CRTC Mulling a Newsroom ‘Code of Conduct’

A federal legal notice says the CRTC may create the code to regulate how newsrooms are to be structured and conduct their business under the Online News Act.

A person navigates to the online social media pages of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on a cell phone in Ottawa on May 17, 2021. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) may draft a “code of conduct” for newsrooms as part of the Online News Act, cabinet said in a legal notice.

The Department of Canadian Heritage said newsrooms are subject to CRTC guidance on ethics under the Online News Act, which took effect Dec. 19. It will take several months to fully come into force.