ASPER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-08 published
Israel ASPER: A timeline
Wednesday, October 8, 2003 - Page B6
1930s
Born
Israel
Harold
ASPER in 1932 in Minnedosa, Manitoba, the
son of musicians Leon and Cecilla.
Even in his youth, Mr.
ASPER was a newspaper junkie. As a Grade
10 student he started a newspaper on his own.
1940s
After the Second World War the
ASPERs built a small chain of
theatres in rural Manitoba and Winnipeg. Izzy was an usher at
one of the theatres.
Married
Ruth
(Babs)
BERNSTEIN, who he met in high school in Winnipeg.
Like the
ASPERs, the
BERNSTEINs were immigrants from Eastern
Europe.
1950s
Attended the University of Manitoba. Called to the Bar of Manitoba
in 1957.
son David, born in 1958, is now CanWest Global executive vice-president.
1960s
Daughter Gail, born in 1960 is now CanWest Global's corporate
secretary.
son Leonard, born in 1964, is president and chief executive officer
of CanWest Global.
1970s
Member of Legislative Assembly and Leader of the Liberal party
in Manitoba from 1970-1975.
Began his broadcasting career when he bought North Dakota's
KCND
in 1974, moved it to Winnipeg and changed the call letters to
CKND.
Buys 45 per cent of troubled Global Ontario network in 1974.
1980s
In 1988 he gains licences for new television stations in Regina
and Saskatoon.
Buys television stations in Vancouver and Halifax-Saint John.
In 1988, Mr.
ASPER and associates buy out partners in the Ontario
Global system.
In 1989, CanWest takes over 100 per cent of Global and becomes
CanWest Global Communications.
1990s
CanWest lists on the New York Stock Exchange in 1991.
In 2000, Mr.
ASPER moves into print with $3.2-billion purchase
of Southam newspaper group from Hollinger Inc.
2000s
The newspaper deal sparked heavy criticism as Mr.
ASPER was accused
of editorial interference at the papers.
Last year, CanWest fired Ottawa Citizen publisher Russell
MILLS
after the paper published an editorial critical of Prime Minister
Jean CHRETIEN.
Jazz was always Mr.
ASPER's passion - his brother gave him a
Rhapsody in Blue recording as a bar mitzvah present. In 2002,
CanWest opened a Winnipeg jazz FM station.
Died yesterday at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg at 71.
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ASPER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-08 published
Shock, sadness over
ASPER
Former movie ticket taker rose to prominence as one of Canada's
biggest media moguls
By Richard
BLACKWELL Media Reporter Wednesday, October 8, 2003
- Page B1
Canada's business, media and political elite expressed shock
and sadness at the death of Izzy
ASPER, the colourful Winnipeg
media mogul who died yesterday at the age of 71.
Mr. ASPER built CanWest Global Communications Corp. into a national
television and newspaper powerhouse, and more recently spent
some of his fortune on charitable and philanthropic causes.
Israel ASPER, known to everyone as Izzy, was admitted to St.
Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg at 9: 30 yesterday morning, and
died soon after, surrounded by his wife and children.
CanWest spokesman Geoffrey
ELLIOT/ELLIOTT said he had no information
on the cause of Mr.
ASPER's death, although it was "obviously
sudden."
The funeral is set for tomorrow.
Mr. ASPER smoked heavily for years and had a serious heart attack
at age 50.
A tax lawyer who for a time was leader of the Liberal Party in
Manitoba, Mr.
ASPER built CanWest Global from a single television
station in Winnipeg into its current status as one of Canada's
biggest media empires.
Colleagues and Friends praised him for his business successes
and community work.
Conrad BLACK, who sold Mr.
ASPER the Southam newspaper chain
in 2000 to cement CanWest's position as Canada's leading media
company, described him in an interview yesterday as "a charming
informal character [with] never a hint of self-importance despite
his great success." And that success was legendary, Lord
BLACK
said.
"The man started out taking tickets in a cinema in Minnedosa,
and he, as of this morning, was the premier figure in the Canadian
media. That's quite a career."
Lord BLACK noted that Mr.
ASPER "had a reputation, in some circles,
for being very litigious [but] I always found him a joy to deal
with."
"We never had any difficultly reaching an agreement, and you
never had to worry for an instant that the agreement would be
followed up by him to the letter. "
Prime
Minister
Jean
CHRÉTIEN issued a statement in which he called
Mr. ASPER "a great personal friend and one of the finest and
most able individuals I have ever had the privilege of knowing."
