John Honderich writes that Canadian journalism is in crisis. The Trudeau government vowed to do something about it:
It commissioned the Public Policy Forum, under the direction of veteran editor and journalist Ed Greenspon, to study the issue.
The final report, entitled “The Shattered Mirror,” was released a year ago. It outlined in vivid detail the crisis and put forward 12 core recommendations.
The government also commissioned the Commons committee on Canadian heritage, under Vancouver MP and former journalist Hedy Fry, to conduct a parallel investigation. After months of hearings and dozens of witnesses, it came up with 20 practical recommendations.
Honderich then details ten proposals that both studies have advanced. To date, each has either been rejected or left in limbo:
In summary, this list speaks for itself. In fact, there are other more expensive proposals that are deliberately not included. Again, most of the 10 above cost nothing, but rather involved changing the law or practice.
Studied indifference.
I believe this country and its journalism and democracy deserve better.
Will that be Justin's legacy -- studied indifference?
Image: cbc.ca
14 comments:
One of the ten things Mr Honderich wants is enhanced copyright protection for newspapers. He finds it "a real annoyance" when bloggers such as you "use original material without permission or fee." He wants you to pay him for the Star's content.
Essentially, Honderich wants the government to give him something the Supreme Court refused - a highly restrictive reading of the concept of fair dealing. This ignores the fact that bloggers actually drive traffic to traditional news sites. Indeed, I would never have read Honderich's piece had it not been for your blog, nor would the Star have profited from the ad revenue as a result of my click. It's this kind of short-sighted desire to profit at every turn that contributes to the decline of the news industry.
Cap
I read this the other day, Owen. The state of contemporary journalism truly worries me, but it seems that worry is not shared by our federal government. People seem to think that information is free since they get it off of the Internet, seldom seeming to realize that legitimate news only comes from legitimate sources, traditional newspapers being chief among them.
I agree with you on this one, Cap. As a retiree, I simply can't aford to pay all of my sources. The traffic on this blog is not overwhelming. However, I figure I'm sending a few eyeballs Mr. Honderich's way.
Honderich brings an owner's approach to the problems of journalism in Canada. It is a lack of government support to bolster the media's bottom line. Fair enough but that won't restore a functioning free press to Canada, the sort of media Canadians need to be able to make properly informed decisions. The need for reform on the editorial side is every bit as critical as government action to improve media profitability. Honderich, sadly, ignores that and, if it's not on his radar, imagine what the even more corporate media outlets think about their end product.
Democracy cannot endure unless we have reliable sources of information, Lorne. And those sources come at a cost.
An important point, Mound. Information comes at a cost. But corporate control narrows perspectives. William S. Paley used to say that his news operation -- headed by guys like Edward R. Murrow and William L. Shirer -- didn't need to make a profit. He relied on Jack Benny to perform that function.
That was certainly true of broadcasting, Owen. In Canada, the CRTC handled licence renewals. Every station seeking to renew its licence to a certain band or frequency had to submit a
"promise of performance" in which news programming was seen as a public service return in exchange for access to the public property, airwaves.
Newspapers are, of course, entirely private enterprise. Perhaps that's something else we should revisit, especially in this digital media age.
I agree, Mound. Newspapers now have accesss to the internet. The old idea that making use of publically developed resources mandates some kind of public service is an old idea whose time has come around again.
Anonymous said...
The Toronto Star may be a bit of a speical case . . . or not.
The problems that Mr. Honderich mentions have been building up for a long time. Maybe The Star did report on Google’s relentless efforts to control media, but apparently they didn’t do it well enough tomprotect their own interests.
If we’re talking about the demise of journalism, maybe we need to back up a few years to the point when journalists became mouthpiece slaves to their own prejudices? This includes the tendency to report “two sides” of a story where there is only one side - facts.
If Honderic, or The Star, have published on the question of “journalists” reporting on the rise of pseudo-journalism over the last thirty years, I’ve missed it. Or if they’ve made a point of reporting on the concentration of media ownership in Canada (or the rest of the world), I’ve missed that too. If they’re interested in that topic they could start here:
http://www.cmcrp.org/poster-2016-mapping-canadas-top-telecoms-internet-media-companies-by-revenue-and-market-share/
Yes, Trudeau-the-younger’s regime is happy to promise sky-pies and deliver empty tin-foil plates. Where is The Star on that story?
Meanwhile there are organizations like thetyee.ca and canadalandshow.com that have moved forward.
Journalists need to keep their brains in gear and pay attention - the internetz have been around for a while
KH
I agree with you, KH, that there is some slipshod journalism -- there always is. And I agree that sites like the Tyee publish some fine stuff. I'm always impressed by Andrew Nikiforuk's work.
That said, it seems to me that some kind of private-public arrangement, which used to characterize broadcasting, could be resurrected.
Sorry Owen, I forgot initials again on that last comment which included Mansbridge reference.
I think we’re on the same vector here, but it’s one of those multi-dimensional ones that needs a whole lot of peopl to step up, and own up.
Maybe a good approach would have government playing an enabling role - creating systems of payment/subscription that make it easier for more people to direct monetary support to organizations they wish to support. Of course there have been opportunities for government to step in this way on copyright and renumeration for re-use for many years - but they have always chosen to side with the Disneys of the world. It’s ironic to see someone from the star backing the Mickey Mouse approach!
KH
Perhaps subscription fees could be tax deductable, KH -- provided there was a clear distinction between journalism and entertainment. That distinction is increasingly blurred these days.
Owen, I always have questions about a writer's credibility when they state inaccuracies that can be easily verified. Honderich calls Hedy Fry a journalist. Although I've never been particularly enamored with Hedy Fry, she never was a journalist, but was a medical doctor for about 20 years. We can all make mistakes, but journalists should be more accurate if they expect their readership to believe them. RG
https://hedyfry.liberal.ca/biography/
Thanks for that update, RG. That slipped by me. But now that you bring it up, I remember that Hedi Fry was a physcian.
Post a Comment