News industry may get more federal support

OTTAWA (CP) — The federal government is expected to lay out fresh plans next week to support Canada’s struggling news industry.

The measures, expected in Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s fall economic statement Wednesday, will be designed to help journalism remain viable after years of shrinking advertising revenues.

The decline has already shuttered newsrooms, led to job cuts in many others, and eroded coverage of key democratic institutions across Canada.

In last winter’s federal budget, Ottawa committed $50 million over five years for local journalism in “underserved communities.”

The government also pledged in the budget to search for additional ways of supporting Canadian journalism.

Internal federal documents obtained by The Canadian Press under access-to-information legislation say the government assembled a working group of officials from the finance and heritage departments following the February budget. Their goal, the memo said, was “to identify options to address the issues affecting journalism in Canada ahead of the fall economic statement.”

“A range of options to ensure the continued viability of the journalism industry in Canada are being considered,” reads the briefing note prepared for deputy finance minister Paul Rochon ahead of his meeting last July with the president and the publisher of Montreal’s La Presse newspaper. In the budget, Ottawa promised to take a closer look at potential models to enable private donations and philanthropic support for “trusted, professional, non-profit journalism and local news.”

The government said eventual steps could include new ways for Canadian newspapers to innovate and receive charitable status for “not-for-profit” journalism.