Ivan FECAN, president and chief executive officer of Bell Globemedia
and Chief Executive Officer of CTV Inc., described Mr.
ASPER
as "a great entrepreneur, a brilliant competitor, and a true
original."
Onex
Corp. chief executive officer Gerald
SCHWARTZ, who was a
protégé of Mr.
ASPER's and helped found the CanWest empire, said
he "left a legacy of pride for his family, a television network
for all Canadians, and a business empire for his colleagues.
His leadership in the Canadian Jewish community is a loss that
will not easily be overcome."
Mr. ELLIOT/ELLIOTT, who has worked with Mr.
ASPER for the past four
years, described him as "a visionary, but at the same time he
was very human and very approachable."
Mr. ASPER's death raises questions about the future of CanWest
Global, the conglomerate that owns Southam newspapers, the National
Post, the Global television network, specialty television channels,
and broadcasting operations in New Zealand, Australia and Ireland.
While Mr. ASPER was chairman of CanWest, he had given up the
chief executive officer responsibilities to his son Leonard
ASPER
in 1999, and retired from day-to-day management responsibilities
earlier this year.
His main preoccupations were two charitable foundations, the
ASPER
Foundation and the CanWest Global Foundation.
Still, Mr.
ASPER was seen as the driving force behind the company's
strategy, right up to the end.
Some people close to the company said yesterday that Mr.
ASPER
exercised so much strategic control, even in retirement, that
the company could be plunged into turmoil. Operations could be
restructured, and new partnerships and financings put in place.
CanWest's Mr.
ELLIOT/ELLIOTT said a succession plan has been in effect
for "quite some time," and there are unlikely to be any significant
changes in the strategy of the company because of Mr.
ASPER's
death.
"There's a strong depth of long-term management at CanWest at
the corporate level," he said.
The CanWest world
Canada
Publishing
-National Post
-CanWest Publications (Incl. 16 daily newspapers and 50 other
publications)
Media Marketing and Sales
-CanWest Media Sales
-Integrated Business Solutions
Entertainment - Production and Distribution
-Fireworks Entertainment (film and television production)
Television Broadcasting
-Global Television Network (Incl. 11 television stations across
Canada)
-independent stations (Incl. Hamilton, Montreal and Vancouver
Island)
-Canadian Broadcasting Corporation affiliate stations (Incl.
Kelowna and Red Deer)
-Specialty Television (Incl. Prime TV, Fox Sportsworld Canada,
Mystery -45% Xtreme Sports, Men television - 49% Deja View, Lonestar)
Radio Broadcasting
-CJZZ FM Winnipeg
Production Services
-Apple Box Productions (commercial production)
-StudioPost Film Labs (post-production services)
-CanWest Studios (sound stage)
-WIC Mobile Production (live event mobile units)
New Media
-CanWest Interactive
-canada.com Interent Portal
-Financial Post Data Group
-Informart
International
Entertainment - Production and Distribution
-Fireworks Pictures (U.S., feature film distribution)
-Fireworks Television (U.S., television production)
-Fireworks International (Britain, International television distributor)
-CanWest Entertainment
International Distribution
(Republic of Ireland)
New Media
-Internet Broadcasting Systems (U.S. - 18%)
-LifeServ Corp. (U.S. - 25%)
Television Broadcasting
-Five stations in: New Zealand (2); Australia 57.5%; Northern
Ireland 29.9%; Republic of Ireland 45%
Radio Broadcasting - New Zealand
-More FM (five stations)
-Channel Z (three stations)
-The Breeze (Wellington)
-4 National FM Networks
Out-of-Home Advertising - Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar,
Vietnam
-Eye Corp. (100% owned by Network Ten)
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ASPER o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2003-10-08 published
Observers hail
ASPER contribution
But views on Israel and direction of news coverage also provoked
controversy
By Richard
BLOOM and Paul
WALDIE
Wednesday,
October 8, 2003 -
Page B7
In its early days, CanWest Global Communications Corp. may have
had the dubious moniker of The Love Boat network, but there is
no doubt Izzy
ASPER made "very significant" contributions to
Canadian media, industry observers said yesterday.
At the same time, his actions as head of the media empire weren't
without controversy.
Mr. ASPER died yesterday at 71. A tax lawyer by training, he
is more commonly known as the founder of Winnipeg-based CanWest
the parent of the Global network of television stations, and
which, in 2000, engineered a multibillion-dollar purchase of
Southam Newspaper Group, National Post and other assets from
Conrad BLACK's
Hollinger
Inc.
