Media handouts buy ‘social cohesion’ says Trudeau gov
The Local Journalism Initiative contributes to social cohesion, according to a Canadian Heritage report. It funds 100% of costs at $19.6 million annually for government-approved newsrooms.
Media subsidies buy “social cohesion,” says a new report by Canadian Heritage. It defended 100% payroll rebates under a program the Canadian Association of Journalists praised for saving unemployable reporters.
“The crisis in local journalism is a threat to social cohesion,” said the report. 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 Evaluation Of The Local Journalism Initiative. “Local journalism helps to preserve a sense of community identity and social cohesion.”
“Local journalism relays information that has an impact on the daily lives of readers and reports on the political and social situation,” said Evaluation. “It strengthens the reader’s connection to a community, emphasizing their role as a citizen in a democracy. With the ever increasing influx of digital information, local journalism is of paramount importance in the life of a community.”
The Canadian Association of Journalists, a volunteer advocacy group, earlier endorsed the Initiative, reported Blacklock’s Reporter. Taxpayer handouts saved journalists from working in hardware stores, Association president Brent Jolly testified last February 27 at the Commons heritage committee.
The testimony coincided with $58.8 million in funding, aimed at extending the Local Journalism Initiative for the next three years, revealed Rebel News.
“What are they going to do?” asked Jolly, a Toronto freelancer. “Are they going to work at Home Hardware? I don’t think that is really befitting of treating people with professionalism.”
“Journalists in Canada are hurting,” Jolly said. “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 association president notes there are “hundreds of early career journalists” with employment courtesy of the Local Journalism Initiative. “Rather than thinking about their next assignment I suspect many of their minds are on whether they will have jobs,” he testified.
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?”
In 2019, Parliament approved a $595 million bailout fund for the media. They also doubled newsroom rebates from a maximum $13,750 per employee to $29,750 at an additional $129 million.
However, millions in subsidies originally justified in the name of job creation has not saved media jobs, claimed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
The memo last year confirmed handouts would not save the ailing sector, reported Blacklock’s Reporter.
“At least one third of Canadian journalism jobs have disappeared since 2010,” said The Online News Act.
“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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