Who’s to blame for failing newspapers?
Re PM praises ‘essential’ media at end of China trip, Dec. 8 I agree with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the media is essential to challenge politicians and inform citizens. But he should not be saying so in China if he is not doing so in Canada.
His own government failed to support newspapers in its recently updated cultural policy, with his minister saying she would not “bail out industry models that are no longer viable.”
It is the job of government to make decisions and spend taxpayer money in order to foster public good. The media need and should get taxpayer financial support. Let’s face it. The newspaper is the source of much of the news, the place where TV and digital and social media go for the basic news.
The public good and an educated, informed populace will not be served unless we have newspapers with the financial ability to maintain journalistic ethics and fact-checking accuracy goals. Linda Silver Dranoff, Toronto Re Instead of mourning local news, try paying for it, Opinion, Dec. 7 Ryerson journalism professor April Lindgren is unfair in blaming Canadian readers for the decline in local newspapers.
The March 2016 Heritage Report, “Newspapers in Canada,” states that between 2008-09 and 201415, the proportion of government ad spending fell by 96 per cent for daily newspapers and 31 per cent for community newspapers, while increasing by 106 per cent for the internet. A Public Policy Forum report by former Globe and Mail editor Ed Greenspon states total newspaper ad revenue in Canada has been essentially cut in half since 2006, down from $2.75 billion to $1.42 billion in 2015.
Does Lindgren expect readers to make up for these staggering losses?
Speaking of paying for content and services rendered, do you pay Google for every search you perform? Do you hear Google complaining? No, because it knew the internet has changed the information business and built it into its business model. Moses Shuldiner, Toronto