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Russell Andrew Mills (born July 14, 1944 in St. Thomas, Ontario)〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/about-ncc/profile/russell-andrew-mills )〕 is a former Canadian media executive and a leader and advisor of several societies. Mills worked in the ''Ottawa Citizen'' for 31 years, the last 16 as the newspaper's publisher. ==Newspaper industry== Russell Mills began his career in journalism part-time from 1964 to 1967 at the ''London Free Press'' while studying sociology at the University of Western Ontario. He worked in the ''Oshawa Times'' between 1970-1971, before joining the ''Ottawa Citizen'' as a copyeditor. Starting from 1977, he had advanced from editor, then general manager in 1984, becoming publisher in 1986. He later became president responsible for 17 daily and many weekly newspapers distributed by the national Southam Newspaper Group, before returning to the ''Citizen''. In 1996, Conrad Black's Hollinger media group bought the controlling interest in Southam, which led to what was dubbed as a "renaissance" for the ''Citizen''. Although not a national or Toronto-based paper, the ''Citizen'' was perceived as Southam's flagship, albeit in decline in the lead-up to Black's purchase. To address the 24 percent drop to 134,266 in weekday circulation over the previous four years, Mills met with Black at New York's Carlyle Hotel to discuss new directions. A few days later in a ''Globe and Mail'' article, Black described the changes he envisioned to the "overwhelming avalanche of soft, left, bland, envious pap which has poured like sludge through the centre pages of most of the Southam papers for some time." Mills' plan called for less reliance on government and news-wire services in favour of original, authoritative content about local issues or industries that were of interest to readers. Neil Reynolds was hired as the ''Citizen's'' editor in December 1996 as part of the change.〔 ==2002 dismissal Controversy== In 2002, Mills (then age 57) was dismissed from the ''Citizen'' by CanWest Global Communications Corporation, following a publication of a story critical of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and an editorial calling for Chrétien's resignation. The story was published the same day that Canwest Global chairman Izzy Asper had a meeting with Chretien at the Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner. Mills claimed that he was dismissed because he failed to obtain approval from CanWest before publishing the editorial. However, CanWest's Leonard Asper, who was interviewed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, said that Mills was fired because he allowed his editorial opinion to affect the news coverage at the Citizen, and that under his leadership, the paper had become "homogeneous". The dismissal generated a strong reaction in the Ottawa community and throughout Canada over concerns of press freedom and independence from corporate influence. Reporters at the ''Citizen'' withheld their bylines from stories, Ottawa city council members denounced the firing, and some members of Parliament called for an investigation into the relationship between CanWest and Chrétien's Liberal Party government. Within a week of his dismissal, 5,000 subscriptions were cancelled and readers protested outside the newspaper's building. In Parliament, NDP leader Alexa McDonough stated: "Russell Mills was fired because the Primer Minister's buddy happened to be his boss...that is downright dangerous to democracy. We need a full public inquiry into media concentration, ownership and convergence." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Russell Mills (publisher)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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