The Canadian government is investigating the state of the country’s struggling news industry following a rash of newspaper closures and editorial job cuts, reports the Canadian Press.
To help in the task of coming up with possible policy options, the government has enlisted help from a think tank, the Public Policy Forum. As its president, Ed Greenspon, noted: “It’s a sensitive area of policy making,”
You bet it is. In any country, the decision about whether government should fund “old” mainstream media outlets in the face of them being supplanted by new digital media raises any number of questions.
- In a digital world, what is the point of saving newsprint newspapers?
- Is our democracy imperilled by the loss of newspapers?
- Why do we think that newspapers’ online platforms will fail to hold power to account as they do in print? (There’s a question inside a question there).
- Should governments bail out newspapers by spending taxpayers’ money to support private and/or corporate businesses?
It could be argued that the UK government has already answered some of those questions by bringing pressure to bear on the BBC to fund 150 reporters who will work for regional newspaper publishers.
But is that move justifiable? Why should a public service broadcaster, funded through the licence fee, be required to provide staff for profit-making enterprises?