Glenn O'FARRELL, president and chief executive officer of the
Canadian
Association of Broadcasters, said Mr.
ASPER left a huge
broadcasting legacy.
"The Canadian broadcasting system has been built over the last
number of decades through the efforts of some fairly significant
entrepreneurs, and Izzy
ASPER was clearly one of those," Mr.
O'FARRELL said. "He brought an incredibly astute vision of what
could be done and what should be done in the name of strengthening
Canada's place both domestically and internationally."
Mr. O'FARRELL worked at CanWest for 12 years and said working
for Mr. ASPER was stimulating. "It was absolutely a privilege
to work with somebody who possessed the depth and the breadth
of his intellectual curiosity and interests."
Mr. ASPER also provoked controversy over the years with his views
on Israel and his drive to converge news coverage at CanWest's
newspapers.
In 2002, he fired Russell
MILLS, publisher of the Ottawa Citizen,
after an apparent conflict over editorial independence. At the
time, CanWest forced papers across the chain to carry editorials
written by officials in the company's head office. The policy
sparked a barrage of complaints about a lack of editorial freedom
at the papers. The removal of Mr.
MILLS prompted a wave of protests
against CanWest from Parliament to media organizations around
the world. Mr.
MILLS sued and reached a settlement with the company
a few months later.
Mr. ASPER's staunch defence of Israel also left him open to charges
that CanWest's papers do not fairly cover events in the Middle
East. In a speech last year, he attacked media coverage of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and accused several media outlets
of having an anti-Israel bias. He singled out coverage by
CNN,
The New York Times, British Broadcasting Corp. and Canadian Broadcasting
Corp. and said anti-Israel bias was a "cancer" destroying media
credibility.
He has often criticized the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in particular
for what he has called the broadcaster's anti-Israel coverage.
Yesterday, a Canadian Broadcasting Corp. official declined to
comment on Mr.
ASPER's views.
Still, amid the controversy, Christopher
DORNAN, director of
Carleton University's School of Journalism and Communication,
praised Mr.
ASPER's role in Canadian journalism.
"We're still, in the entertainment area, overshadowed by the
exports of the juggernaut to the south. What's really ours is
non-fiction, it's journalism... in as much as Israel
ASPER built
CanWest into a major, major player in that sector, his contribution
is clearly significant."
Added Mr. DORNAN: "
There are uncharitable souls that would argue
that CanWest's contribution to the Canadian cultural landscape
was negligible.
"Because when CanWest built itself as a network, in the early
days, it was known as The Love Boat Network -- all they did was
buy cheap, populist American programming, got ratings and contributed
very little to Canadian cultural production. They made very little
programming of their own and what they did make was in grudging
compliance with Canadian content regulations," he said.
Mr. DORNAN argued that the Canadian media industry is not about
keeping the Americans at bay, but instead about funnelling in
highly desired American content in the most advantageous way
possible.
Mr. ASPER built a television network that now employs "people
from network executives to janitors. Those jobs would not have
existed had he not done that. And now, of course, they do actually
make some programming," Mr.
DORNAN said.
Vince CARLIN, chairman of the School of Journalism at Ryerson
University in Toronto, agreed, noting that history books won't
likely describe him as a great endorser of Canadian culture.
"That's not what he was about. He was a businessman," said Mr.
CARLIN, the former head of Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Newsworld,
who had met with Mr.
ASPER on numerous occasions.
"He learned how to use those [business] skills to create very
dynamic business enterprises, but [CanWest] would never put cultural
considerations ahead of business considerations," Mr.
CARLIN
said.
He explained how in his company's early days, Mr.
ASPER insisted
to government officials that his chain of television stations
was not a "network" but instead a "system," because being dubbed
a network was less advantageous from a business perspective.
When regulations shifted, Mr.
ASPER changed gears, calling the
stations a network, Mr.
CARLIN said.
Mr. ASPER was also involved in a bitter legal battle with Robert
LANTOS, a prominent Toronto-based filmmaker. Mr.
ASPER sued Mr.
LANTOS for libel over comments he made during a speech in 1998.
In the speech, Mr.
LANTOS described Mr.
ASPER as "the forces
of darkness, whose greed is surpassed only by their hypocrisy."
Mr. ASPER said the comments left the impression he was dishonest
and disloyal.
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