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April 30, 2010
Yaffe to talk “off the record”
Award-winning Sun columnist speaks in Power of Women series.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
For more than 30 years, Vancouver Sun columnist Barbara Yaffe has been a journalist. To this day, what gets her up in the morning looking forward to work is curiosity.
“The things I cover never stop amazing me, because there are always fresh insights to be gained, new ways of dealing with situations and the world turns, things change, so it’s always exciting,” Yaffe told the Independent in a phone interview. “I’ve always been a curious person and very keen to learn, and this is like going to school every day,” she said of her job.
Yaffe will be speaking at Beth Israel Synagogue next month as part of the Louis Brier Jewish Aged Foundation’s Power of Women lecture series. Entitled Strictly Off the Record, Yaffe’s talk will offer some behind-the-scenes insights into the life of a journalist.
Born in Montreal, Yaffe attended McGill University and the University of Toronto, receiving her BA in 1974. She then took the journalism program at Carleton University, receiving her BJ in 1975. Her first job was at the Montreal Gazette, but her career has encompassed several different media outlets and spanned the breadth of Canada. The award-winning journalist joined the Sun in 1988, and she has held various positions with the paper: lifestyles editor, B.C. editor in charge of provincial news and, since 1993, national political columnist.
Describing herself as “a 24-hour-a-day-journalist,” Yaffe said she got into the profession because she loved writing. “Most journalists have a political bent and I did not,” she said about her early days. “I just knew that I wanted a vehicle where I could write and journalism just fit, and I learned about the politics later, learned to become really interested in politics later, and that’s my main focus now.”
So interested has Yaffe become in politics that she has her sights set on Washington, D.C. “I have found that a lot of the roads in Canada lead to the U.S., in terms of the decisions we have to make, in terms of trade, energy, security. All these things are related to American decisions and so it’s been a natural pathway,” she explained about the direction of her career. About its longevity and her popularity, Yaffe said, “I’m sharing what I learn with my readers. I hope there’s a sense of discovery in my column and I’m always very careful to explain things in a way that will be easy to understand and be somewhat entertaining to people because I know I’m competing for their time.”
In response to a question about what advice, given her expertise, she would give the Jewish community about how to communicate Israel’s side of the Middle East narrative, Yaffe, noting the strained Israel-U.S. relationship, said, “I consider this to be one of the greatest challenges facing the Israeli government and its people. They are losing the public relations war and I think that is really dangerous and difficult for the Jewish community. If I had the answer, believe me, I wouldn’t just be a political columnist.”
Despite the lack of success to date, Yaffe said she thinks the Israeli government must continue to “provide the facts and share the realities on the ground.” What bothers her most about the Israeli-Palestinian debate “is how the other side co-opts members of the Jewish community. I find that nauseating, and I use that word with caution.... When I think of when the Jewish community was under threat during the Second World War, how these individuals would have been dealt with by the other side, and now they so carelessly are willing to be exploited as Jews to serve the messages of the enemies of Israel, the only word I have for it is nauseating.”
Yaffe seems to connect to Judaism mainly through her grandmother – who “was just a wonderful Jewish lady” – and Israel.
“I do this for my late grandmother, I just feel that she would want me to do this,” said Yaffe about her participation in the Louis Brier series, as well as in other Jewish events. “This is my little contribution.”
She added, “I think it’s a real challenge being Jewish, and I’ve tried to be very thoughtful about it. I’m not a practising Jew, but I’m a lover of Israel and a defender of Israel and, I would say, a foot soldier for Israel, so just because I don’t light candles on Friday night and I don’t speak Hebrew, it doesn’t take away from the incredible feelings I have for the homeland, and so, it has helped define me as a Jew.”
About the “power of women” in the media, Yaffe said, “Men still have all the power. As far as I can see, from my career, the top jobs are held by men and they make most of the decisions. Now it’s true, I work for a wonderful editor, Patricia Graham, she’s been one of the best editors I’ve ever had ... but I see her position as being anomalous. You don’t see very many women who run papers; a few do get through, but it’s a man’s culture and a man’s world in journalism.”
Nonetheless, and even though Yaffe only got into journalism because she wanted to write, she said, “I have come to totally love and champion newspapers because I have seen through my own little tiny role how important it is to have a free press and a vigorous press, and I don’t like what’s happened to the media over the years. I think that the economic challenges facing media players, even the New York Times, has led to a diminution in the quality of journalism, but I can remember stories I’ve done that have really, really helped individuals fighting bureaucracy or just societal intransigence.”
Yaffe is optimistic. “I think we’re in transition now,” she said of the difficulties facing the media. She compared the nature of a town hall meeting with a politician to a news conference. “They’re two very different things and it’s not to disparage ordinary citizens, it’s simply that journalists are paid to spend their work days studying situations and knowing what questions to ask, and how to interpret answers. There’s a real skill involved and I think it will survive in some form.”
If readers want to know about any of the real juicy stuff, such as Yaffe’s encounter with Prince Charles and the strangest interview she’s ever done, they’ll have to attend her lecture at Beth Israel on May 12, 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $54 and dinner will be served. To reserve space, call 604-261-5550.
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