Canadians believe journalists pay for tips, hack phones

About 40 per cent of Canadians believe phone hacking and paying for story tips are tactics used by media here, according to a recently-released Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of the Canadian Journalism Foundation.

Of those 40 per cent, seven in 10 believe both activities are taking place, one-quarter think only payments are taking place, and only 4 per cent think phone hacking is happening. A little more than half believe phone hacking/payments happen just some of the time. We're not sure if that warrants a breath or relief or not: 38 per cent think these things happen all the time on the journo job.

What's more, more than half of Canadians also think an individual should receive accreditation from some sort of industry-wide standards body to be a journalist in Canada. Only 44 per cent believe it's enough that the employer has already evaluated the journalist's skills set and talent, and can fire the journalist if performance falls into the bad job zone.

"I know that media in Canada have not gone the way of theNews of the World. Yet the Murdoch excesses have unfairly tainted the whole business," says CJF chair Robert Lewis in a release. "Journalists need to redouble their commitment to accountability and transparency."

The CJF commissioned the poll in conjunction with Thursday's forum, "Fallout from phone hacking: Do we need regulation?", inspired by the News of the World scandal, and subsequent shutdown of the paper, earlier this year.

Panellists for the forum include: John Honderich, chair of Torstar and former publisher and editor of the Toronto Star; Brian Myles, journalist with Le Devoir and president of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec; John Owen, journalism professor at City University in London UK and former head of CBC Television News; and Jamie Cameron, professor at York University’s Osgoode Law School.