How government can save the news
Canadian news agencies want to negotiate as a group with Google and Facebook
It is a test of Ottawa’s oft-stated commitment to local journalism.
And it could mean life or death for many of the news agencies that bring local news to residents across Canada.
On Thursday, News Media Canada called on the Canadian government to follow Australia’s lead and level the playing field for Canadian news agencies against American tech giants that profit from news produced by Canadians.
In its September throne speech, the government acknowledg ed the problem. “Things must change, and will change.”
But there’s no time to lose. New Media Canada is a lobby group made up of print and digital publishers, including the company that owns the Toronto Star, The Hamilton Spectator, the Waterloo Region Record, the St. Catharines Standard, the Welland Tribune, the Niagara Falls Review and the Peterborough Examiner. It wants government to allow a model that would help journalism producers fight the “monopolistic practices” of American companies. Other members include Brunswick News, Glacier Media, Black Press, the Globe and Mail, Post Media, La Presse, Quebecor.
Google and Facebook now get roughly 80 per cent of digital advertising revenues in Canada, the organization says. “Media outlets are forced to play by their rules, and they can pay us whatever they feel like,” said Jamie Irving, vice-president of
Brunswick News Publishing and chair of News Media Canada’s working group.
Canadian publishers are looking for Canada to adopt the Australian model because the countries are similar in many ways, Irving said.
It will not cost taxpayers anything. If the federal government approves the plan, it will allow publishers to form a collective bargaining unit to negotiate compensation for the use of their content and intellectual property.
Most of Canada’s newspaper companies want this. And most Canadians depend on local news.
It’s not simply that readers want to keep up with local events, though that is important for any healthy community. They know real news — news that can be trusted — takes time and consideration and resources.
It doesn’t come cheap. Responsible Canadian news consumers know that without local journalists covering local events and issues, who will? And they know there are fewer journalists working in Canada every day. Our very democracy is at stake.
“Publishing real news costs money,” says Irving, “and Google and Facebook — two of the biggest companies in the world — cannot continue to be allowed to free-ride on the backs of Canadian news media publishers who produce news content without fair compensation. The time to tackle the global web giants, as the federal government indicated in September is now.”