In 2020 the Trudeau government started paying ongoing subsidies to newspapers.
It was a trip into the unknown! How did gov't decide which papers to bail out and which to let die? What about independence of the press?
Big questions. Now, there are 2 years of answers...(thread)
Meet the five people who decide which news orgs are Qualified Canadian Journalism Organizations (QCJOs).
It's a board of news experts – academics & retired journalists – paid by gov't to read articles from every news organization that applies and decide which are up to snuff. +
In year one of the media bailout, the board passed judgment on 159 news orgs.
In June, they released their first annual report.
So, how many news orgs from the 159 got in? Which ones? How much money did each one get? Also, who got rejected? And why? +
They aren't telling.
The names of the news organizations currently funded by taxpayers is a secret.
The amounts they receive are a secret.
The names of those rejected are a secret.
The reasons why they were rejected are a secret. +
The board meets in secret. There are no videos online of their meetings, no minutes you can read.
CDN newspapers said they'd DIE without gov't aid. This board decides which ones qualify for it. Their rulings could mean life or death for a news org. And it's all kept secret. +
Don't blame the board, it wasn't their choice. Government chose to put this program under the CRA, where tax laws conceal the names of the beneficiaries.
That broke an explicit promise of transparency that minister @pablorodriguez made to @EvanLSolomon
We report on the media so it's our job to document this wild Canadian experiment, to tell ppl what happens when the gov't interferes in the news industry at an unprecedented level. But we can't, because it's all a secret.
Maybe we could just ask the news orgs themselves..? +
So we did. Canadaland asked 77 Canadian news orgs to reveal their QCJO status and provide details about their government funding, if any.
Only 3 replied to us. +
(Incidentally, that's why I found this tweet from @robyndoolittle so funny. No offence to Robyn, I agree 100% with her sentiment. But CDN reporters are no longer in a great position to decry cultures of secrecy...) ) +
There are workarounds to these reporting obstacles. Publicly traded news companies disclose their gov't funding (Postmedia: $6.9M in labour tax credits in 2020, Torstar: $6.8M, etc.). But newspapers like the Globe, owned by the wealthiest family in Canada, are a black box. +
Also a mystery are names of news orgs that wanted government aid but who were deemed unfit to get it. Who's gonna divulge that embarrassing info? (And no, Canadaland did not apply). This info is of clear public interest, but it's hard to say if we will ever know it. +
There's evidence to suggest that the bailout has badly hurt public trust in the news media.
Check out this graph of trust levels, from Proof Strategies' CanTrust index. Look at 2019.
The media bailout was announced in the 2019 budget... +
(source: getproof.com/what-we-do/can… )
The 2019 drop & subsequent slide is alarming, but maybe not shocking. The fact that gov't now directly funds news orgs was never gonna be good for trust in media.
But the secrecy means that whatever stain gov't funding put on SOME news orgs is getting smeared on ALL of us. +
Many journalists disagree with me about the bailout, and they support it. But I doubt many would defend the secrecy surrounding it.
Heck, even the chair of the QCJO board, @ColetteB , strongly suggested to me in today's Canadaland podcast that she opposes the secrecy... +
...but she couldn't just come out and say so, because she is a part of the subsidy program – just as thousands of Canadians of journalists now are, whether they like it or not.
That's how conflicts of interest can put a chill on speech... +
It's hard to scrutinize or criticize a program you're taking money from. So, the media has largely just ignored it.
Think about it – is this the most detail you're reading about the bailout since it went into effect?
Kind of a big story for everyone to sleep on, isn't it? +
To her credit @ColetteB gave me a long, detailed interview about her work handing out QCJO status.
She told me I'm one of the only journalists who's asked her for one.
She worried at the end that she said more than she intended to... +
...but when I asked why her board gave QCJO government media status to a news org that they found to be spreading COVID misinformation, about ivermectin and more, she wasn't allowed to answer.
This is an interview I really want people to hear.
canadaland.com/podcast/768-we…
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