The silence of the Chronicle Herald CEO
By H.G. Watson, Associate Editor
Eighteen days into the Chronicle Herald strike, and all of the statements from Mark Lever have come in the pages of the newspaper he runs.
The CEO and president of Halifax Herald Ltd. has not granted interviews to outside media as the strike at the Herald drags on, instead responding with editorials in the newspaper itself.
MARK LEVER: Incremental change isn’t an option for The Herald https://t.co/U9umwrTDJg pic.twitter.com/hu38hbVFra
— The Chronicle Herald (@chronicleherald) February 3, 2016
Lever has not responded to CBC Nova Scotia’s requests for comment, according to Pauline Dakin, the senior producer of current affairs. He has also not responded to a request from the Halifax Examiner, according to editor Tim Bousquet. He also did not respond to numerous requests from J-Source for comment on a story related to the strike.
A Twitter account alleged to belong to Lever was briefly active on Jan. 23 but has since stopped tweeting. J-Source could not confirm that the account was his, but as a Coast story pointed out, the email tied to the account was “ml****@H*****.ca”—Lever’s Chronicle Herald email is mlever@herald.ca.
Progress. @HTU_official told us today they will finally read proposal @chronicleherald presented two months ago. Striking before reading?
— Mark Lever (@CH_MLever) January 23, 2016
As well, the Chronicle Herald’s own Twitter account sent out a messages about the strike on Jan. 23.
.@chronicleherald after agreeing to negotiate all weekend, union still not available to meet until tomorrow. #thinkaboutit
— The Chronicle Herald (@chronicleherald) January 23, 2016
Martin O’Hanlon, the president of the Communication Workers of America, Halifax Typographical Union’s parent union, has called on Lever to participate a public debate hear both sides of the labour dispute.
“Since you will not allow a debate in the pages of the paper, I think it unlikely that you will agree to a discussion in any other forum,” wrote O’Hanlon in the statement released Feb. 8.
Lever has not yet responded to J-Source’s request to comment.
H.G. Watson can be reached at hgwatson@j-source.ca or on Twitter.
H.G. Watson was J-Source's managing editor from 2015 to 2018. She is a journalist based in Toronto. You can learn more about her at hgwatson.com.