A government memo suggested that CBC News should be forced to provide free advertising to the government during a “national crisis.”
“In the past, services such as producing and broadcasting public service announcements in times of national crisis were covered under previous agreements with CBC/Radio-Canada,” said the memo, entitled “The Way Forward: Lessons Learned: Communications and the COVID-19 Pandemic,” covered by Blacklock’s Reporter on June 5.
“Currently the Government of Canada pays the CBC and Radio-Canada like any other media to air ads but there could be new possibilities to create partnerships to respond to future crises,” said the Privy Council’s Access to Information memo.
The memo proposed to make it a legal requirement for the CBC to broadcast government messaging, after cabinet staffers noted they had to buy advertising during COVID.
“Perhaps the Government of Canada could explore legislative amendments to the Quarantine Act to ensure that in the future federally-funded organizations like CBC/Radio-Canada support communications efforts during a national health crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the memo. “This could include partnerships and the provision of free placement.”
Public Relations
Another report, “Applying Behavioural Science to the Government of Canada’s Response to Covid-19: Covid-19 Snapshot Monitoring,” dated May 12, 2021, about “trust” in authorities, said COVID had impacted the public’s views.“Trust in and use of government information sources was highest early on in the pandemic and has declined slowly since then,” said the report.
At the time it came out, Health Canada issued a contract request for Twitter “influencers” to express approval for the government’s response to COVID.
The March 24, 2021, notice, “Influencer Marking Programs,” offered to pay an hourly rate to high-profile Twitter users to help “build the department’s credibility.” They would have to agree to not “tarnish Health Canada’s or the Government of Canada’s reputation,” and were not required to disclose they were being paid to speak favourably about the government.
At the time, Ontario Sen. Linda Frum, who retired from the Senate in August 2021, told Question Period about Health Canada’s contract offer.
“Health Canada has hired social media influencers and minor celebrities to tout the great work it’s doing on Canada’s response to the pandemic. These government-paid influencers are not required to reveal they are government-paid influencers because that, of course, would be very embarrassing,” said Frum.
The contract notice for Twitter influencers was issued the day before a scheduled March 25, 2021, release of a federal audit, which found that managers with the Public Health Agency, which has a $675 million annual budget, were not prepared for COVID.
The audit, “Pandemic Preparedness, Surveillance and Border Control Measures,” stated: “The Agency was not as well prepared as it could have been.”
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