then, final tallies showed Law edging out Mac. No word on Sandra's lunch plans just yet.

Montreal -- 102 volunteers raised $167,385
Vancouver -- 17 volunteers raised $30,400
Toronto -- 72 volunteers raised $108,718

Lord Beaverbrook back in the media

Media ethics. You might think the phrase has an odd ring to it, like "military intelligence" or "jumbo shrimp." The fact is not lost on Timothy Aiken, BA'67, grandson of the famous Canadian statesman and newspaper baron for whom McGill's new Beaverbrook Chair in Ethics, Media and Communications is named.

"For certain people, a chair in ethics, media and communications might seem like an oxymoron, and this disillusionment suggests a major societal concern which the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation wants to help address."

Aitken (above), travelled from his home in New York this past April to help announce the new Chair funded by the Foundation. The London-born McGill grad knows whereof he speaks when it comes to the media, having spent 15 years in the business himself as a journalist and running a television company in Britain, not to mention his grandfather's legacy of newspapers that include Britain's Daily Express and the London Evening Standard.

With the ever-expanding TV universe, entertainment and publishing mega-mergers, and everyone from the CBC to Salon magazine to the Drudge Report providing news via the Internet, the question of media ethics is taking on a new importance. How do we establish standards for on-line journalism? How do we differentiate editorial content and advertising? What's to be done about "infotainment"? What are the privacy and human rights issues that arise from the new media?

These are just some of the questions the new Chair will explore "in order to examine the profound cultural influence of the media and therefore the ethics that must guide them," says Aitken.

"On the one hand, we have unimaginable freedom, thanks to the power of communications, and yet on the other hand we're faced with terrible abuses. Our society is badly in need of intellectual leadership to examine the issues objectively and to help us interpret their evolution. Most importantly, since the media shape the way societies see themselves, we believe, and most people would agree, that in this 21st century world, ethics serve as a critical guide."

McGill is now looking for a prominent figure for the position. Aitken hopes the Chair will be "someone controversial and interesting" and expects them "to have the stature to rise above special interests."

At the press conference to announce the new Chair, Principal Bernard Shapiro thanked the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation and said "this is a unique approach to a very complex challenge." The principal pointed out that the transdisciplinary nature of the field will be well served by many McGill experts with a lively interest in the initiative. And with the collaboration of four different deans from Arts, Law, Management and Religious Studies, "the Beaverbrook Chair will receive the prominence and suppport it deserves."