Liberals won’t act on proposals to aid news industry
Trudeau government recognizes "important role" of media in democracy, declines to act on a number of Heritage Committee recommendations.

TheStar.com
Oct. 17, 2017
Alex Boutilier

The Liberal government appears to be taking a pass on several proposals put forward by a parliamentary committee to assist Canada’s struggling news industry.

In a letter to Heritage Committee chair Hedy Fry, Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly said Monday the government recognizes the “important role” news media plays in Canadian society.

But the letter signalled the government will not pursue some of the committee’s 20 recommendations to help news outlets adapt to a “changing media landscape,” and was silent on others.

Specifically, the letter cast doubt on allowing not-for-profit media outlets to obtain charitable status, allowing them to issue income tax receipts for donors.

Joly, along with Finance Minister Bill Morneau and Industry Minister Navdeep Bains, wrote that “it’s not clear” such a measure would help not-for-profit journalism in Canada.

The model has achieved some success in other countries, such as ProPublica in the United States and The Guardian in the U.K., and was recommended by journalism organizations and academics who testified at the committee.

The government is also “not commenting” on a proposal to fund a new initiative to train Indigenous journalists, which the committee recommended be run through the Aboriginal Peoples’ Television Network (APTN). The letter notes APTN is a private network, and encouraged the committee to take the matter up directly with them.

Joly’s letter commits the government to continue to study other recommendations, such as expanding the eligibility of the Canada Periodical Fund, and exploring tax issues around foreign news aggregators like Facebook and Google.

Fry, a Liberal MP, acknowledged it was “disappointing” the ministers’ letter did not engage on more of the committee’s specific recommendations.

“We heard a lot of testimony and put in a few recommendations that were carefully thought out, because we are very concerned about this issue as a committee,” Fry said in an interview Tuesday evening.

“(As) chair of the committee, I was disappointed that some things weren’t addressed. But I am being an optimist . . . . We’re not letting this go.”

Government support for the newspaper industry is a fraught subject and the source of considerable debate within the industry itself. But over 15 months, a number of media organizations and outlets — including the Toronto Star — appeared before the committee to outline the challenges facing the industry.

Those include advertising revenues being sucked up by companies like Facebook and Google, the rise of so-called “fake news,” and Canadians’ declining access to local journalism.

In a speech last month, Joly ruled out any direct government support to prop up failing media models.

“Our approach will not be to bail out industry models that are no longer viable. Rather, we will focus our efforts on supporting innovation, experimentation and transition to digital,” Joly said.

A representative for Joly’s office said Tuesday night the “work is not over” when it comes to the Liberals’ thinking on cultural policy, noting a response to the committee required within 120 days.

Pierre Nantel, the New Democrat vice-chair on the committee, said they’ve already spent 18 months on this issue as “the whole ecosystem is on fire.”

“It’s a lame response,” Nantel said of Joly’s letter.

“It’s a complicated issue, and this is all interconnected . . . . The main point is that the consumer has changed their way of consuming news and culture, and our system has been caught off guard.”

Peter Van Loan, the committee’s ranking Conservative, said he’s largely happy with the government’s response. The Conservatives dissented from the committee’s report, arguing Canadians can decide for themselves what media outlets to support.

But John Hinds, the president of print and digital media advocacy group News Media Canada, said that if local newspapers fail, it will be felt by more than just those who still subscribe.

“You lose a newspaper in a small community, you lose that medium of record, you lose the economic impact and the broader way for the community to talk to itself,” Hinds said.

“I think there are real challenges out there. And I think we need to figure out how to talk to the government and explain that to them.”