NEWS FUNDING: Government close to decision to support local coverage,

Union says next budget will have support for print media

OTTAWA— The federal government appears close to providing financial aid to support local news coverage across Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly have acknowledged that Ottawa, despite recommendations from a Commons committee and an outside review panel, has not acted on the crisis that has shrunk newsrooms and shuttered media outlets.

But that could change in the coming months.

The president of the Fédération nationale des communications, a 6,000-member union of media workers in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick, said Joly confirmed the government’s intention to include new support for print media in the upcoming federal budget.

“There will be an announcement in the next budget on support for print media,” Pascale St-Onge told the Star Friday.

“It’s certain that it’s a very positive signal that will bring a bit of hope to a sector that, since at least 2009, has lived through a lot of difficulty, a lot of job losses.”

St-Onge said that she and other union representatives met with Joly in Montreal Thursday to present their suggestions of how the government can support struggling print media operations.

St-Onge said she proposed the government should create new tax credits on salaries for local newspapers through the already-existing Canada Periodical Fund, but Joly did not provide details on what form of support is being planned.

Even so, St-Onge welcomed the government’s plan as good news for an ailing industry.

“We’re reassured that the government is taking the situation serious- ly,” she said.

Trudeau acknowledged the disruption in the industry, telling the Quebec newspaper Le Soleil earlier this month that Ottawa is looking at ways it can “help develop a model that works for the industry, for people who work there and for consumers who need quality and reliable information.”

In several tweets Friday, Joly said that journalism is “critical” to a healthy democracy.

“We have always supported local journalism and will continue to do so. We have been clear: we will not bail out models that are no longer viable,” she said.

“We are currently reviewing the Canada Periodical Fund to make sure it can support magazines and local papers to innovate, adapt and transition to digital,” she said in a followup tweet.

That’s similar to the message Joly delivered last September when she unveiled the Liberal government’s vision for culture in Canada and warned there are “no easy solutions” to the challenges facing local news.

“This is a shared responsibility between government at all levels, the private sector and civil society,” she said at the time.

She said Ottawa’s approach would be guided by a belief that journalism is vital to democracy and that any government assistance must respect the media’s independence.

Joly said the focus would be on “supporting innovation, experimentation and transition to digital.”

In its examination of the challenges facing the industry, the Commons’ Canadian Heritage committee recommended several changes, including allowing more outlets, such as daily and free community newspapers, to tap the periodical fund.

A Public Policy Forum titled, “The Shattered Mirror: News, Democracy and Trust in the Digital Age,” highlighted that advertising revenues are flowing to foreign companies, such as Facebook and Google, at the expense of Canadian media outlets.

“Established news organizations have been left gasping, while native digital alternatives have failed to develop journalistic mass, especially in local news,” the report said.

Joly came under fire late last year when opposition MPs accused her of failing to protect the struggling print news industry after a deal between Postmedia and Torstar — owner of the Toronto Star — involving 41 newspapers resulted in the closure of almost three dozen publications.