It’s one of the central pillars of civic culture and democracy, but it has been seriously weakened and is in danger of falling. As governments try to help, citizens can also act.
Published Jul 17, 2023 • Last updated 6 hours ago • 4 minute read
Canada’s news media is struggling as people assume they can get news for free. Photo by Peter J. Thompson /Postmedia
It has been said that we get the government we deserve. The same is true of the news. For two decades, the media has been battered by successive waves of technological and societal change. As a result, the media is smaller, weaker and less capable of doing its essential job. Bell’s recent decision to lay off 1,300 employees and sell or shutter nine radio stations was but the latest instalment in the ongoing reality show starring the disappearance of the news media.
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The story of how we all came to this point is familiar. The Internet swept us along with its implicit promise that everything should be free, and lured us away from print to online. The rising tide of social media giants sucked away traditional advertising and contributed to the commoditization of journalism: when everyone is a journalist, nobody is.
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It’s wonderful that the average citizen with a smartphone can film a protest against a corrupt regime or the violation of someone’s civil rights. But that is raw footage; it’s not full journalism. As if all these trends were not enough, the news media now has Artificial Intelligence to contend with, as we all do.
Many industries are important, including those that bring us food or health or transportation. But the news media is special. It’s not a garden variety technology like VHS that can easily be replaced by something better. It has distinctive properties.
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It’s no coincidence that the same period in which the news media has shed editions, bureaus and reporters has also seen a rise in polarization, a decline in trust in government and other institutions, a decline in democracy worldwide and a rise in populism and authoritarianism. A healthy news media is one of the central pillars of civic culture and democracy, as much as voting every four years or so to elect those who will represent us and make our laws is, or the existence of a court system to interpret those laws. This pillar has been seriously weakened and is in danger of falling. We watch it weaken at our peril.
What can we as citizens do other than lament the state of affairs, hope for the best, or cast our votes for politicians who at least seem to want to try to do something?
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We can hope that media owners who appreciate both the importance of a healthy media and innovative business models will continue to invest in the remaining news media, start new outlets, or join forces. Unfortunately, the recently announced merger talks between Postmedia and Nordstar, the owner of Metroland Media Group and the Toronto Star to address what they termed the “existential threat” to the media industry ended without a deal.
We can lobby our governments to develop more policies to support journalism, such as the federal tax credit of up $500 for a digital news subscription. Some recent commentators have called for the credit to be increased. But more far-reaching legislative attempts to halt the decline of the media are not without their challenges.
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Canada’s recently passed Online News Act, which requires digital platforms to compensate news media for sharing and providing access to their stories, has resulted in acrimony. Facebook parent Meta and Google announced they would take steps to block access to news on their platforms in Canada and the federal government has responded by pulling advertising from the two platforms.
But the most important thing we can do is fully within our individual control. And there is much opportunity. According to this year’s Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute at the University of Oxford, 11 per cent of Canadians pay for online news. That’s about one out of nine of us. Imagine if that number were much higher.
The simple action each of us can take to support a healthy news media is to go out and pay for it. I recognize this might not be in everybody’s reach at a time of higher inflation and rising interest rates. But if you can afford it, purchase that news subscription. You will encourage quality reporting and writing, but even if that’s not enough, think of it as a democratic duty. No, it will not replace lost ad revenue. But it’s a start, and it recognizes that subscription revenue will need to increase.
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After helping to fight two world wars and now supporting Ukraine’s fight for its survival with money and materiel, we in Canada take it for granted that the price of democracy is eternal vigilance. As technology floods our socio-economic, political and cultural landscape, we need to get used to the idea that the price of democracy also includes occasional personal expenditures.
With the federal tax credit of up to $500 for paid online news subscriptions, the cost of an annual subscription is not much more than a night at the movies with drinks and popcorn for a family of four. And we’re not talking about the latest Hollywood blockbuster. We are talking about democracy.
Take out that subscription if you can. If you already have one, take out another one.
Daniel Goodwin is a novelist and public affairs professional based in Ottawa. For two glorious years in the 1990s, he was a freelance journalist.
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