Press gallery rent upped

Media outlets that occupy space in the city hall press gallery are going to have their rent increased but still won’t be paying full market value for their first floor offices.

Rent will be bumped from $17/square foot to $21.65/square foot no later than 2010 when leases expire. But on a motion from Councillor Adam Vaughan, council asked City staff to engage the media outlets’ corporate leadership to see if a rent increase can be negotiated in advance of the lease expiration date.

Councillor Vaughan, a former media personality and occupant of a press gallery office, told council that the $4.65/square foot increase is justified because the journalists who cover city hall often stress the need for council to be more fiscally conservative and the owners of the companies they work for have the resources to pay more.

The $21.65 figure is based on recovering the cost to the City for operating the press gallery offices. Prior to this decision, the City had been collecting rent at the rate determined just after amalgamation.

This issue arose when Councillor Howard Moscoe sought to recover outstanding rent payments from the Toronto Sun, which according to Councillor Moscoe, totalled $55,000. In his March 2008 motion, Councillor Moscoe also included a clause that, if approved would double the rent for press gallery offices to $34/square foot, which is approximately the market value of downtown office space. The $34 figure was rejected by councillors because it was deemed to be a barrier to transparency, as it would discourage the media from covering city hall.

“I think it’s important we’re transparent,” said Councillor Paula Fletcher during yesterday’s debate. “Having the media in our building, having them here (at council meetings) to cover what we’re doing is a very important part of people (the public) knowing what’s going on.”

Councillor Moscoe’s argument for moving to market value is that the companies that own the media outlets are all private, for-profit and don’t provide discounted advertising rates when the City books space to convey important messages to the public. The veteran councillor known for ruffling feathers accused councillors who are against ramping up rents as trying to “suck up” to the media. He also said it would be appropriate to end the subsidy for the media since “when we start subsidizing anything they’re the first to their feet to point their finger at us.”

Writers for the media outlets who make use of the press gallery have privately expressed that they feel they were between a rock and hard place on this issue. Their journalistic integrity prevents them from writing about the politics of an issue they have a professional interest in and, in the current climate, meeting with councillors or the mayor about this issue could be considered lobbying, which is also a journalistic no-no. If the $34/square foot rent had been adopted, at least one outlet believed it would be forced to give up their office.

In spite of the journalistic dilemma involved in reporting on this issue, Councillor Vaughan used a portion of his speech to goad reporters into covering the debate with what amounted to a dare.

“I think we have the editorial slant of the journalists on side on this one and hopefully they will stand up to their bosses and they will write what’s in their heart and not what simply is in the best interests of the folks that hire them in their corporate offices.”

With the exception of a two sentence bullet on council’s decision to increase press gallery rent in the Toronto Star, no coverage was available on this issue in today’s mainstream media.

Spacing does not have a press gallery office, though it does make use of a free mailbox in the press gallery.

Photographs by HiMY SYeD and City of Toronto.