Canadians have little faith in government-approved media: report

Only about three in 10 (36%) Canadians trust the information reported by Canadian broadcasters and news media. The latest data follows Statistics Canada figures showing reporters are considered less reliable than politicians or lawyers.

Canadians are discontent with news media, according to in-house research by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Only approximately one-third (32%) say journalists present “accurate and impartial” news. 

“Canadians’ impressions of the quality, variety and depth of content as well as trust in media are relatively weak,” said the report Public Opinion Research Tracker. Respondents were not asked what prompted skepticism over the reliability of newsrooms.

As first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter, the latest data follows Statistics Canada figures showing reporters are considered less reliable than politicians or lawyers.

Trust in the media has fallen by 4% year over year, including satisfaction with the quality of news coverage, according to the report. Only about three in 10 (36%) of those polled said they trust the information provided by Canadian broadcasters and news media.

The report also found that Canadians aged 65 and older and Francophones were more likely to say they trusted news media to provide accurate and impartial information. Trust fell to 23% for those aged 34 and younger, reported the Epoch Times.

“The primary objective of the research is to gain a better understanding of the views of Canadians with respect to their broadcasting, online and telecommunications services and other matters of strategic importance to the CRTC,” wrote researchers. “An essential component of the research is to ensure the inclusion and representation of all Canadians.”

“Canada is facing not one news crisis but two,” Jeanette Ageson, publisher of the Vancouver news site The Tyee, testified at 2022 hearings of the Commons heritage committee. “One is financial and the other is the crisis of mistrust.”

“Canadians are expressing unprecedented distrust towards the news and the reporters who deliver it,” said Ageson, speaking on behalf of the Independent Online News Publishers of Canada. “Canadians need to know who is funding the news they receive and on what terms.”

Parliament approved a $595 million bailout fund in 2019 for legacy media. It doubled newsroom rebates from a maximum $13,750 per employee to $29,750 at an additional $129 million.

“The crisis in local journalism is a threat to social cohesion,” said the report Evaluation Of The Local Journalism Initiative. It praised the Local Journalism Initiative, a fund offering full rebates for the hiring of reporters at a $19.6 million annual cost. The subsidy is separate from a $595 million bailout that rebates employees at government-approved newsrooms yearly.

“The Local Journalism Initiative contributes to social cohesion by having journalists tell stories about and for communities,” said Journalism Initiative. “Local journalism helps to preserve a sense of community identity and social cohesion.”

Taxpayer handouts saved journalists from working in hardware stores, Association president Brent Jolly testified last February 27 at the Commons heritage committee.

“Journalists in Canada are hurting,” said Jolly, a Toronto freelancer. “We are hurting emotionally, oscillating between the challenges of navigating an increasingly hostile world while trying to ignore the deep feelings of anxiety,” he added.

The Department of Canadian Heritage in a 2023 memo estimated the all-inclusive subsidy temporarily hired 342 journalists. Subsidies overall had not saved money-losing media, said the memo Online News Act.

“Between 2008 and February 1, 2023 a total of 470 local news operations closed in 335 communities across Canada,” said the memo. “In the same period 210 new news outlets launched.”

MPs on the Commons heritage committee heard days later that continued taxpayer handouts for news publishers only serves to perpetuate media failure.

“Legacy and new media lobbying for government money and accepting it does little to enhance confidence in their independence or reliability,” testified broadcaster John Gormley, former Conservative MP and 1988 chair of the Commons communications committee. 

“Does government funding pay for better journalism? Does it restore credibility and trust?”

Online News Act confirmed handouts would not save the ailing sector, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. “At least one third of Canadian journalism jobs have disappeared since 2010,” it said.

“I don’t necessarily accept the supposition that Canadian media is in trouble because it is underfunded by the government,” Gormley testified. “The government has nothing to do with this.”

According to the former Conservative MP, modern journalism has “backfired and lost audiences” and their revenues evaporated with the advancement of technology and social media.

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Alex Dhaliwal

Calgary Based Journalist

Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.

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