More from Andrew Mitrovica available More fromavailable here

You probably missed it, but there was a big media conference in Winnipeg over the weekend. The title of the three-day gathering was ‘Holding Power to Account’.

All sorts of media ‘royalty’ attended, including megastar ex-Washington Post investigative reporter Carl Bernstein (of Watergate fame) and CBC chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge.

Mansbridge was slated to give a talk about the “importance of investigation and accountability.” Ironic, since a CBC PR flak recently informed me by email that The National’s anchorman “was not interested in engaging” with yours truly after I asked to discuss, among other topics, why marquee CBC personalities like him leverage their presence on the public airwaves for personal profit on the lucrative speaking circuit. Oh well — so much for accountability.

I wasn’t invited to the conference; I don’t do much investigative reporting these days. And I stopped going to these gabfests long ago because, despite all the rhetorical embroidery, they’re little more than media love-ins where everybody tells everybody else how wonderful they are and what fantastic work they are doing.

I suppose there’s a place for these pep rallies. But if you really need a dormant icon like Bernstein to tell you that you’re doing a bang-up job, then you’re not much of an investigative reporter in my book. Still, CBC producer Harvey Cashore tweeted this icky bit of self-serving saccharine: “Carl Bernstein praises CBC as remarkable institution. Wishes for same in the U.S.”

I’m convinced that one of the most powerful institutions that the media needs to hold to account is the media itself. That’s been one of my objectives in writing for iPolitics — something I share with Jesse Brown, the refreshingly acerbic host of the popular podcast Canadaland and an energetic troublemaker. (Full disclosure: Brown and I reported on the CBC’s controversial speaking fee policy and I once was a guest on his podcast. He wasn’t invited to Winnipeg either.)

Last week, Brown broke an important story online that triggered a lot of reaction on social media but, tellingly, not a word anywhere in this nation’s incestuous ‘mainstream’ media.

Citing an anonymous, “highly-placed” Globe and Mail source, Brown reported that the newspaper’s newly-minted editor, David Walmsley, nixed an editorial that endorsed a Liberal minority government in Ontario and instead instructed the editorial board — at the behest of longtime publisher Phillip Crawley — to hastily pen an editorial backing Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.

In his bombshell report, Brown wrote that Crawley, in turn, “was carrying out the orders of the Globe-controlling Thomson family, whose interests would be best served by a Conservative government.”

Walmsley’s apparent capitulation in the face of pressure from above infuriated Globe staffers, Brown reported. The rank-and-file went ballistic after the former Daily Mail reporter and CBC executive said in an appearance on a Globe Now video — in response to widespread reader criticism of the paper’s incoherent endorsement — that the decision to back Hudak was the result of lengthy and principled deliberations.

Word of Walmsley’s reported suppression of the board’s original editorial comes on the heels of reports — also confirmed by Brown — that Globe journalists will now be obliged to produce ‘advertorials’ as ‘content creators’.

Walmsley also said the Hudak endorsement was the product of the editorial board’s “sophisticated” decision-making and that its verdict was unanimous and reflected the Globe’s “values.”

In fact, according to Brown’s source, the board had, after weeks of “thought and work,” unanimously opted to call for a Wynne-led Liberal minority government before Walmsley’s late-inning intervention. Indeed, Walmsley appears to hint at the brewing discord by insisting that “the final decision (was) mine.”

I asked Brown whether he had approached Walmsley for comment and he told me that he hadn’t heard “a peep” from the Globe’s editor and that he was still waiting for a reply. It should also be noted that, to date, no one at the Globe’s editorial level or in its reclusive ownership hierarchy has bothered to issue a non-denial-denial of Brown’s report. So, as it stands, Brown’s detailed story remains unchallenged.

The reaction on Twitter from some reverential hacks was, predictably, to airily dismiss Brown’s scoop as much ado about nothing. Others, including me, were much less sanguine about what looks like in-house censorship at Canada’s supposed ‘paper of record.’

But the Globe’s public editor, Sylvia Stead, has remained silent — preoccupied, apparently, with the pressing ethical issue of whether Vaughan should be described as a suburb of Toronto.

You may recall that in 2012 Stead responded to serious plagiarism allegations concerning columnist Margaret Wente with haughty contempt. Back then, she attempted to staunch the ethical bleeding by describing the Ottawa artist and professor who carefully catalogued Wente’s serial cribbing as an “anonymous blogger.”

Stead’s gambit failed miserably and a largely unrepentant Wente was belatedly disciplined for her obvious malpractice. (She should have been sacked.) Given her supplicant record, I don’t anticipate that Stead will any time soon address — as any credible “public editor” should — the prickly issues that Brown’s story raises.

Word of Walmsley’s reported suppression of the board’s original editorial comes on the heels of reports — also confirmed by Brown — that Globe journalists will now be obliged to produce “advertorials” as “content creators”.

Stripped of the euphemisms, this means that Globe advertisers will not only pay for, but also approve “stories” produced by Globe reporters. This is the antithesis of journalism. And once again, Walmsley, Stead and Crawley have chosen to remain mum.

All this disturbing business brings me back to the alleged raison d’être of that investigative conference in Winnipeg — to hold the powerful to account. Journalists — including a lot of the people working at the Globe — are willing, able and eager to point the finger at other powerful institutions and individuals. But when it comes to dubious conduct in their own shop, these same journalists and editors close their eyes and seek refuge in silence and denial.

It’s hypocrisy. Thankfully, there are still muckraking journalists like Jesse Brown around who won’t let it go unchallenged.

Andrew Mitrovica is a writer and journalism instructor. For much of his career, Andrew was an investigative reporter for a variety of news organizations and publications including the CBC’s fifth estate, CTV’s W5, CTV National News — where he was the network’s chief investigative producer — the Walrus magazine and the Globe and Mail, where he was a member of the newspaper’s investigative unit. During the course of his 23-year career, Andrew has won numerous national and international awards for his investigative work.

The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.