Government Subsidies Reduce Trust in Media, Heritage Committee Hears

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez speaks about the government’s plans to amend the Broadcast Act during a news conference in Ottawa on Feb. 2, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Government subsidies to Canadian media outlets are eroding the public’s trust in reporters, MPs on the House of Commons Heritage Committee were told on Sept. 27 while reviewing Bill C-18.

“Bill C-18 will permanently entrench the industry’s dependency not on the loyalty of citizens, readers and viewers but upon the good graces of politicians,” Peter Menzies, a former commissioner of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), told the committee, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

Menzies, who is also a contributor for The Epoch Times, said trust in the media has “never been lower.”

“It’s going to create more mistrust and it’s not going to end well,” he said about the government’s Bill C-18 (Online News Act), which he likened to another government media subsidy.

The federal government announced in 2018 a $595 million package to help the media sector.

Bill C-18 seeks to compel social media giants to make deals with media companies for revenue sharing, as advertising dollars have increasingly moved from news outlets to entities like Facebook.

Along with the objective to support struggling news organizations, the Liberals also want the bill to “counter the rise of disinformation by supporting fact-based journalism” and to “uphold press independence from interference by Government or private entities.”

“As you guys know, the news sector in Canada is in crisis and this contributes to the heightened public mistrust and the rise of harmful disinformation in our society,” said Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez in April when he tabled the bill.

Menzies, also a former editor-in-chief of the Calgary Herald, says the measure could have the opposite effect.

“The more government assistance news media gets, the more broken the relationship with readers becomes,” said Menzies. “The more that relationship is broken, the more subsidy will be required.”

He said he’s not sure this attempt to save outlets will succeed in the long term.

The new law “will keep the wolves from the door of a few legacy companies for a few more years but won’t save journalism,” he said.

“While the amount of money involved may keep some from starving it will still leave most hungry, needy and assumed to be grateful.”

It’s not clear how many outlets will be able to strike revenue-sharing deals with digital platforms and Rodriguez said in April that some outlets could be left out.

Jeanette Ageson, publisher of the Vancouver news site The Tyee, also criticized Bill C-18 during committee.

“Canada is facing not one news crisis but two,” she said. “One is financial and the other is the crisis of mistrust.”

Ageson, who was speaking on behalf of the Independent Online News Publishers of Canada, said “Canadians are expressing unprecedented distrust towards the news and the reporters who deliver it.”

She said Canadians need to know how media obtain their financing and under what terms.

Ageson recommend the bill be amended to require the mandatory disclosure of all cash payments to publishers and said Bill C-18’s lack of transparency was among “serious concerns.”